Heritage to Haute Cuisine: The Wedding Feast Reimagined

From a nature-inspired wonderland or a homage to your favourite local ingredients, the wedding tables of India are becoming more immersive, experiential, and mindful than ever before

- Joanna Lobo

For decades, India's wedding tables have been defined by abundance. The larger the spread, the louder the statement. Food was spectacle: an emblem of status, scale, and the family's social footprint. But something has shifted, today.

As weddings become more intimate and intentional, so too have their menus. Across the country, couples are replacing excess with meaning choosing dishes that honour heritage, revive family recipes, celebrate regional identity, or simply tell a story. The modern wedding feast has become less about how much is served, and more about why it's served.

Meaningful Meals

When Toonika Guha and Rounak Saha planned their wedding, the guest list was small, the venue unconventional, but the food had to be perfect. Each dish recalled childhood memories of Bengali weddings, from chilli chicken to puchka. Their feast was more than a meal; it was the story of who they are.

“We've both grown up eating very traditional Bengali food at weddings, so we were very picky with what qualified as 'wedding food' for us. To us, it was traditional Bengali food.”

“It felt like bringing together the best of both worlds: a modern wedding on our own terms as well as having food that was more traditional,” says Guha, the founder of Toontooni's Table supper club.

It's Personal

They aren't alone. Today's couples are taking a keen interest in their wedding tables, with a shift towards menus that carry personal meaning through favourite dishes, heirloom recipes, and food that reflects history, regional pride or family tradition.