What is "wedding food"?

I always understood 'wedding food' as mass produced catering. I don't think it is specific to a particular dish but just the concept of food cooked en masse since weddings are generally big events.

What I think is the reason behind most peoples' apprehensive towards it is that its food which has been designed to feed a crowd (usually generic, crowd pleasing options) so may not *necessarily* have the sophistication and flavour profile desired by some, and the fact that cooking for high volumes of people can often lead to inconsistencies.

We deliberately chose a venue with amazing reviews re food (and exciting options) to avoid the 'the wedding food sucked' scenario!

View Quoted Comment That makes sense. On the flip side, many corporate events are catered the same way..for large groups..and people don't say anything about it being bad (the social protocols are not as strict as they are with weddings) or might say it's good..and it comes from the same kitchen.

At least for me when i say i hate “wedding food” i mean any catered dish not from a restaurant... i have been to SEVERAL (at least 15) weddings and i have done my own private version of “4 weddings” where u rate the food and such so that when MY time came to get married i would know what i liked and didnt like... 10x out of 10x if the food was catered by the place my food was overcooked or dried out from the tin pans with oil burning under it.. expensive food and it was horrible. BUT the weddings that had RESTAURANTS do the food, the food was amazing and perfect!! They included Chipotle, Mission BBQ, Chic-fil-a, and another wedding i was at had women from her church cook the sides and make the salad, (that wedding was under 80 people) and food was great!!! Another wedding i was at (again smaller wedding) the family relatives made pasta dishes and they were perfect!!! For whatever reason expensive “wedding food” catered is dried out and overcooked

When I hear people say they hate “wedding food” it’s typically catered buffet food that is on the lower end of the price spectrum. The mass produced food tends to be bland, over cooked and dried out from sitting in pans over burners. Tbh, I don’t even eat at weddings that have buffets anymore. Now, there are buffet style meals and carving stations that are quite delicious, but they tend to be at the high end of the price spectrum, so a lot of people opt to have the lesser quality food at the lower price. Weddings that I’ve been to that had plated meals were all quite good, especially the smaller weddings. Having a talented, formally trained chef prepare the food is of course always going to be better- The food will taste like going to a nice restaurant for a meal. As someone mentioned earlier, some couples choose to have restaurants cater their weddings. Some restaurants really excel at this, while others fail miserably. If great tasting food is important to you, your best bet would be to choose the type of food you want to serve at your wedding, find what options are available in your area, and research/read lots of reviews from others who have used them. You should expect to pay a significant amount more for a really great meal at your wedding.

I’m not really sure what all this hate for wedding food is about either. But then again, I’ve only ever been to asian weddings and they serve multi course banquets that are absolutely delicious. I look forward to it every time.

I'm a former chef who moonlights as a wedding videographer (I get bored in jobs, what can I say?), and if I had to peg "wedding food," I would definitely say that there is some uninspired cafeteria-esque caterer cuisine. Chicken breast with rice, some type of bland white sauce, and green beans wrapped in a thinly sliced carrot immediately comes to mind.


Couples who spend a little more on their caterer definitely combat this. But if that isn't a possibility, definitely seek out local restaurants (where the chefs still care about their craft) for catering, or step outside of the box and do something fun like a food truck!

In my mind wedding food implies want-to-be fancy meals; including, a chicken/fish/steak (usually dried out) with some type of ambiguous cream sauce, mashed potatoes, steamed veggie (probably cold) and maybe rolls.
It is supposed to be nice, but usually lacks flavor as it is intended to appeal to many and has to be batch cooked despite the fact that individual meat servings are tough to do en mass. That is part of the benefit of bbq/Mexican/pasta, those foods are normally cooked in bulk, so they are easier and cheaper to do for a large group.

View Quoted Comment

This.

We also got married in NYC, so even "blah" wedding food here is still pretty good. (Can't stay in biz, otherwise.)

Our venue had *excellent* food reviews, a served buffet, and we ended up with rave reviews for the entire event. I need to bug DH to figure out how to make their rosemary potatoes, actually...

I feel like wedding food overall has gotten better in recent years because people are using all sorts of different venues and catering options. But in general, when "wedding food" is used with a negative connotation, I think of a bland, boring meal--chicken, rice, greens, etc.

Though there's still something to be said for classic recipes done well, and as PPs mentioned above, combating that "bad wedding food" reputation with a quality caterer/restaurant.

We are big foodies so we felt some pressure to deliver a good meal. Yes, we served cheese & crackers and fruit + dip for apps -- but we also included caprese skewers and chicken potstickers. Our meal was a caesar salad + roles, cajun butter tri-tips, crab-stuffed grouper, cheesy potatoes, and lemon garlic green beans with 2 different cake flavors for dessert. We got a lot of compliments on the food!

When I think of wedding food I think of chicken, beef or fish with rice and steamed veggies. At my wedding we served our favorite foods. We had a local butcher cater BBQ meat (chicken thighs and pork). Our guest loved the meat and asked to take home leftovers. We had my grandmother make BLT pasta salad, my mother in law make pasta salad and our friend make beans.

I always think of "wedding food" as generic, uninspired beef or chicken, usually prepared by a "wedding factory" location that exists solely to put on weddings. They know they are only hosting one event (compared to restaurants that want to earn repeat business) and often lure brides in with a low price.

I will say, though, the worst wedding food I ever had was definitely not cheap. It was at a fancy catering hall in Baltimore and probably $200 pp back in the early 2000s.

The best food I've had at a wedding was my own (not to be biased!)-—it was a custom buffet that we worked with the hotel chef directly to create and had lots of organic, locally sourced ingredients. The other wedding dinners I've enjoyed have all been buffets.