The wedding feast
The stage and the toasts: who is served first, what is shared, what is thrown or broken.
After the ceremony comes the feast, the center of many weddings. It may be a sit-down banquet, a long buffet, a roast on a mat, or a table of small dishes. It is where the families celebrate together and where the toast, the cake and the first shared bite take place.
Order and honour
Seating is a message: the head table in the West, the stage in India where the couple receive guests, the separate men's and women's halls in many Muslim and Orthodox Jewish weddings. In Georgia the tamada leads toasts in a set order. In China the couple tours the tables with a drink, and in Ethiopia the couple feed each other in a gesture called gursha.
What is served
Menus carry meaning. A whole fish for abundance in China, a roast lamb in the Gulf, sugared almonds in Italy, jollof rice in Nigeria and Ghana, biryani in India and Pakistan, tagine and pastilla in Morocco, and a cake in Britain. Sweet dishes are especially common, from the Greek koufeta to the Persian sholeh zard.
What is changing
Food stations, plant-based menus and halal or kosher catering are growing, and many couples work with local cooks rather than chains. Some communities cap the guest list or the menu to control spending, as in a few Gulf and Indian states.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Background on The wedding feast (stage of the wedding). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇦🇴 Luanda, Angola and 4 moreKizomba
A slow, sensual partner dance from Angola that turns wedding parties into intimate social gatherings.Performance · The wedding feast
🇳🇬 Lagos, Nigeria and 3 moreAso ebiAsọ-Ẹbí
Matching outfits worn by groups to show solidarity at Yoruba weddings and other ceremoniesAttire · The weeks before
🇸🇿 EswatiniUmtsimbauntsimba
A multi-day Swazi wedding procession where the bride joins her husband's family through ritualised stages.Rite · Finding a match
🇺🇬 UgandaOkeme
A lively Lango folk dance performed at weddings to bring the community together.Performance · Engagement and betrothal
🇺🇬 UgandaGaze
A traditional dance of the Lugbara people in Northern Uganda performed at weddings and festivalsPerformance · Engagement and betrothal
🇺🇬 UgandaTamena Ibuga
A traditional Soga dance from Busoga that celebrates unity and harvest through energetic drumming.Performance · The wedding feast
🇺🇬 UgandaEkitaguriro
A traditional Ankole dance celebrating cattle and community milestones like marriage.Performance · The wedding feast
🇬🇭 GhanaAdowa dance
A traditional Akan dance from Ghana that uses hand and foot movements to express emotions at weddings and other ceremoniPerformance · Procession and arrival
🇷🇼 Rwanda and 1 moreIntore
A traditional Rwandan and Burundian war dance performed by men to celebrate heroism and historyPerformance · The wedding feast
🇬🇭 Ghana and 1 moreBorborbor
A lively drumming and dance tradition of the Ewe people in Ghana and TogoPerformance · The wedding feast
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Aso ebi: SUPREME LACE, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Intore: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Borborbor: Noahalorwu, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Okeme: Emma Oruk, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ekitaguriro: Aubry Arihona, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kizomba: Obe Images, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Umtsimba: Cat7624, CC0, source
- Adowa dance: Quami43, CC BY-SA 4.0, source