Here are some of the most asked questions when it comes to planning a wedding or wedding reception menu..
A traditional or conventional wedding menu has three courses, appetizer (soup/salad), main course and dessert or a sweet dish, but ultimately it's your choice to add to, take away, or change things up! For example, if you really want to wow your guests, up the number of courses. Some weddings and events go up to twelve course servings and include various cuisines like Chinese, Lebanese, Indian, Mughalai, etc.
Chicken, mutton, and vegetables including a few varieties of daal are the most commonly served main course items at Indian weddings as they can maintain their heat when served to large groups and all work well with Indian palates. This can vary from State to State as Bengali and Goan weddings are incomplete without a fish dish or two. Depending on religion and other preferences other meats may be added, for eg. Muslim and Christian weddings may include beef dishes. In Goa and parts of the North-East, pork dishes are compulsory at Catholic weddings. North Indian weddings may include, Pani Poori, Chicken Butter Masala, Biryani, Jalebi, Gulab Jamun, Dal Makhni, Chicken Tikka, Malpua and such. Now-a-days, wedding buffets include cold cuts, salads (both veg & non-veg), noodles, fruit salads, fruit dishes and rolls.
While Canapes are not exactly on the menus of most Indian weddings, pre-wedding parties can include finger food like canapes. A small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite could include tikkas, mini rolls, fish fingers, grilled or fried spiced potatoes and the like.
Some hosts who want to make it different and even taste different will junk the regular menu and add food from another country. While this may work at destination weddings, the traditional Indian wedding is incomplete without the daal, roti, sabzi, butter chicken, jalebi and gulab jamun. However, modern couples may go for either Mexican, Spanish or French (or say Bengali or South-Indian) only cuisines for their weddings. Sometimes the entire theme, including the menu could be based on a particular locale or concept. Other couples may choose for example a pizza-only dinner with at least 10 varieties of pizza in slice form for the guests. Themed food weddings are more popular among younger couples who invite more of their office crowd, rather than senior citizens and family.