10 Wedding Food Trends That Will Be Everywhere This Year

A fancy, plated meal is typical for a wedding reception, but 2017 is all about creating a more laid-back atmosphere (after all, shouldn't the 'best day of your life' be all about having the time of your life?!). Relax the rules with passed plates, small bites, or even serving up a meal family-style.

Local, organic products are as buzzy as ever, so plan to see more of that farm-to-table philosophy extend to wedding menus, as well.

You might be used to seeing chicken, beef, or fish on the menu, but couples are choosing to highlight the comfort food faves they grew up with, or ones they've enjoyed while dating, like chicken and waffles or sliders.

Everything is more fun when you make it yourself, right? Instead of a complex bar menu with signature drinks, expect to see more hands-on options, such as a Mimosa Bar or a Bubble Bar. In lieu of the sit-down dinner, you may see a DIY taco bar or salad bar.

A wedding cake is good, but tons of mini desserts are even better. This year will give guests plenty of more dessert variety in lieu of (or in addition to) a traditional cake. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds obviously knew what was up when they had a dessert table at their 2012 wedding.

Dancing all night long at an evening wedding definitely stimulates your appetite, and that dinner you ate nine hours earlier isn't going to sustain you. Couples are offering more late-night snack options, or even serving breakfast if the reception plans to last into the early morning.

Going along with creating a more relaxed reception vibe, some couples are forgoing a sit-down meal altogether in favor of foods trucks. Not only are they an economical meal option, but the foods are usually easy to eat, so you don't have to stop partying when you get hungry. Plus, you can get trucks with a variety of cuisines so everyone is satisfied.

The point of a wedding is committing to something you love, so you might as well do that with your food, too. Instead of offering a variety of options, many couples are choosing to keep their menus to a theme, like bacon or chocolate. Someone please invite us to a bacon wedding.

Deciding what or where to eat is literally the hardest part of a relationship, so refuse to choose and serve up a fusion menu that highlights cuisines both of you love, or opt for food stations where guests can sample different flavors, like BBQ and Italian. It's your wedding; you call the shots.  

Not a cake lover? No problem. This year, couples are straying from tradition to celebrate with whatever they truly love — a burger cake, a donut cake, a tower of cupcakes.