Forget those cold canapés and overdone buffets. The wedding F&B scene in India is undergoing a full-blown renaissance in 2025, where flavour meets flair and experience takes the centreplate. From progressive Indian plating to personalized cocktail carts, here’s your definitive guide to the most delectable (and Instagrammable) food and beverage trends redefining modern Indian weddings this year.
Regional Indian Cuisine Goes Haute
The era of North Indian-Mughlai-only menus is over. In 2025, brides and grooms are leaning into their roots and flaunting them.
Iswarya Madhampatty, Culinary Experience curator at Wedding Flavours, says
Weddings today are embracing a thoughtful shift in food, one that reflects both health and heritage. Guests and hosts are increasingly mindful of what goes on the plate, and this is reshaping wedding menus in refreshing ways.
Refined white sugar is being replaced with natural alternatives like palm sugar, coconut sugar, and jaggery, especially in desserts. These sweeteners not only add depth of flavour but also resonate with today’s focus on wellness.
There’s also a growing love for seasonal and local produce. In summer weddings, ingredients like ice apples and tender coconuts are featured in halwas and payasams, adding a cool, nourishing element to the spread while supporting sustainability.
Another beautiful trend is the revival of labour-intensive, traditional snacks and sweets. Items like murukkus and kaja—made by carefully kneading, rolling, and shaping dough—are back in demand. These age-old recipes bring a handcrafted, personal touch to the modern feast.
Today’s wedding food is more than just a celebration of taste—it’s a celebration of values. A perfect blend of mindful choices, local pride, and culinary nostalgia.
Arun Surendran, Executive Chef at Niraamaya Wellness Retreats, says
At Niraamaya, we see a beautiful shift in wedding food trends for 2025 — one that celebrates authenticity, regional depth, and experiential dining. Couples today are looking to craft immersive culinary journeys that reflect their roots, memories, and the rich diversity of India’s flavours.
A perfect example of this is our Chicken Coconut Perattu — a spicy, slow-roasted delicacy enriched with coconut slivers and aromatic spices. It pairs beautifully with our signature Tomato Rice or Coconut Rice, offering guests a comforting yet bold flavor profile. We also see rising love for heritage seafood dishes like the Kumarakom Fish Curry, simmered with raw mango and home-ground spices, and the indulgent Fish Nirvana — a seer fish preparation that truly lives up to its name.
Wedding menus are also embracing variety through thoughtfully curated accompaniments — from soft Appams and flaky Kerala Parottas to Garlic Naan served with earthy gravies and seasonal vegetables. Grains like Spinach & Curry Leaf Rice are becoming popular for their healthful twist and unique taste.
Ultimately, weddings in 2025 are about personalization and nostalgia on a plate. At Niraamaya, we are proud to bring these stories alive through mindful curation and soulful flavors.
Tanvi Bhamare – Marketing and Communications Manager at Novotel Mumbai International Airport adds,
I believe weddings in 2025 are embracing a thoughtful shift toward personalization, conscious dining, and elevated culinary storytelling. Couples are curating menus that reflect their heritage, personality, and values—transforming each course into an expression of who they are.
At Novotel Mumbai International Airport, I’ve seen an increasing inclination toward regional Indian cuisines with a modern twist like Goan recheado sliders, millet-based kebabs, and artisanal chaats served in engaging, interactive formats.
Global fusion continues to shine, but with a more refined and intentional approach. Asian tapas, Mediterranean grazing boards, and Afro-Indian infusions are adding vibrant flair to contemporary wedding banquets. Plant-forward menus are also becoming the norm, with chefs crafting gourmet vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free dishes that balance wellness with indulgence.
One trend I find especially exciting is the rise of live culinary theatre —chef-led counters where guests witness dishes being freshly prepared, from handmade pasta to flaming desserts. Late-night food bars and curated after-parties are also evolving, with elevated street food experiences such as Avocado Pani Puri Ceviche, Truffle Mushroom Khichdi, and Jhal Muri Fritto Misto and many more!
Sustainability remains central to it all. More couples are prioritising locally sourced ingredients, zero-waste culinary practices, and bespoke farm-to-table concepts.
Today, food is more than a part of the celebration—it’s an unforgettable experience in itself.
Global Cuisines With an Indian Twist
Fusion isn’t a gimmick anymore, it’s an art form. Think Thai curry arancini, sushi rolls with gunpowder mayo, or burrata chaat with tamarind pearls.
Trend Alert: Korean-Indian fusion is huge this year. Kimchi dosas? Gochujang pav bhaji? Yes, please.
Shreya Goel, Director- Creative Cuisines Inc, says
Gone are the days of predictable wedding buffets. In 2025, the discerning couple with CCi catering curates an epicurean journey, where every dish tells a story of local bounty and sophisticated taste. It’s an era defined by “fancy little plates,” each a miniature work of art showcasing three or four meticulously sourced ingredients. Imagine the freshest finds from a farmers’ market, elevated to haute cuisine—a culinary philosophy so hyper-local. Imagine exquisitely crafted bites, each a miniature masterpiece, carefully selected ingredients. The emphasis? Hyper-local sourcing, so fresh you’ll swear you could’ve just picked it from the farm yourself. We’re talking farm-to-table, but elevated to an entirely new level of haute cuisine.
Who said we can’t eat desserts first?? By far the most popular saying at CCi, got us to the next most popular trend of the wedding season-Tres leches, in Spanish term that translates to “three milks” presented dramatically on a bed of ice. The combination of its cool temperature with its rich, milky, and unbelievably moist texture creates a sensory experience that is truly unreal. It’s like the passport stamp every trendy menu needs, and honestly? It slaps. Guests get that “I’m cultured” feeling just from pronouncing it right. call it the Latin American Rasmalai and boy its is having a “moment”…
Chef Arun Kala, Executive Chef, Radisson Blu Plaza Resort & Convention Centre, Karjat says,
The Big Fat Indian Wedding is needless to say has seen exponential growth in terms of arrangements, venues, music, modernistic setups and shows.
Having said so food is considered the most integral part of any Indian wedding. Infact as a ritual first food preparations of weddings are even offered to Gods and Goddesses.
Cuisine in Indian Weddings has now evolved to no limts where Spanish Tapas bars have taken over Chat counters. Synonymously Mexican Nachos Tacos have been taken as a replacement for Papdi Chat. No one could have imagined that Shushis can have an array of vegetarian options which Indian Chefs have worked upon to cater Indian weddings which are majorly vegetarian.
Sandwich bars at Indian wedding higteas are now live and customised to make a sub of choice with variety of healthy breads and fillings.
Live stir fries are served to guest with choice of noodles – rice – vegetables and sauces; Tepenyaki a cooking art is used to deliver these at many functions.
Baos with fillings and dips are always adjacent to dimsums now as a necessary part.
Indians favorite street food Panipoori chat is now not limited to tamarind and mint flavors. It has now incorporated flavours like chilly guava, aam panna, vodka mint, and the list goes on.
Desserts are a whale world of mix cuisine now with Chocolate fondues to baked Gulab jamuns and cheese cakes.
With more Indians open to travel abroad and exploring world cuisines demand for constant R&D of Indian wedding food is the need of hour and we at Radisson Blu Karjat are committed to make sure that Cuisine served at our Weddings is something which is always there to be remembered for and talked about.
Dessert Takes Centre Stage
Mini pastries are out. This year, it’s all about theatrical, flavour-forward desserts.
- Liquid nitrogen rasmalai pops.
- Filter coffee tres leches.
- Chocolate modak bombs that melt open with a pour.
✨ Also in demand: Bespoke mithai bars with gourmet twists on kaju katli, pista rolls, and boondi laddoos.
Mindful Menus Are Here to Stay
With wellness-conscious millennials leading the guest list, expect more plant-forward, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly options that are just as indulgent.
From millet-based starters to jackfruit biryani and cashew-milk gelato, menus are catering to modern diets, without compromising on taste. Even celebrity brides are setting the tone, Nayanthara famously opted for jackfruit biryani at her wedding, celebrating sustainability over hype.
Curated Midnight Munchies
Post-sangeet, guests want something soul-satisfying. Enter: Midnight snack menus that include everything from Maggi bars and South Indian tiffin counters to butter chicken bao and stuffed kulchas straight off the tandoor.
Chef-Led Menus & Curated Culinary Brands
Forget anonymous caterers, 2025 weddings are seeing an influx of chef-driven menus that blend creativity with authenticity. Couples are now bringing in celebrity chefs, regional culinary collectives, and pop-up-style restaurants to craft immersive dining experiences.
Renowned names like Chef Thomas Zacharias (ex-Bombay Canteen) have curated farm-to-table wedding feasts that spotlight local Indian ingredients with modern finesse. In South India, Chef Regi Mathew of Kappa Chakka Kandhari fame has been roped in to design traditional Kerala sadyas, elevating them with storytelling and seasonal sourcing.
At a destination wedding in Rajasthan, Chef Harsh Kedia, known for his diabetes-friendly innovations, was brought in to craft a zero-refined-sugar mithai bar using dates, palm jaggery, and dry fruits.
Some couples are even collaborating with chefs to reinterpret family recipes—like a bride from Kolkata whose grandmother’s doi maach was recreated as a canapé by a boutique chef collective for the mehendi night.
It’s no longer just about food—it’s about bringing culinary identity to the forefront and turning every meal into a memory.
Bespoke Beverage Experiences
2025 is the year of signature cocktail carts and DIY bars.
Whether it’s a gin bar with artisanal Indian botanicals, or a tharra-themed bar that’s high on nostalgia and taste, drinks are as curated as the outfits.
Don’t miss: Filter coffee martinis, masala-infused sangrias, and kokum negronis.
Final Bite
If 2024 was about going big, 2025 is about going meaningful, with food that celebrates heritage, tells a story, and delights every sense. Whether you’re planning a destination affair in Udaipur or an intimate mehendi in Goa, your wedding menu is now a storytelling canvas.
Because in India, food isn’t just a course. It’s the culture.