The Perfect Small, Intimate Wedding Menu For Your Washington DC or Baltimore Micro Wedding
The first step in determining the kind of menu you want for your DC or Baltimore micro wedding is to choose the style of your event. Are you going the more traditional route with a three-course meal at a venue or a restaurant or are you going totally casual with a food truck or a pizza party? Maybe it’s something in-between like seated/standing cocktail hour at a local bar! Whichever it is, we have ideas for you!
How To Plan the Menu For Your Micro Wedding
Traditional Micro Wedding Dinner | What To Add To Your Micro Wedding Menu
If you’ve decided to keep your micro wedding style traditional, chances are you’re having your tiny wedding celebration at a restaurant or a venue in town. If your venue has an in-house caterer, you’ll work with them to choose your menu. If not, you’ll have to hire out. (Here’s a list of our favorite caterers in Washington DC and Baltimore!)
The beauty of having a micro wedding and keeping your guest list small is that you don’t have to go for the traditional, overly done “chicken, beef, fish” option. You have the space and time to get a little more creative if that’s what you want! For a sit-down meal, we recommend at least three courses: a starter, a main, and a dessert. (Unless you’re a foodie, and in that case, might we suggest turning your reception into an epic dinner party with additional courses? Little Pearl and Iron Gate are great options for this!)
For the starter, you could go with something traditional like a salad (in the spring and summer) or a soup (in the fall or winter.) Or you could go with something a little more unexpected like a fun appetizer - mini crab cakes, seared tuna, arancini, chilled melon with prosciutto.
For the main course, I recommend asking the restaurant or caterer what their specialties are! For my wedding, instead of offering the standard chicken, we decided to serve duck, instead, since our chef was French and both my husband and I love French food! We always recommend offering your guests at least one vegetarian option (and asking your caterer if they have a vegan option, as well, for any guest that may require it!)
For dessert, we recommend asking your catering to create your favorite - since you’ll get your wedding cake from us (it’s included in the base package) you have the ability to go with something a little less traditional! Tiramisu? Cannolis? Rice Pudding? (Can you tell I’m Italian?)
Casual Micro Wedding Dinner (Or Brunch!) in DC and Baltimore
If you’ve decided to color outside the lines and think outside the box, we’ve got your back! Think: breakfast for dinner, taco food trucks, or a pizza party with the Timber Pizza mobile pizza oven! The options are endless and we’d be over the moon to help you choose what’s right for you! Here are some ideas:
Your Home/Airbnb
We’ve had lots of couples use their building rooftop or community space to host their wedding reception! Or they’ve rented homes on Airbnb that allow events or Peerspace rentals set up for parties! All of these options are great for those couples who want to bring in their own food/catering and don’t want to worry about having to use a venue’s preferred caterer. Here are some ideas:
Food from your favorite restaurant (for us, that’s Jab We Met, Le Diplomat and Osteria Mozza)
A food truck (DC Taco Truck, Carnivore BBQ, Peruvian Brothers)
A mobile pizza oven (Our favorite is our friends at Timber Pizza - not only do they have great pizza but delicious salads and appetizers, too!)
YOUR DREAM DC OR BALTIMORE Tiny Wedding VENUE
If you’re having your wedding at a venue and they require you to use one of their preferred caterers, don’t panic! Most of the time, it’s one of DC’s well-known companies. (And sometimes, if you’re willing to pay a fee, they’ll let you bring in someone not on their list.) But if not, we might recommend going with something a little more non-traditional like breakfast for dinner or hosting a brunch with mimosas and Bloody Marys instead of a dinner! Talk to your caterer for ways you can make it feel more like you!
The In-Between Micro Wedding Dinner | Micro Wedding Food and Drink Ideas
If you feel like you don’t fall into either of the categories above, we recommend going with something like a cocktail party. Instead of a seated, traditional meal, you can have what we call a “standing/seated” cocktail reception. While there are ample places for your guests to sit - think bar seats, high-top tables, and lounge furniture - your guests won’t be held hostage to their seats all night. They can get up, visit the bar or a food station, choose from many of the passed appetizers, and mingle with you and your guests! It can still feel buttoned up and look beautiful without being overly traditional.
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE VENUES FOR A COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Or, your favorite DC or Baltimore restaurant or bar in town!
Don't be nervous about your menu when you are planning your tiny wedding here in the DC and Baltimore area, we are here to help! Contact us at Tiny Wedding Collective to take the stress out of finding the perfect dinner menu as well as local vendors and caterers -- we do that for you! Planning a small, intimate wedding should be fun, including picking the food choices! We can’t wait to starting planning your day with you.
The Tiny Wedding Collective is a Washington DC-based all-inclusive elopement and intimate wedding planning service for DC and Baltimore, Maryland. A Tiny Wedding is for couples who want to celebrate their commitment in a thoughtful, stylish way but don’t want the stress and fanfare of a big, expensive wedding. Not all couples fit inside the same traditional box and it’s time that we make space for inclusivity, diversity, and creativity. To find out more about what it’s like to work with us, please fill out our contact form here.