Like many couples, in advance of their wedding, Heather and Daniel O’Berry asked their friends and family to select their preferred food option: chicken, beef or vegetarian. Yet, while the card may have been a standard request, the result was decidedly not.
At their April 26 reception at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., the couple, who live in Chicago, surprised their 240 guests, serving each of them a plate of chicken fingers, a hamburger or a vegetarian Buddha bowl.
The unconventional dinner was a lifelong dream of Ms. O’Berry, 30, a services consultant for the software company Asana, whose favorite meal is chicken tenders and fries. “It’s a known joke that I just order from the kids’ menu, and I always look at the kids’ menu first when I go out to eat,” she said. Mr. O’Berry, 31, a vice president of Outbound Hotels, supported her vision from the start. “It was a nice compliment to the formal side of it, and a fun way to kind of lighten the mood,” he said.
While hamburgers and chicken fingers are typically associated with plastic utensils and paper napkins, at the couple’s reception, each plate was presented under a clear dome. “It made it a whole production,” Ms. O’Berry said. The juxtaposition of chicken tenders and fries with a black-tie dress code wasn’t lost on the couple, who wanted an elevated celebration with a laid-back feel. “There was an in-between that we were trying to balance,” she added.
Carly Katz-Hackman, a partner and the chief sales officer at Pinch Food Design in New York City, said many of her clients are seeking ways to present fast food in vintage-inspired formats, whether that be French fries in mint julep cups or hamburgers on silver trays. “People are kind of looking for that old Hollywood glamour paired with their own experience, which is these elevated comfort foods,” she said.
The O’Berrys ’ culinary surprise was well-received among their family and friends. “I remember going over to one table and someone was telling me, ‘We almost thought about getting burgers before we came here because we didn’t want wedding food,’” Ms. O’Berry said, adding that “this is the type of food that you actually want to eat while drinking and dancing.”
Others share her sentiment. “I think, on a base level, guests and couples want food that they actually crave,” said Elizabeth Goel, the chief executive and culinary designer at Bite Catering Company in Los Angeles. For many, that may translate to fast food. In a 2025 YouGov survey, French fries were the highest-rated American dish; hamburgers came in third.
That was the case for Haley Hasegawa when she started planning her wedding with her now-husband, Ryan Hasegawa. “Burgers have always been my brand,” she said. In 2021, Ms. Hasegawa, 31, a property manager at Private Homes Hawaii, even won a photo contest sponsored by a local burger chain.
At the couple’s Nov. 20 wedding in Kaneohe, Hawaii, guests enjoyed hamburgers served out of custom white and blue-striped boxes atop gold-rimmed chargers. “I wanted to make it very reflective of who we are as people,” said Ms. Hasegawa, who also lives in Kaneohe. “I didn’t want a basic wedding.”
She isn’t the only newlywed embracing an unconventional culinary approach. Today’s couples are increasingly focused on a guest-centric experience that feels more like a unique celebration — and less like a cookie-cutter template, Ms. Goel said. The data echoes this point. In the Knot Worldwide’s 2025 Real Weddings Study, 90 percent of couples surveyed said they wanted an authentic wedding that felt like a reflection of themselves.
Food often plays a key role in this shift. “I think comfort food really taps into nostalgia: dishes that people grew up with, flavors that maybe tie into a family memory, things that feel very warm, very familiar,” she said. Fifteen percent of couples surveyed by the Knot reported integrating foods tied to their background or culture into their celebration.
When Eric and Alana Hall decided to host their wedding in Chicago, where they grew up, they knew the food would be an important part of their celebration. The couple, who currently live in Denver, has a list of go-to establishments they like to visit whenever they return home. That includes Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen, the spot they ultimately chose for their July 26 reception.
For the occasion, they leaned into the fare the cafeteria is famous for: corned beef sandwiches, potato pancakes and matzo ball soup. “We thought it would be fun to mix it up for the people, including our guests and ourselves, who were so sick of the same wedding buffets or dried chicken that everyone talks about,” said Ms. Hall, 30, a counselor in the Douglas County School District.
In addition to the food, they also incorporated quintessential elements of the Chicago deli into their place settings and décor through cafeteria trays, diner mugs and retro-style plates. “We wanted it to be kind of a unique pop-up for our guests at this setting,” Ms. Hall said.
The untraditional approach was an immediate hit with guests, many of whom noted that it was “such a fun, different experience,” Ms. Hall said. And while there was no question that the food was popular, the mugs, featuring the diner’s logo, may have been the biggest crowd-pleaser of the evening. “I think there were even a few that got taken that night,” she said.
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