Planning a Vegan Wedding: Cakes, Catering & Menu Tips

This is the first post in our vegan wedding series sponsored by WeddingWire. We’ve been using WeddingWire to plan the wedding and track our favorite vendors. We’re so excited to be getting married and to share the planning process with you. Stay tuned for more insight and tips in the coming months!

We’re really doing this—Maxx and I are getting married. A little background: we’ve known each other for over ten years and, by the time we tie the knot, we’ll have been dating for a decade. We met in Madrid in 2008 while studying abroad during our junior year. I liked him right away, but he was blissfully oblivious. We moved to New York in 2009, moved in together in 2011, and relocated to Los Angeles last summer. We’re both committed vegans and thrilled to celebrate with a fully plant-based wedding.

We’re planning a 100% vegan wedding in magical Topanga Canyon this spring. Because vegan weddings can still feel unconventional, we’ll share our planning process over the next few months to show how practical it is to ensure everything from shoes to food to decor is vegan-friendly. Even the meat-eating members of your family can enjoy delicious dishes they recognize.

Food is a big deal to us, so we couldn’t wait to share our tasting experience and tips. For our wedding we taste-tested two caterers and two bakers. We’ll reveal our final choices closer to the wedding in late April and post photos and video on social media—so stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s how our tastings went and what we learned.

Tips for planning food for a vegan wedding

• If you can’t find a fully vegan caterer, use WeddingWire to search for local caterers who can cook vegan dishes. Check reviews for the word “vegan” to gauge experience, and always request a tasting well before the wedding.

• Choose a venue that allows outside caterers or offers an in-house vegan menu. We turned down venues that restricted us to “preferred caterers” because we wanted the freedom to hire a 100% vegan caterer. We found our venue on WeddingWire; it lets you bring in any caterer and also provides an affordable vegan menu if you prefer their chef.

• Concerned about pleasing meat-eating relatives? Find a vegan caterer who can prepare familiar flavors. My family loves soul and Cajun food, so we prioritized caterers who specialize in those cuisines.

• On a budget? Service style affects cost. We chose buffet service instead of plated meals to reduce staffing needs, encourage mingling, and potentially cut food waste by allowing guests to serve themselves.

Leave your questions about choosing a caterer for a vegan wedding in the comments below.

Food Art Truck by Lauren Von Der Pool

We caught up with Lauren Von Der Pool’s food truck in Hollywood near Sunset & Vine. Her artful soul food was outstanding. We tried cornbread “chicken” and waffles made with shiitake mushrooms and cauliflower, crispy potatoes with mumbo sauce, a colorful “beef” curry, and a creamy chocolate peanut butter tart. Her creative, flavorful dishes left a lasting impression. Lauren’s unique approach to classic soul food could be a hit with our families.

Krimsey’s Cajun Kitchen

Krimsey’s is the world’s first Cajun vegan restaurant and it’s based in North Hollywood. Chef Krimsey grew up in Louisiana and brings authentic Cajun flavors to plant-based cuisine. We sampled étouffée, sausage po’ boy, potato salad, “gumbalaya” (a gumbo-jambalaya hybrid), Cajun rainbow salad, cornbread, beignets, and a Mardi Gras King Cake. Her dishes were lighter and cleaner than many traditional Southern preparations—perfect for a wedding menu.

Baby Love Sweetery

We met Krysten, owner and baker of Baby Love Sweetery, to taste her wedding cakes in cupcake form. She offered six flavors: carrot cake, dulce de leche, vanilla berry, triple chocolate, churro, and salted caramel chocolate. The cakes were moist, fluffy, and not overly sweet—exactly what you want for a wedding. My favorites were the triple chocolate and the salted caramel chocolate, but all were excellent. Krysten also makes tarts, brownies, banana pudding, and other treats, so we may serve a variety of desserts at our reception.

Top Tier Treats

We discovered this West LA bakery on WeddingWire. Though not fully vegan, Top Tier Treats offers a full vegan menu with wedding cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. For an at-home tasting they provided three mini cakes—red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla—along with various fillings, mousses, and icings to combine. Mixing and matching was fun; predictably, my favorite was the chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and chocolate icing.

We also considered a few LA restaurants for potential catering without doing formal tastings:

Cena Vegan: An excellent Mexican vegan food truck. It’s delicious but might be too messy for a formal wedding setting.

Azla: A favorite vegan Ethiopian spot—flavorful and richly spiced.

Satdha: A unique vegan Thai restaurant in Santa Monica, known for its beet-dyed noodles and green curry.