Top 2025 Catering Trends for Weddings and Events
Entering into 2025, here are predictions of food and beverage catering trends for weddings and events compiled by observation at event venues in the past 6 months. This is an idea guide on what’s available in the market and best practises in incorporating the latest trend into traditional weddings, stay updated in planning milestone birthdays and organising corporate events.
1) Live Stations
What has started way before 2025 and gets bigger every year are Live Stations, similar to those at hotel buffets. Food can be either fully or partially prepared and served at the stations as guests line-up for them. It is entertaining to watch Chefs and Servers prepare and plate food. A chance to stretch legs and mingle is also a plus point for guests. Sometimes there is more interest in the Live Station food than those served at guest table.
Below are a collection of Live Stations or Food Stalls compiled during my own Dessert Table setups and events attended.
Attention is paid to the decorative setup of stations and stalls as it is a crowd puller and creates the atmosphere according to the theme of the event. Personnel in coordinating outfits further adds to the charm of interactive food and beverage service.
The ideal Live Station to end on a sweet note would be a cake portioning station for weddings. Dessert Table and Candy Corner are alternatives to sweeten the experience.
2) Personalised Food and Beverage Menu
For creativity and to personalise the menu, the wedding couple might choose to have their favourite food served or food that tells a story, just as they would choose their playlist of songs to be played. Injecting uniqueness and some fun, small additions can be added to complement the main menu as well as add variety. Think in terms of not-your-everyday-food, or something not easily found and consumed daily for that unique touch. Or creating special cocktails and mocktails just for that event instead of the usual open bar.
It goes without saying that all wedding cakes should be customised and created with the wedding couple in mind, at the very least. For the adventurous, a cake tasting and consultation on the design and portioning service is much welcomed.
Customised desserts tables according to theme or theme colours, ensuring every dessert table catered for have a different look and feel. That’s how we push the envelop of creativity and evolve in our ever competitive industry, bringing you our best every time.
3) Sustainable Catering
Sustainability is always top priority in any long term game. The usual practices are zero-waste food preparation, buying from local farms and sourcing local suppliers enrich and strengthen the local community. Choosing to use proper crockeries and cutleries will reflect higher quality of food presentation and overall high-end of catering, compared to using disposables. In the event that disposables are unavoided, there are different grades. From the lowest recycleable plastics to environmentally friendly paper, and the more advance biodegradable and compostable packaging materials available. These are widely adopted in street food packaging, and food delivery service.
The above are photos from a showroom visit. The Boss wasn’t around so I had to use my limited Mandarin to communicate, and did further reseach online.
The business of pastry and cakes are very much a part of the gifting industry (expecting to grow pass USD44billion by 2029). As with food and beverage, the trending topics are sustainability, technology and customization. We use packaging for festive gifts, corporate gifts, doorgifts and more. I source local and international. Part of my service is sourcing and recommending giftboxes, then designing the edible product, and arranging for printables. The main aim of packaging is to make the outside look pretty, and a bonus if the inside is just as pretty!
Conclusion
It is essential to differentiate between trends and fads. Trends stay for long and it slowly evolves with time. Much like being engulfed in a fog. Whereas fads are short lived like gust of wind passing by. Then there are styles that make a comeback, what is old will become new again. It is an interesting thing to observe, if you can stay in the industry long enough. Till the next trend updates in 2026, best keep moving forward and upwards!
