Of all the choices that must be made when planning a celebration, the food and drink that’s served can provide a unique opportunity to personalize and differentiate the experience. This season couples are more inclined than ever to buck tradition and plan a party that reflects their own style and interests and the food is no exception. From lavish sushi displays to horseshoe bars, anything goes in 2024. Here are some of the top trends area caterers and event planners are seeing:
Grazing tables and hors d’oeuvres displays
“We don’t see as many sit-down, plated meals anymore,” said Lynn Young, owner of Simply Detailed Event Planning in Springfield. “It’s a lot of stations or buffets, and they’re often not traditional menus. Couples want to serve the foods that they like to eat themselves.”
Lori Moreno is the event coordinator for Broadguage, a recently refurbished historic space in Peterburg. “We still do plated dinners but heavy hors d’oeuvres like sushi or falafel, either passed or on a big display, have become extremely popular.”
Personalized or themed dining
“People still want formal weddings, but more couples are really coming into themselves and putting their own personality into the event,” Moreno said. “We even had a Halloween wedding recently where the bride dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein and the groom dressed as Frankenstein. They’re having fun expressing their passions and interests as part of the event.”
Indeed, Cured Catering owner Brian Reilly pointed out that many of his clients aren’t interested in simply offering two entrees and a salad. “Let’s tell a story of the couple in a culinary way,” he said. “Maybe it’s a dish they had when they first met or something they shared on a trip together. We love to incorporate those memories into their celebration.”
Interactive dining experiences
Live action stations go beyond simply serving freshly prepared dishes. “It’s more than just having something to eat before you start drinking and dancing,” Reilly said. “It becomes part of the show. We worked with a couple who had lived in Italy, and pasta carbonara was a special dish to them. That dish is best made-to-order on site, so we brought in a large boiler to cook the pasta fresh and toss it with the egg yolk and parmesan, and the guests got to choose how they wanted to customize their dish. It was a really fun and personal part of the experience.”
Reilly pointed out that this type of dining also makes it easier to accommodate individual guests’ dietary needs while still giving them a fun, delicious experience. “The more we can make the menu customizable to each guest, whether they’re vegetarian or gluten or dairy free.”
Comfort food
Comfort foods like fried chicken and mac and cheese have become popular choices, as well as the global flavors that young couples have come to love. “Couples these days want to serve the foods that they like and they don’t feel confined to tradition,” Young explained.
Favorite street food dishes can still be upscale, pointed out Reilly. “We might be serving tacos for a wedding of 300 people, but they’re still beautiful and refined and playful, not something you’d have seen at a wedding 15 or 20 years ago.”
Mini dessert assortments and coffee bars
Rather than serving one large cake, couples are often opting to serve a variety of sweet bites. “Instead of a fancy wedding cake, people are doing a dessert buffet,” Moreno explained. They’ll sit down with our baker and choose all different kinds of little treats that we’ll create a big display with.” While there might still be a small cake to cut, whimsical donut walls, cupcakes and even ice cream sundae bars have become increasingly trendy.
Late-night snacks
Serving up a final round of hearty food toward the end of a fete is an idea that’s likely to stick around. “For years, most of the weddings and receptions were being held in one place,” said Young. “Now we’re seeing more church weddings where the ceremonies are happening earlier in the day so dinner is happening earlier, like around 5:30, and then they’re ready for late-night snacks.” It’s another opportunity for the couple to personalize the event and focus on their own favorite noshes, whether it’s pizza, wings or Ramen.
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This article appears in The Wedding Issue 2024.
