Should You Include a Menu with Your Wedding Invitations?
I’d recommend including a menu with your wedding invitations only if guests need to choose their meal in advance. For a set menu, I’d usually leave it out and ask for allergies or other dietary requirements on the RSVP. Confirm your venue’s arrangements before deciding what to print.
When you’re putting your invitations together, it’s easy to feel you need to include every detail. The food is a big part of the day, so surely your guests need to see the menu too?
My answer depends on what you need them to do with it. Are they choosing a meal, or simply letting you know they’re coming?
Alongside creating wedding stationery, I bring experience from working at a wedding venue as recently as 2025, discussing arrangements with couples and helping coordinate their wedding days. It’s given me a practical perspective on the information your invitations need to collect, as well as how they look.
Should you include a menu with wedding invitations?
If you’re having a set menu, personally I wouldn’t normally include it. I’d keep the RSVP focused on attendance and dietary requirements, so your guests know exactly what they need to tell you.
Sending out a set menu can encourage opinions about dishes when there isn’t actually a choice to make. Before you know it, you’re discussing who prefers soup and who isn’t keen on the dessert!
Of course, allergies and dietary requirements are a different matter. I’d always make space for these on the RSVP and confirm the arrangements with your venue or caterer.
If guests do need to choose their food, I’d include the agreed options on a separate menu card or your wedding website, with clear instructions on how to reply.
Before you print: who gets to choose the food?
This is one detail I’d recommend checking before we finalise your invitation wording. A venue giving you a selection of starters, mains and desserts doesn’t automatically mean every guest chooses individually.
With a set menu, you choose the meal as a couple, with dietary requirements usually catered for separately. Individual guest choices may be a different package or come with an extra charge.
From my experience working at a venue, the simplest question to ask is: “Is this menu for us to choose from, or does each guest get to choose?” Every venue’s arrangements differ, and that answer tells us whether your invitation suite needs a menu insert at all.
What should your invitation and RSVP include?
If you’re having a set menu
I’d keep the food-related wording simple. Your RSVP needs each guest’s name, whether they can attend, and a space for allergies or other dietary requirements. There’s no need for meal-selection boxes when guests aren’t choosing a dish.
You can use this wording:
“Please let us know if you have any food allergies or other dietary requirements, including vegetarian or vegan meals. Please include the name of each guest this applies to.”
I’d ask about dietary requirements rather than only allergies, so vegetarian and vegan guests know to reply too. And I’d always ask for the name: “one vegetarian” on a family RSVP leaves you with another question to chase.
If guests are choosing their own meal
I’d give the menu its own insert, keeping the main invitation for the details of when and where to join you. That gives the dishes room to be read comfortably without squeezing everything into tiny print.
On the RSVP, allow a separate entry for each guest’s name and selections for whichever courses offer a choice. Include a separate space for allergies and dietary requirements as well.
A simple instruction could read:
“Please choose one option for each course from the enclosed menu and return your selections with your RSVP. Include a name alongside each person’s choices, plus any food allergies or other dietary requirements.”
I’d use the same dish names on the menu and reply card so there’s no guesswork. For children or anyone needing a different menu, confirm the options with your venue before adding them to the stationery.
If you’re replying online, a details card can direct guests to your wedding website instead. Whichever method you choose, make the reply deadline and instructions easy to find.
For the other pieces of information your guests need, see my guide to what wedding invitations should include.
Choose your RSVP deadline before printing
I’d recommend setting your RSVP deadline about a month before your venue needs final numbers and menu choices, wherever your planning timescale allows. That gives you room to chase replies and clarify dietary requirements without everything landing on the same day.
For example, if the venue needs your information by 1 June, you could print an RSVP date of 1 May. The buffer is before the venue’s deadline, rather than automatically a month before the wedding.
It also gives you some flexibility to invite additional people if plans change, while allowing those guests a reasonable amount of notice and time to respond.
If you want personalised menus or place cards, check the production deadline with your stationer too. We need time to turn your final guest information into finished stationery. My guide to when to send wedding invitations can help with the wider timeline, but your own venue and stationery deadlines should guide the date you print.
Menu inserts and wedding table menus do different jobs
You can leave the menu out of your invitation and still have beautiful menus on your wedding tables. They serve a different purpose: an invitation insert helps guests make a choice in advance, while a table menu shows what’s being served on the day.
For a set meal, a shared table menu or individual menus can be a lovely finishing touch. It’s a design choice, rather than something you need to include simply because you’re having a wedding breakfast.
If guests have selected different dishes, personalised menus can also remind them what they ordered. From working on wedding days, I know guests don’t always remember. To be fair, remembering which dessert you chose several months ago is quite an ask!
I’d discuss named menus or meal indicators on place cards with your venue before printing them, so they work with the team’s service arrangements. Your guest names, meal choices and table plan should all agree.
This is the part I love about thoughtful stationery: it can look beautiful on the table and make the day a little easier too.
Questions about menus and wedding invitations
Can you put menu choices on the RSVP card?
Yes, if your venue has confirmed that guests can choose individually. I’d give each guest a named space for their selections and keep allergies or dietary requirements separate. If dish descriptions are lengthy, put those on a menu insert and use matching, shortened dish names on the RSVP.
Do you need a printed menu insert if you have a wedding website?
You can put the agreed menu options and response form on your wedding website instead. I’d include the website address, reply deadline and clear instructions with the invitation. A QR code can help, but I’d also print the address and offer another reply method for guests who need it.
Should evening invitations include wedding breakfast menu choices?
I’d only ask guests for choices relevant to the part of the day they’re attending. If evening guests aren’t joining the wedding breakfast, leave those selections off their RSVP. Still give them a way to share allergies or dietary requirements for any food being served during the evening.
Need a hand with your invitation wording?
You don’t need to work out every insert and reply box on your own. Once you know whether you’re offering a set menu or individual choices, I can help you bring the right information together in stationery that feels like you.
Explore my bespoke wedding stationery or book a 15-minute informal chat. We can talk through what your invitations need to include, as well as all the lovely finishing touches.
About the author
I’m Jackie, the person behind The Creative Bride in Cheshire. I design and handmake wedding stationery, drawing on my previous wedding venue experience to help couples make their invitations clear, personal and beautiful.