How Big Should a Wedding Menu Be?

Of all the things you have to consider when planning a wedding reception, the size of the menu should be low on your list. But you still have to decide...

How big should a wedding menu be? One side of A5 is sufficient for a simple menu (three starters, three mains and three desserts). If you want a picture of the couple, a frontispiece that features the couples’ names, or a design, then a 4-sided A5 menu is suitable.

Which of these designs you go for is up to you. It depends on many menu items the kitchen will let your guests choose from, whether you want to include pictures and designs, and more.

How Big Should a Wedding Menu Be?

There are lots of things you have to consider when thinking of the size of your wedding menu. In some circumstances, you won’t need a menu at all, for example if your guests have decided what they want in advance. The same goes if you’re serving a buffet.
But more often than not, you’ll need a menu. Most couples opt for a single side of A5, which is more than enough to feature both the menu choices and any design you choose. But if your menu has lots of items on it, you might need two sides of A5.

The main issue is if the menu items aren’t easily legible. Certain typefaces (like swirly, elegant wedding ones) can be difficult to read when they’re small. So, print off or order a sample before you order your wedding menus to see how easy they are to read.
So, that’s the short answer. The long answer is that there are lots of things to think of when you’re designing your wedding menus.

Wedding Menu Formats

There are three formats that wedding menus commonly come in. The first of these is a simple A5 sheet with a front side and a back side. It can be printed with the couples’ names on the front and the menu choices on the back.

Alternatively, you can have a four sided menu made from an A4 page folded in half. Lengthways, and the menu will be thin but tall (like drinks menus sometimes are at menus). This is compact and effective with a nice design.

You could also choose an A5 size menu with four sides. This is made from an A4 sheet folded in half, so that each side is the size of an A5 page. On the outside front and back, you could have a large design. You could have the menu spread out over both of the inside pages. This is perfect if you have more menu items, or you want to feature a large photograph of the couple, or a large design.

But which should you pick? And do you even need a wedding menu? Here’s what you need to think of...

Does The Menu Feature The Couples’ Names?

Something that many wedding menus have is a front page which features the couples’ names, perhaps plus the date of the wedding and any other details the couple wants to include. This normally takes up an entire page on its own, so that it’s the main focus of the menu when anybody first sees it.

How Many Items Should You Have on a Wedding Menu?

The size of your wedding menu will be dictated by what’s on it. And taking up more space than anything else will be all the items that your guests will have to choose from. So, before you think about the size of the menu, you have to pick the menu items being served at your reception.

There aren’t normally many items on a wedding menu. Venues like to keep it that way, because the kitchen will have to cook lots of food all at once for all of your guests. If they each ordered something different, the chefs would have the impossible task of cooking lots of individual meals rather than making anything in bulk (e.g. soups and pasta).

As such, there shouldn’t be too many menu items. Three starters, three mains and three desserts is what most couples go for. This can all comfortably fit on one side of A5, plus a design.

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