Wedding menus are usually designed to impress. Having sushi bars, live counters, and desserts that could feed a small village are gradually moving from just being pure shebang to simply being the norm. However, given the increasing dietary restrictions, have you ever thought about whether or not the guests can actually eat anything?
Between veganism, gluten-free diet, Jain diet, nut allergies, and lactose intolerance, your guests might have some dietary restrictions that you should be catering to. And no, that doesn’t mean your wedding needs to only have sad salads. It’s about having a little more thoughtful approach to your wedding menu by including some inclusive options that are still delicious. Because your vegan guests shouldn’t have to survive on salads and fruits, and someone with allergies shouldn’t have to look for someone from the catering team to check if the Thai curry has nuts.
Purvi Modgil, wedding planner and founder of F5 Weddings, sure thinks so. “Dietary requirements are now discussed during the early stages of menu planning for most celebrations.” she says. “Couples today are more conscious of their guests’ preferences, allergies and lifestyle choices. This is especially noticeable at destination weddings and weddings with international guests, where the guest list often includes people from different cultural backgrounds with varied dietary needs. Couples increasingly want every guest to feel considered, rather than treating alternative meals as an afterthought.” she adds.
If you are someone who feels that having inclusive dishes at your wedding is simply ostentatious and not really a necessity, you might want to reconsider your stance. If you are of the opinion that only a handful people out of your three hundred guests would have dietary restrictions and that it doesn’t make sense to design the menu around them, let us bring to your attention that dietary restrictions are more common than you might think. “Jain food and dishes prepared without onion and garlic are among the most common requirements at Indian weddings. We also regularly encounter requests for vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free options, as well as meals suitable for guests with nut or other food allergies.” points out Purvi.
Aditi Dugar, restaurateur and the founder of Sage & Saffron, also makes a case for inclusive menus. “I think it's absolutely necessary for wedding menus to cater to as many dietary restrictions as possible. Everyone attending a wedding is a guest, so it's on the catering team and the couple to make sure they have an enjoyable experience. Great food is one of the things people remember most about a wedding, so it's important that every guest, including those with allergies or dietary restrictions, is able to eat well and have a great time.” she points out.
As the host, you can either collect the data about the dietary restrictions of your guests at an initial stage and have the catering team work around that, or curate the menu in a way that it naturally covers all the major restrictions and preferences, irrespective of your guests’ data. If you’re working with the latter, make sure to keep in mind all the major dietary restrictions. Include enough good options for vegan food, Jain food, vegetarian food, gluten-free food, and dishes that are free of common allergens like dairy, shellfish and sugar, among others.
Purvi also backs the idea of being well-prepared from an early stage. “Dietary inclusivity should be built into the menu from the beginning. It is neither practical nor hospitable to wait until a guest arrives at the buffet to discover that there is very little they can eat.” she states.
If you wish to collect the data on your guests’ dietary restrictions beforehand, make sure it’s done in a very organised way. Purvi explains that the information about dietary requirements reaches the planning team through the couple, their families or individual guests contacting the hospitality team. However, this approach can be inconsistent, particularly at large weddings. “For destination weddings, we increasingly recommend collecting this information through digital RSVP forms, wedding websites or guest-information forms shared along with travel and accommodation details. Family WhatsApp groups can also help, but the information should ultimately be consolidated into one central guest list.” suggests Purvi.
But how should you include inclusive dishes? Is it better to have dishes that are naturally vegan or gluten-free, or to have specific versions of popular dishes? Aditi explains, “Some cuisines naturally lend themselves to vegan or nut-free preparations—for instance, Thai food. In others, we use replacement ingredients—swapping out soy sauce for tamari to make a dish gluten-free, or replacing sugar with monk fruit or other natural sweeteners for sugar-free dessert options. It’s very possible to make delicious food that caters to different allergies, so it’s not like inclusive fare will taste bland or boring.”