These Are The Hottest Wedding Menu Trends of 2025

There is no shame in admitting that for most, weddings are as much about affairs of the heart as they are about the stomach. An annual pani puri race with your cousin while catching up on a year's worth of news is not a want — it is a need. A constant supply of kebabs is the escape route when your father’s second cousin twice removed fires you up with questions about your marriage plans. An extra slice of fudge, with generous servings of hot syrup, is the only fitting way to end your night while critiquing the floral decor with your mother.

A truncated guest list for an intimate ceremony or a mammoth one for a reception you must throw to appease your parents — curating a food menu that is to the taste of everyone can be a daunting task. Between accommodating the culinary favourites of the bride and the groom, there are also dietary needs that must be considered. And once the gluten and vegan Gods have been duly satisfied, one needs to ensure that there is enough variety in your menu to satiate the palettes of your globe-trotting guest list. To help you craft the perfect menu, here is a list of the hottest trends, from some of the coolest caterers in town.

Wedding Catering Trends That Will Be There Everywhere in 2025

Customised cocktails

When Sanah Gandotra-Tandon said “yes” to her Delhi-based fiancé Raghav Tandon, their

engagement at a lush Chattarpur farmhouse set the stage for a wedding brimming with charm and creativity. And nothing brought their personalities to life quite like the customised cocktails whipped up by Deli Cocktail House. “I first tried their drinks at a friend’s wedding,” Gandotra-Tandon recalls. “The molecular bar trend was en vogue, and I wanted it for our big day. During our cocktail trials, they had the brilliant idea of crafting drinks that reflected our personalities in a glass.” Head chef Akshat Agarwal of Sage & Saffron believes that “cocktails make for great storytelling devices.

And what other occasion is better to share this story than at their wedding?." Rising to the occasion, the Deli Cocktail House Team unveiled the ‘SanahTini’ — a gin-based delight with DEC 2024—JAN 2025 LIFE 203 spiced jamun cordial and ‘Raghav’s Royal Fashioned’ — a whiskey-based masterpiece with hazelnut cordial, angostura bitters, and smoked star anise.

“Our friends couldn’t get enough of the drinks. It was such a special way to share who we are,” says Gandotra-Tandon.

Curating the menu

For chef Agarwal, kulchas, kebabs, and homestyle Indian food are the absolute non-negotiables for the wedding season. At Sage & Saffron, he takes great pride in crafting menus that centre these traditional Indian flavours, with a contemporary twist. “A generic wedding is no fun,” says Agarwal.

His team spends hours with families to understand the food items they feel the most connected to and hold the fondest memories of. With over a decade’s worth of experience, Agarwal sees couples today increasingly inching towards menus that are rooted in Indian flavours, while highlighting innovative global. “Couples want the food to be dramatic, memorable, and experiential — while balancing international techniques with locally sourced ingredients,” says Agarwal. Sandeep Sreedharan, director of Esca Brahma, adds, “Regional chaat counters from various localities and street food-driven dishes are a must because they are very fun and engaging.”

The local & the global

Sage & Saffron works with families who choose to fly down international, Michelin-starred chefs and insist on sourcing ingredients from specialised, global vendors. Whether it is regional or global, or global, Sreedharan further explains how couples today prefer speciality chefs “who can deliver an experience that is interactive, whether it is plated or counter-driven, so that the food is served at the right temperature with its freshness.”

As someone who specialises in South Indian coastal cuisine, Sreedharan is no stranger to the dietary demands of preparing dinners for Indian weddings. Whether it is a Jain or a Gujarati ceremony, Esca Brahma today has carved a niche for itself by curating menus that present rustic, traditional dishes, in a modern light. “We try presenting the dishes as one-bite portions that are interactively plated, and also include sections where guests can enjoy the traditional side of the cuisines,” he says.

A sweet-ever after

Surmai Jain, founder and creative director of Polite Society, enlisted Bombay-based patisserie Salt by Flavia for the culinary piece de resistance of her engagement party: a classic sheet cake. Chef Flavia Lewis prepared a chocolate sponge base, with hazelnut and praline fillings. Icing it with generous dollops of whipped cream, the rustic creation came served with generous helpings of berries and cherries.

Jain stumbled upon the unconventional idea while scrolling Pinterest: “I loved the messy grandness of it. It is a fresh change from perfectly tiered cakes. As long as the dessert tastes good, people are happy. Relationships aren’t perfect and neither should your cake be,” she says.

This has been adapted for the web from an article published in Manifest’s December 2024-January 2025 issue that is now on stands. For more stories like this, subscribe here!