Bringing own dishes to wedding?

I didn't know that people actually brought their own dishes. Our Venue took care of all of that for us.

I would speak to your caterer about the option of you bringing in your own dishes, flatware, etc. as you will likely have to pay a fee to them (or whoever is providing the wait staff) to have them clear tables. When you rent your dishes, etc. from them, they usually include busing tables in their rental fee. So you will want to see if the difference in fee is worth the hassle for you.

Talk to your caterer to see what your options are. They may charge to clear plates. When you rent dishes that is included.


Also, if you use compostable dishes and silverware, you need to have very clearly marked trash bins and someone directing guests to use the correct ones. Also, you need to arrange to have it disposed at a local composting station.
Rentals through your caterer or a local party rental business will be much cheaper than the extra labor involved with other alternatives. In most cases, rental companies only require you to rinse dishes before they pick them up.

If your venue offers china instead of disposables/plastics, that is the most environmentally friendly option.


All of this will also depend on service. If you’re doing a buffet, you should have the plates by the food. If you’re doing plated, that would be up to the caterer, really, as they’ll have to plate the food onto whatever plates you bring (and they may have specific parameters to meet).

Our venue took care of the dishes, silverware, wine glasses and champagne glasses, etc. Caterers and venues usually offer dishes and silverware. If you bring dishes you will be responsible for bringing them all back home if they are not disposable. And if your venue doesn’t have break down clean up services you will have to gather all those dirty dishes.