Downward angle icon Downward angle icon. Wedding caterer Lexie Rich said older couples are more decisive and adventurous when it comes to choosing their wedding menu. Thomas Berwick/Getty Images High-end wedding caterers told BI that Gen Z couples tend to prefer simple wedding menus. Older couples, unlike Gen Z couples, prioritize personal taste and don’t try to please others. “They really know what they want,” said Hamptons wedding caterer Lexie Rich.
When it comes to planning a wedding in the Hamptons or other luxury locations, millennials know how to curate a personalized wedding menu.
Those are the words of Lexie Rich, co-founder of Hamptons Aristocrat, a catering, events and design company based in the Hamptons, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida.
She told Business Insider that the biggest difference she’s seen at Gen Z and millennial weddings is due to life experiences.
“I think the younger generation’s choices are a little more mundane and simpler, and that may be because they haven’t really experienced the potential of their cuisine yet,” she said.
Rich said that the Hamptons’ typical customer falls into the millennial generation, which is defined as people born between 1981 and 1996, according to the Pew Research Center.
Table settings for the Hamptons Aristocrat event. Courtesy of Hamptons Aristocrat
“I think most of the weddings that I do tend to have couples that are a little older, which may be a Hamptons thing,” she says. “Of course, if you’re doing a wedding in the Hamptons, unless it’s your parents’ house, you’re generally getting couples that are later in life.”
The Hamptons are considered one of the wealthiest areas in America, and their residents include many celebrities and notable people. According to Data USA, the median household income in East Hampton in 2022 was $94,375, and the median property value was $2 million.
When it comes to people in their 30s and 40s, the age group Rich works with most, she says people have a clear idea of what they want on their wedding menu.
And unlike some Gen Z couples, they might be able to afford what they want.
Gen Z couples choose “safer” options like chicken and fish
Salmon on a white plate. Kanawa_Studio/Getty Images
Rich said this could be down to a lack of culinary experience or a smaller budget than couples in their 30s and 40s.
“At 23 years old, have you ever eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant?” Rich asked. “Have you ever been to a James Beard Award-winning restaurant? Have you had that experience?”
But the couples Rich works with, in their 30s to 50s, are “passionate about the food they serve” and are willing to spend a little more to get exactly what they want on their wedding menu.
Millennial couples are taking more risks with their menus and trying less to please
A couple cuts their wedding cake with fireworks in the background. fabrycs/Getty Images
“I think at that stage in life you’re a lot better at planning because you know what you want and how you want it,” Rich says. “Nothing I hate more than someone who can’t make decisions, so older people know what they want and they make their own decisions, so that’s great.”
Rich said young couples are often trying to please and appease guests and parents who might foot the bill for the wedding.
However, older couples tend to be more adamant and choose less traditional wedding menus, such as opting for more exotic cuisine or a tasting menu-style service, she said.
“They really, really know what they want,” she says, “and they’re willing to take risks because it’s about them and what they want to eat.”
