Budget Beach Wedding Food Ideas

Choosing a menu for the wedding is always hard, because you have to consider so many things. In general wedding planners recommend to know your budget and the number of guests. For instance, if you're planning to feed 150 people, a five-course dinner will never be within the limits of $1,500. Also try to avoid very expensive dishes, like lobsters and oysters.

Drinks. Refreshing cocktails are the best selection for the beach wedding. They can be alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages that go well for the cocktail hour and during the meal. The most popular choice of the cocktails is something that has a coconut and tropical fruit flavor, like:

• Ocean Breeze (good as a signature beverage for its deep blue color): coconut rum, blue curacao, 7 Up, cherry, ice
• Paradise Cocktail: light Malibu rum, blue curacao, grenadine, pineapple juice
• Blueberry Lime Margarita: blueberry syrup, lime juice, Grand Marnier, tequila
• Malibu Sunset: Malibu rum, coconut liqueur, pineapple juice, grenadine syrup.

Appetizers. You can serve appetizers during the cocktail hour and even prior to the dinner. The most popular beach wedding appetizers include:

• Fish 'n chips buckets
• Crab bites
• Crostini topped with salmon
• Tropical chips served in paper cones
• Mini crabcakes
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Fruit skewers
• Veggie cups

Salads. Salads can be served at your wedding, and they are served before the main course. If you want to serve it, then opt for a light salad with no flavorful dressing, like:

• Mixed local greens
• Caesar salad with shrimps
• Greek salad

Soups. Soups can be served as an alternative to salad. It's up to whether you want soup or not, but if you opt for it, cold soups would be a good choice. Also a seafood soup would be perfect for your wedding:

• Clam chowder
• Gazpacho
• Thai Shrimp Soup

Entrees. Now it's time to think about the key dishes at your wedding. We recommend you to serve two dishes, so your guests have something to choose from. Any entree is served with the side dish, that can be rice, potatoes, pasta or vegetables. And concerning the main course, choose from:

• Grilled fish
• Chicken marsala
• Roast pork
• Jamaican Jerk (fish or meats)

Desserts. Desserts absolutely don't have to be present at your wedding, because you always have your wedding cake. But if you think that guests might not like it or you want to make your wedding menu extra sweet, then add one or two desserts to it, like:

• Pudding
• Citrus tart
• Grilled peaches served with ice cream and honey
• No bake cheesecake
• Macarons

As you see, there are so many options for the beach wedding food, you can also serve your favorite summer dishes. Remember, that the food you serve should be as light as possible, and try to avoid spicy dishes.