Wedding dietary requirements: how to ask guests, the allergen list and the menu card
Your caterer decides the menu, but your guests decide whether it works: who is gluten-free, who doesn’t eat meat and how many kids are coming, before you confirm numbers. Here is how to ask, how to pass it on and how to write the menu card.
What to ask about food on the RSVP
The RSVP is the best moment to ask about food: guests are already answering, and they do it once. Offer set options and keep a free-text field only for what doesn’t fit them:
- Their entrée choice, if there are several: meat, fish or vegetarian.
- A kids’ meal, with each child’s age if the caterer asks for it.
- Allergies and intolerances, in their own words.
- Any specific diet: vegan, gluten-free, halal or kosher.
Dietary requirements wording for the RSVP
“Do you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions? Let us know and our caterer will prepare your meal. We’ll only use this for the wedding menu.”
The major food allergens your caterer needs to know
- Milk and eggs.
- Fish and crustacean shellfish.
- Tree nuts and peanuts.
- Wheat and soybeans.
- Sesame.
Those are the nine major food allergens in the US. If you’re marrying in Europe, caterers work with a list of fourteen that also includes celery, mustard, sulphites, lupin, molluscs and every gluten cereal. Allergies are health data: ask only for the menu and don’t share them beyond the caterer.
How to pass dietary requirements to the caterer
What helps a head chef most isn’t a loose list of allergies, it’s knowing which table and which seat each one is at. With RSVPs on the dashboard, the caterer gets a PDF with meals by type and every allergy with its guest’s name and table. See it in the dashboard of a sample wedding.
What to put on a wedding menu card
- At the top, your names, the date and the venue, or simply “Menu”.
- The courses in order: appetizer, first course, entrée, dessert and cake, each with a one-line description.
- The options, if any: meat, fish, vegetarian and kids.
- Allergens for each dish, with a number or symbol and a key.
- At the bottom, drinks, coffee and the toast or cake cutting.
Wedding menu card example
“Menu · Emma & Daniel · June 14 · To start: heirloom tomato and burrata salad · Entrée: herb-crusted salmon or braised short rib · Dessert: lemon and berry wedding cake · Coffee and late-night sliders”
Printed menu cards or a digital QR menu
A printed card looks lovely on the table, but it can’t hold everything: allergens for every dish, the kids’ menu or a translation for guests from abroad. That’s why many restaurants and venues already use a digital menu with a QR code. If yours doesn’t have one yet, TopFood builds a free digital QR menu, tags the allergens in every dish and translates it into more than 50 languages: print the QR code on the menu card and each guest reads it in their own language.
Wedding menu ideas by type of reception
A daytime wedding suits lighter plates and a longer cocktail hour; an evening one, a hearty entrée and a late-night snack for the dance floor. At a buffet, label allergens on every dish; with a plated dinner, the caterer needs each allergy’s table. Plan a vegetarian plate even if nobody asks for it: somebody always does on the day.
Start with the RSVP
The meal questions live inside the RSVP. Read what to put on your wedding RSVP and create your invitation for free with the meal options already set.
Frequently asked questions
How do you ask wedding guests about dietary restrictions?
On the RSVP, with one open question and a note on why: “Any food allergies or dietary restrictions? We’ll only use this for the menu.”
What goes on a wedding menu card?
Your names and date, the courses in order with a one-line description, meal options, allergens and drinks or coffee at the end.
How many vegetarian meals should we order?
The number from your RSVPs plus one or two extra: there is always a guest who forgot to mention it.
Should allergens be listed on the wedding menu?
It helps: marking them on the card or on a digital menu saves questions at the table, and in Europe caterers must be able to tell guests about the fourteen allergens.
How much does it cost to collect meal choices and allergies?
Nothing: the invitation, the RSVP with meal options and the dashboard with the caterer’s PDF are free.
Start your wedding website
Design it and publish it for free, with no card and no small print.