How do you ask for dietary requirements on a wedding invitation?

Ask on the RSVP rather than the invitation itself. A simple line works: "Please let us know of any dietary requirements or allergies for each member of your party." Mention "each member of your party" so one reply covers partners and children, and use the word "allergy" so guests with a serious one know this is where to say so.

When should you ask wedding guests for meal choices?

Collect meal choices with the RSVP. First ask your caterer when they need final numbers, then set your RSVP deadline before that date, leaving time to chase guests who have not replied. Asking for meals separately, later, means a second round of chasing, so it is easier to ask for everything in one go.

Should wedding guests choose their meal in advance?

Only if your caterer serves a choice. For a choice per course or a set menu with alternatives, the caterer needs to know how many of each dish to prepare, so guests choose in advance. For a buffet or sharing feast nobody chooses, but you still need a headcount and every guest's dietary needs.

Is a set menu or a choice of meals better for a wedding?

A set menu is simpler: everyone eats the same meal, with one or two whole alternative menus such as a vegetarian one. A choice per course gives guests more say but takes more collecting and counting. A buffet removes choices altogether. Ask your caterer which they prefer and what each costs before you decide.

Do children need their own wedding menu?

Not always. Ask your caterer whether they offer a children's menu or smaller portions of the main meal. Either way, tell the caterer how many children are eating and roughly how old they are, and collect dietary notes for children in the same way as for adults.

What does a caterer need from the couple before a wedding?

One clear page: the headcount split into adults and children, the number of plates of each dish per course (or just the headcount for a buffet), every dietary note with the person's name, and the table each person sits at. Then double-check each allergy against the dish it affects with the kitchen.

What should I do if a guest has a severe allergy?

Get the details from the guest in writing, in their own words, and pass them to your caterer exactly. Tell the caterer where that guest is sitting so the right plate reaches them. Share the menu with its allergens before the day, so the guest can check each dish and raise any concern early.

Can a guest change their meal choice after the RSVP deadline?

Check with your caterer first, and ask whether they can still swap or add a plate before their own cut-off for final numbers. On Fizz, guests cannot change their reply after the RSVP deadline, and you can close meal choices earlier than that if your caterer needs them sooner. The couple can still record or change a guest's reply, including their meal, by hand.

Can Fizz collect meal choices and dietary requirements?

Yes, on the Celebrate and Champagne plans. You build a menu of up to 20 dishes across starter, main and dessert, tag allergens and diets, and guests choose a meal and add a dietary note for each person in their party. Fizz shows plates per dish and one dietary list, and exports a CSV for your caterer.

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Wedding Dietary Requirements and Meal Choices: How to Ask, and What Your Caterer Needs

Q: What are the 14 allergens a wedding caterer must know about?

Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites. UK food businesses, wedding caterers included, must be able to tell guests when a dish contains any of them, and Ireland uses the same list under EU rules. Your part is to tell the caterer which guest has which allergy.

Fizz Wedding12 October 2026(Updated 12 October 2026)8 min read

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The easiest way to handle wedding dietary requirements is to ask for them on your RSVP, from each person who is coming, with one clear question and space for detail. Then turn the answers into a single list for your caterer, with each guest's name, their meal choice and anything they cannot eat. Ask early, ask everyone in the party (not just the person who replied), and never rely on memory or a group chat.

This guide covers how to word the question, what to ask, whether to offer a choice of meals, a set menu or a buffet, how to handle allergies safely, and exactly what to hand your caterer before the day.

How to ask for dietary requirements on a wedding invitation

Put the question on the RSVP, not the invitation itself. The invitation tells guests where to reply, and the reply form is where the detail goes. If you are using paper, a line on the reply card works. If your RSVP is on your wedding website, guests can answer at their own pace and you get the answers in one place, already typed.

Three wordings that work, from formal to relaxed:

Please let us know of any dietary requirements or allergies for each member of your party.

Do you, or anyone in your party, have an allergy or dietary need our caterer should know about?

Anything you can't or don't eat? Tell us here and we'll make sure the kitchen knows.

Whichever you choose, keep two things in it: "each member of your party", so a reply from one person covers their partner and children too, and the word "allergy", so guests with a serious one know this is the place to say so.

What to ask on your RSVP form

Keep it short. Every extra question makes the form slower to finish. For food, you need three things at most:

Attending or not. Only people who are coming need a meal.
A meal choice per course, if your caterer is offering a choice.
A free-text note for allergies, intolerances and diets, for each person in the party.

A free-text box is better than a long list of tick boxes. Diets are specific ("no shellfish, but fish is fine", "coeliac, not just gluten-free by preference"), and a caterer needs the exact words. If you want to prompt people, list a few examples under the box: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nut allergy.

Ask about children separately from adults. Ask your caterer whether they offer a children's menu or smaller portions, and tell them how many children are eating and how old they are.

How you collect meal choices depends on how your caterer serves the meal. There are three common formats.

A choice per course. Guests pick a starter, a main and a dessert from two or three options each. It gives guests the most say, but it is the most work to collect and count, and the caterer needs a plate count for every dish.
A set menu with alternatives. Everyone has the same meal, with one or two whole alternative menus (often a vegetarian one). Guests choose a menu, not individual dishes, which is simpler for everyone.
A buffet or sharing feast. Nobody chooses in advance. You still need a headcount and every guest's dietary needs, and the caterer must give allergen information for each dish separately, not for the buffet as a whole (Food Standards Agency).

If one course has only one dish, do not ask guests to choose it. Just show it on the menu, so they know what is coming.

Allergies: the 14 allergens and why detail matters

In the UK, food businesses, wedding caterers included, must be able to tell customers when a dish contains any of 14 major allergens (Food Standards Agency guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Food Standards Scotland). Ireland uses the same list under EU Regulation 1169/2011 (FSAI; the list is in Annex II of the regulation). The 14 are:

celery
cereals containing gluten
crustaceans
eggs
fish
lupin
milk
molluscs
mustard
tree nuts
peanuts
sesame
soya
sulphites

Your caterer's job is to know what is in each dish, which the Food Standards Agency expects of every food business. Your job is to make sure they know which guest has which allergy, and where that guest is sitting. Three habits make that reliable:

Get the allergy from the guest, in writing. Not passed on by a relative.
Keep the guest's exact words. "Severe peanut allergy, carries an adrenaline pen" tells a kitchen far more than "nuts".
Show the allergens on the menu you share with guests, so anyone with an allergy can check a dish before they choose it.

An allergy or a medical diet is health information, which UK data protection law treats as special category data, so treat it with care. Ask only for what the caterer needs, share it only with the people preparing and serving food, and tell guests that is who will see it.

When to collect meal choices

Ask your caterer when they need final numbers and meal choices, before you set your RSVP deadline. Then set the deadline before that date, with enough room to chase the people who have not replied. Late meal changes are the ones that cause problems, so make the deadline clear on the form itself. On Fizz you can also set a separate Meal choices close date, earlier than your RSVP deadline, if your caterer needs meals sooner.

If a guest says yes after the deadline, check with your caterer before you confirm their meal, and ask whether they can still add a plate.

What to give your caterer

At the final numbers stage, your caterer needs one clear page, not a spreadsheet of replies. It should include:

The total headcount, split into adults and children.
Plates per dish, per course, if guests chose. For a buffet, just the headcount.
Every dietary note, with the person's name and the guest they are with.
The table each person is sitting at, so the right plate reaches the right seat.
Any dish allergens to double-check against the guests who flagged them.

Debrett's gives the same advice: supply the caterer with a full seating plan, highlighted to show the guests with special dietary needs.

If you are working on paper, build this from your replies a week or so before the caterer's deadline, and check it twice. If you are not sure the courses add up, the free wedding menu planner counts every dish, flags a course that does not add up to the number of guests eating, and prints one page for your caterer.

How Fizz handles meal choices and dietary requirements

On Fizz, meal choices and dietary notes are part of the RSVP on your wedding website, on the Celebrate and Champagne plans. Here is how it works:

Build your menu with up to 20 dishes across starter, main and dessert. Tag each dish with any of the 14 allergens and with vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian.
Choose the format. Guests pick a dish for each course, or, if you number your dishes into set menus, they pick a whole menu. Switch to buffet and guests see every dish and its allergens, with no choice to make.
Guests reply for their whole party. Each person, plus-ones and children included, gets their own meal choice and their own dietary note of up to 500 characters. Next to the box, the form tells guests to fill it in only if they want the couple and their caterer to know, and that they can see and download what is written there.
See your numbers as they arrive. Your guest list shows plates per dish for each course, and one dietary list with every note from people who are coming.
Hand it over. Download the guest list as a CSV, with one row per person, their course choices and their dietary note. In the seating planner, each table has a "For the caterer" box with its main course counts, the allergens in the dishes chosen and the dietary notes of the people seated there.

There is more on the menu side on the wedding menu builder page, and the full RSVP set-up is in our guide to setting up online RSVPs for your wedding.

Your dietary requirements checklist

Ask your caterer for their final numbers date and their menu format.
Set your RSVP deadline before it, with time to chase.
Ask for a meal choice and a dietary note for every person in each party.
Include the word "allergy" in your question.
Show allergens on the menu you share with guests.
Count plates per dish, and check each course adds up.
Give your caterer one page: headcount, plates, dietary notes, tables.
Double-check every allergy against the dish it affects.

Done this way, dietary requirements stop being a last-minute worry and become one tidy list your caterer can trust. For the wider job of putting people at tables, see our guide to planning a seating chart for a big wedding.

Disclaimer

This article is general guidance for planning a wedding, checked against official sources in October 2026. It is not legal, medical or food-safety advice. Allergy information is the responsibility of your caterer or venue: always confirm allergens and dietary needs with them directly, and ask guests with a serious allergy to speak to the caterer too. Fizz Wedding Ltd cannot guarantee that the information is complete or accurate, and, to the extent permitted by law, accepts no liability for any loss or harm resulting from reliance on it.