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The courses of a traditional Italian wedding meal, from aperitivo to digestivo, what sugared almond confetti mean, and how to plan an Italian-style menu.
A traditional Italian wedding meal is the full formal Italian meal, which is otherwise mostly kept for special occasions: aperitivo, antipasto, a primo (pasta, risotto or soup), a secondo of meat or fish with a contorno, then dessert, espresso and a digestivo. It is long, and the dishes follow the region more than any national wedding menu. Guests usually go home with confetti, sugared almonds traditionally given in fives. One thing you likely won't see: "Italian wedding soup", which isn't a wedding dish at all.
Everyday Italian meals are short, but the full-course meal is mainly reserved for special events such as weddings. Here is the structure, in order.
Italy's food is intensely regional, and wedding menus follow it: seafood along the coasts, rich meat and egg pasta in Emilia-Romagna, risotto in the north, and so on. A couple marrying in Puglia will be offered a very different menu from one marrying in Piedmont. If you are planning an Italian-style wedding outside Italy, choose the region your family comes from and build the menu from its dishes rather than a generic "Italian" buffet. Italian wedding traditions covers the customs around the meal.
In Italian, confetti are not paper but sugar-coated almonds, traditionally given as wedding favours. The town of Sulmona in Abruzzo is famous for making them. They are usually packaged in groups of five, representing happiness, health, longevity, wealth and fertility. The favour bag or box they come in is called a bomboniera.
The soup sold as Italian wedding soup comes from minestra maritata, a Neapolitan soup of greens and meat in broth. Maritata means "married", referring to the way the meat and greens go together, and the name became "wedding soup" through translation in the United States. The dish has no particular association with weddings in Italy. Serve it if you love it, but not as a tradition.
Many Italian weddings end with a cake, often a layered sponge or a millefoglie (layers of puff pastry and cream), though the style varies by region and family. Some receptions also set up a separate table of sweets and fruit late in the evening. For more on how cakes differ across cultures, see wedding cakes around the world.
Budget time as well as money. A multi-course seated meal takes hours. Build the day's schedule around it, and plan speeches and dances between courses so guests aren't sitting through long gaps. Wedding reception order of events helps with the running order, and the timeline tool below can map it out.
There's no fixed number. The full formal meal runs from aperitivo to digestivo, around ten stages, but many weddings serve four to six main courses: antipasto, one or two primi, secondo with contorno, and dessert.
The five almonds represent happiness, health, longevity, wealth and fertility. They are called confetti and traditionally given in a bomboniera.
Not traditionally. Its Italian name, minestra maritata, means "married soup" and refers to the pairing of meat and greens, not to weddings.
Usually prosecco or another sparkling wine with the aperitivo, local wines through the meal, espresso after dessert and a digestivo such as grappa or amaro to finish.
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