Good & tasty food makes a wedding special & guests will always cherish these memories for a long time. The wedding menu can be simple yet different and not very expensive but very tasty. Below are some quick tips which you can consider while fixing your wedding menu:
- Budget: First decide the entire budget for food. Then you can keep adding / subtracting stalls, food items, etc. as per your budget. For Eg: it will cost you far less if you add more stalls. The assumption is that number of people and their appetite is same even if we keep adding more number of items in menu.
- List of Functions: You need to list down all the functions and decide the menu along with the budget for each of the functions. This will help you to efficiently manage the budget & to ensure that the menu is in synchronization with the function. For Eg: heavy snacks & welcome drinks for sangeet, mehndi; light snacks with beverages for other small events; more variety of food items along with lunch and / or dinner for the wedding and reception.
- Ambience of the Venue: The menu should match the ambience of the wedding venue.
- Weather: Weather plays an important role while deciding the items on the wedding menu. As per the weather you need to decide the combinations of food items and drinks you want to keep. For Eg: if the wedding is in summers then there should be a lot of cold drinks, ice creams, fruit juices, etc. in the menu to keep people hydrated. Whereas if the wedding is in winters add a lot of hot & spicy food to the menu; people will feel warm.
- Discussions: Prior to finalization of the menu, it is important to take suggestions from caterer, friends & close relatives. Their experience will help you to decide on the combinations of various food items.
- Appoint the right caterer: Prior to finalizing the caterer, do taste the food at a wedding where the food is served by the caterer. You can also check the other points while assessing the caterer as the caterer assessment sheet.
- Personal Touch: Depending on your budget, adding personal touch to the menu will surprise the guest and they will always remember it. For Eg: you can add a personal touch to the wedding by giving menu card along with the invitation card to all the guest. You can also add your personal recipes or some unique recipes chosen by you to the menu.
- Avoid repetition: As there are so many functions, you need to ensure that none of the food items are repeated.
- Veg / Non-veg food: If there are vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items then you need to ensure that there are separate cooking wares & stalls for the same, as some of the guest maybe pure vegetarian and may not appreciate common serving wares or stalls.
- Special food: Again as per your budget you can keep different food items like diet food, jain food, etc. The guests will definitely appreciate that their taste & health was taken into consideration.
In all Indian weddings food is one thing which people always remember and good food is one of the key factors that will keep your wedding in the memories of your guests.