Buffet style plating

I’m so glad this was asked! We’re doing buffet and this problem never occurred to me 😳

I would have the glass, silverware and napkin at the table. Plates at the buffet. By doing it this way, the only thing people have to carry is their plate of food.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the clarification. Indont have charger plates, nust salad plates.

We had plates at the buffet and utensils on the table. It worked out well for us.

We plan to have utensils and napkins and maybe chargers on the table, and the plates at the buffet line. I'm concerned that too many people would forget to grab their plate if they were on the table and I don't want the line to take any longer than it has to.

Most places do napkins and utensils on the buffet line at the beginning. Mine will be that way and the wedding I just went to was the same way as well

View Quoted Comment I think we will do it this way.

Following because I'm also confused about this. We are using plasticware (the clear kind) and I feel like leaving those utensils along with the napkin on the table would look awful

View Quoted Comment Looking at all the comments, I think it will be fine especially when there is a salad plate or a charger plate, utencils, and glasses, on the table and the dinner plates at the buffet. A lot of times, people do forget their plates while going to the buffet. And somestimes they have to make a plate for their kids or someone that can't walk far.

Thank you all for the cooments

Hey OP also doing a buffet style here. We are putting stacks of plates at the buffet but the tables will have the utensils and glassware (servers bringing tea, water, and lemonade around) also to keep the tables from looking empty before people set down, we plan to have chargers with the Lennon napkins draped over waterfall style.

View Quoted Comment

Hi Sharice, of course! Happy to help.

That's great & makes perfect sense!

Charger plates are like decorative (...essentially pointless because you don't eat on them but) large, plates to act as placeholder plates for each table setting.

Chargers are popular but not required. They photograph well (for sake of the table settings looking pretty) however you don't really eat on them, you put your eating plate on top of them or they're taken away at dinner time.

The salad plates in each guest seat/table setting would definitely work! With the main - course plates by the buffet line and buffet food.

Unless: If you envision your guests using just one large dinner plate for both the entree and salad? This would also work, that way the salad isn't on the table and is instead by the rest of the food. So all of the food together, on the buffet line, with no plates on the table.

I have seen couples who don't have chargers just decorate each place setting with a glass, silverware, folded napkin, and if they have any sort of floral decor/centerpiece/name plaques at the table. Keeping all eating plates & food at the start of the buffet line.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if any part of this doesn't make sense and if you have any other questions.

Not a ridiculous question at all because I have been worried about the same thing. Our plates will be at the buffet line. I can't decide to wrap the silverware in napkins to have at the buffet, or to rent fancy napkins for the table.

View Quoted Comment I didnt rent or order any linen napkins duento washing them all and getting rid of then with the colors i have so i went with simple vanity fair white napkins that have 300 count(2) and will wrap them with the utencils and the color ribbons I already have. Its cheap to do and kore money towards the honeymoon.

View Quoted Comment That helps a lot. Thank you so much. Now i know what to do and tell my caterer how to set things up.

View Quoted Comment I hear you! That is why I’ve considered not renting either. I told my vendor that I would just rent the chairs now and wait to add napkins if I want to. We were actually thinking of doing the same thing with colored ribbon and just putting all of these at the buffet in a bucket near plates. I’m just still so stuck on how to make our tables look pretty without any dining elements. So stressful, lol.

View Quoted Comment Just put the wraped utencils on thr table with the glasses you are using.. im placing the salad plates on the table to make a fuller look on the tables. And the dinner plates on the buffet or you can get decorative placemats in the place of all the plates to still have that fuller look.

If your afraid of people leaving the plates at the tables leave plates at the buffet tables. That will solve all problems. It will also solve problems to if those of you who are doing plasticware to leave some at the buffet table as well.

I’m also folllwing this thread because I’m probably going for the buffet route, but had no idea on how to set up anything lol

So I am also having a buffet however I love the look of the plates/cutlery setting at the tables and planned to have all the extras at the buffet line for the select few that do happen to forget their plate. What do you think of this? I really dont want an empty table with just cup and cutlery wrapped in a napkin.