20 Best Foods For Outdoor Weddings

An outdoor wedding can be a wonderful idea if the weather is nice! An outdoor wedding can make your big day feel more special, and it brings so many opportunities for the scene and the decor.

However, there are plenty of things to consider when planning your wedding reception food - the weather, the logistics, the season, the style, etc.

Not all foods do well in outdoor settings, so I’m sharing wedding food ideas perfect for outdoor weddings in this post. These menu ideas can obviously work for an indoor wedding as well, but they are great for outdoor ones, also.

20 Best Food For Outdoor Weddings

Bite-sized skewers

Bite-sized skewers are amazing for outdoor weddings, no matter what season your wedding is in. You can tailor them to a specific season by including in-season ingredients.

For example, for a summer wedding menu, you can do mini Caprese skewers. Basically, just stick a cherry tomato, a mini mozzarella ball, and some basil topped with some balsamic glaze on a mini skewer or even a toothpick, and let your guests take as many or as few as they want.

Thoe bite-sized skewers can be fresh, they’re easy to carry and will work very well for an outdoor wedding.

Bacon Wrapped Dates

These bacon-wrapped dates would be perfect for an autumn outdoor wedding (but they can work for any season really). Bite-sized appetizers are amazing for outdoor weddings.

316 calories

Ingredients

2 Dates - 120 calories
¼ cup Ricotta cheese, part-skim - 108 calories
2 Uncured bacon, slice - 88 calories

Instructions

Slice dates in halves, and cut raw bacon strips in halves.
Add a small amount of ricotta to date halves.
Wrap with bacon and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.
No dairy? Use a dairy-free ricotta. No ricotta? Use feta (regular). No bacon? Use turkey or soy bacon.

Apple Prosciutto Bites

313 calories

Ingredients

1 Apple, small - 77 calories
1 cup Leafy greens, arugula, raw - 5 calories
⅓ cup Cheese, Parmesan, shaved (cups) - 111 calories
2 oz Prosciutto - 120 calories

Instructions

Slice apple.
Top apple slice with 1 piece arugula + 1 strip Parmesan.
Wrap 1 small strip prosciutto around stack and pierce with toothpick if desired. Continue.
Dairy free? Use a dairy free cheese, or more prosciutto. Vegetarian? Add more cheese instead of using prosciutto.

Ricotta Stuffed Brussels Sprouts

Since brussels sprouts are in-season during fall and winter, if you’re having a fall outdoor wedding, these would make an amazing appetizer. Of course, winter outdoor weddings aren’t usually a thing because it’s cold outside (unless you’re living somewhere where the weather is warm during winter), but fall can have amazing weather and can be a great option for an outdoor wedding.

322 calories

Ingredients

1 cup Brussels sprouts - 56 calories
½ cup Ricotta cheese, part-skim - 216 calories
2 Tbsp Cheese, Parmesan, grated (Tbsp) - 50 calories
1 Red pepper flakes, dash - 0 calories
1 Salt, dash - 0 calories

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix cheeses and seasonings.
Cut off Brussels’ hard ends, then halve them.
Top Brussels with cheese mixture.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper & spray with an oil spray.
Bake Brussels for 25 minutes.

Canapes

Canapes are a super popular food for weddings, and for a good reason! They’re delicious, they can be made in so many different ways to fit all styles and seasons, and you can easily offer different choices so everyone can find what they like.

Because of all of that, they perfectly fit an outdoor wedding as well.

So, you can have a canape station for your appetizers. They can be an amazing addition to your wedding reception menu.

Canapes also go very well with champagne or cocktails, so you can serve them together during cocktail hour.

Grazing table

Who doesn’t love grazing tables? Your favorite meats, cheese, nuts, crackers, fruit - all aesthetically laid out so everyone can find something they like.

These work great for outdoor weddings as well, just make sure the temperature works for the grazing table you’re presenting.

Soup

While the soup is typical for an inside wedding, it can work just as well for an outdoor wedding as well. You can go with a traditional Italian wedding soup, a fruit soup if your wedding is during summer so you bring some freshness, or even a tomato soup for a fall wedding (maybe even served with mini grilled cheeses so your guests can dip them - that would be a big hit!).

Pasta

Let’s face it - pasta works for any wedding. It’s such a versatile food that it can fit any season, any style, any venue, literally everything.

The advantage of having pasta at an outdoor wedding is that you can do a pasta food truck - it’s a less formal form, obviously, but it can work great. You can have different pasta shapes, different sauces, and different protein choices, and your guests can pick and choose what they want in their pasta dish.

Of course, you can also go with a more traditional route and pick a main pasta dish that everyone will get.

You can also make pasta one of the choices on a wedding buffet.

It’s truly so versatile, and everyone loves it. It’s one of the safest options to ensure your guests will love the food.

Taco truck

Here’s one advantage of outdoor weddings - you can do food trucks! If you’re having a less-formal wedding, food trucks are an amazing way to make interactive food stations and to make all of your guests happy.

So, what’s the best thing to do with a food truck? Serve street food that’s not typical for a wedding! Of course, if you’re having a more formal wedding, it’s possible to make food trucks less street-style.

But if you want to make things interesting, having a taco truck would be an amazing idea that your guests will love!

You can offer different types of tacos so your guests can pick and choose what they want.

It will be a huge hit, for sure!

Pizza

Who doesn’t love pizza? An outdoor wedding is a perfect opportunity to have stone-baked pizza! There are many food trucks specifically for that. Your guests can have custom stone-baked pizzas made just for them! They can choose their toppings, and have the most delicious pizza of their lives made right in front of them.

For a less traditional wedding aka a more casual wedding, this is an amazing idea.

Buffet-style meals

Buffet-style meals work for any type of wedding, but an outdoor wedding is specifically great for them. Since the wedding is outdoors, you might want to skip the sit-down meals where waiters bring each meal to guests individually - instead, you can have a buffet with amazing food choices, so your guests can get up and choose what they like.

There are tons of buffet ideas, and basically any dish can be turned into a buffet style. You can have different protein choices, different potato styles, different veggies, different pasta options, and so on.

Salads

Salads are perfect for summer weddings as they’re fresh, light, and in-season.

You can make a few different salad options so your guests can choose what they like. Make them amazing - include veggies, cheese, possibly protein, nuts, and different dressings. You can also include fresh fruit if you’re having a summer wedding. Salads are great for an outdoor wedding reception.

Stir-fries

Stir-fries are great for outdoor weddings as they fit buffet-style very well. There are tons of options, and you can give your guests multiple choices.

Sliders

Sliders can work as appetizers or even as part of the wedding buffet, and they’ll be a huge hit either way. There are tons of great options you could do - chicken sliders, burger sliders, pulled pork sliders, ham sliders, and so on.

Burgers

Burgers fit any wedding season, and they can be great for an outdoor wedding. You can have a burger food truck where your guests can choose toppings, or you can even have a few gourmet burger options which your guests can choose from. This is definitely one of the best outdoor wedding reception food ideas.

Lobster

Depending on when lobster is in-season where you live, this can be an amazing outdoor food idea! If perfect for fine dining, and also works for outdoor weddings when the weather is nice. For a less formal version, you can do lobster rolls!

Oysters

If you’re having a summer outdoor wedding, especially if it’s on the beach, oysters can ba an amazing addition to your summer wedding menu!

As long as you make sure they’re stored properly, they will make your wedding very special.

Ice cream bar

If your wedding is during summer, is there anything better you can serve than ice cream for dessert? You can have different flavors and let your guests choose! This will especially be a hit if there will be kids at your big day!

You can even have whipped cream and fruit so people can get sundaes.

Cookie bar

A cookie bar or a cookie food truck is a less traditional dessert option for a wedding, but some gourmet cookies can work very well.

Ice cream cake

Hear me out - ice cream cake for a summer wedding! Doesn’t that sound amazing? Of course, you’ll have your traditional wedding cake as well, but having an ice cream cake as another option would be a big hit during summer!