Your Perfect Wedding Menu: A Bespoke Approach with Beverages as Muse

More than an afterthought, beverages are the quiet orchestrators of a wedding menu — elevating flavors, punctuating courses, and setting the emotional tone of the celebration. From the first clink of glasses to the final pour, each sip tells a story of place, intention, and palate.

Designing your wedding menu around its beverage pairings is not only a nod to tradition, but an immersive way to reflect your personal style and culinary sensibilities. A flinty sparkling to open, an aged red that lingers through the main, a botanical gin under candlelight – all of it becomes a kind of visual poetry.

Below, we share three ways to build your menu with beverages at the heart – highlighting thoughtful pairings, where each drink belongs in the arc of a celebration, and the vendors we’re turning to right now.

Header Image: Lune 1860

“More than an afterthought, beverages are the quiet orchestrators of a wedding menu – elevating flavors, punctuating courses, and setting the emotional tone of the celebration.”

1. Start Bright: Open with Sparkling Wine

A sparkling aperitif is the overture to your celebration – best served just before the ceremony, during the welcome, or alongside delicate canapés. Santa Margherita’s Prosecco Superiore, with its crisp notes of ripe pineapple, Rennet apple, and white peach, offers a floral brightness that heightens even the subtlest of starters.

Think tender scallops with citrus beurre blanc, goat cheese crostini with thyme honey, or salmon tartare crowned with cucumber and dill. The bubbles cut through creamy textures and enliven raw ingredients, giving both flavor and mood a gentle lift. Later, consider a pour with the wedding cake – a poetic final sparkle.

Questions to ask your beverage partner:

– Can this Prosecco carry through both the welcome and dessert course?
– Which local ingredients mirror its flavor profile?
– How should it be served (glassware, temperature, timing) for maximum effect?

2. Create a Signature: Serve Botanical Spirits with Story

Cocktail hour is the playful middle chapter – ripe for storytelling and personal expression. Italian made, Chronicles Gin is infused with thoughtfully selected botanicals and layers of spice, pine, citrus, and wildflower. It’s the kind of spirit that doesn’t just support a cocktail, but shapes it.

Serve as a spritz with rosemary and lemon peel for the sun-drenched aperitivo moment, or work with a mixologist to build a signature serve that echoes your love story—like a lavender gimlet for Provence, or a coastal negroni for seaside vows.

Questions to ask your beverage partner:

– What botanicals feature most strongly, and how can we match them with our menu?
– Do you offer small-format or customized bottles for guest gifts or favors?
– How can we tie the story of the spirit into the guest experience?

3. Anchor the Table: Let Red Wine Lead the Main

When the table is set and the first course clears, red wine becomes the anchor. Brunello di Montalcino – from the hills of Tuscany – is known for its complexity, depth, and earthbound elegance. Made exclusively from Sangiovese grapes, its rich tannins and subtle red fruit are a natural companion to structured mains and nuanced fare.

Pour it alongside duck breast with cherry reduction, wild mushroom risotto with truffle, or a course of aged cheeses and rosemary focaccia. Its balance lends gravity to the center of the meal – designed to be savored slowly, to stretch conversation and soften edges.

Questions to ask your beverage partner:

– How many vintages do you recommend serving across the dinner courses?
– What is the ideal pour per guest per course?
– Can we feature this wine in a tasting flight or curated pairing?

Masterful wedding menus don’t just feed – they unfold. By anchoring yours with carefully chosen beverages at every phase of the celebration, you create rhythm, memory, and ceremony in equal measure.