What are the necessary dishes in your wedding feast?

There are no "necessary" foods here in the U.S. when it comes to weddings. There may be some regional or familial traditions but not standards for the entire nation. The closest we get would be the cake, and even that isn't a given; some people opt for tiers of cupcakes instead, for instance. I've thought a lot about what I would want at my reception. I have some ideas, but what we end up doing will depend on a number of factors--from time of year to number of guests.

In Kerala we people used to have biriyani in most of the functions. I think you people know about this specials dish. Yet it is made in most of the functions it is loved by every one becuase it is too tasty and this is the one of the reason why I include Biriyani to the function. Second most important thing to the function is a lovely creamy cake. I think it is very important in such a function. Cool drinks and dance party are the some of the things which is very important things.

Here not all weddings have a full meal, often there are just appetizers or nuts and mints. The "must" is usually an elaborate cake and a bowl of punch that is fruity. For my daughter's wedding we had sandwiches, cheese balls, fruit salad and nuts and mints and cake. When I married my current husband, after being widowed, I had a small wedding and we took everyone to a special buffet restaurant, and yes, we had pork and chicken and beef, and various salads and vegetables and all kinds of dessert, not just cake.

Our weddings are all very caste and community specific as far as food menu is concerned; you will be amazed by the variety found here. In our community the staple food is rice. You have plain white rice, ghee, dhal, one thick gravy known as sambhar, one thin gravy called rasam, two or three vegetables cooked individually as three side veg dishes, ,Papad, a vada[a fried tikki like thing made of dhal],savoury, sweet dish[solid], sweet kheer[liquid sweet], fruit , tamarind rice a fruit mixture. Moreover, this is for lunch.Apart from this there would be morning breakfast, evening snacks, and night dinner. Breakfast would consist of Idli, dosa, Pongal, chatni , sambhar, one sweet and coffee. Dinner would be exotic with VegPulav, or Sambhar rice/Bisebelebath,Curd rice, fried potato, sweet, savoury, ice cream etc.., Now there is such a mix of audience that some affluent people cater to all sorts of tastes and provide a mix of North Indian , and south Indian , and also Chinese cuisinelike Noodles, spring rolls, chat items etc..,] Middle class people resort to the rice items mentioned by me in dinner caategory. Yo go to a Gujarati wedding ; there it will be different.

In my eyes, a wedding cake is very important. If in my wedding, I will order a wedding cake with beautiful figures on it, so that I can have a good photo with it, then pass down the photo to my children. Traditional dishes are very delicious, but they can not be so meaningful.