Buffet vs sit down?

We're doing plated. Our venue doesn't even offer buffet. I think plated feels so much more fancy. I love buffets too, and definitely don't mind them, but I'm pretty excited for our plated dinner.

We did buffet - we wanted less formal, plus in Australia if you go for plated it does tend to be alternate drop, rather than giving guests a choice, and as DH pointed out, someone always ends up with something they don't like. We attended a wedding not long after ours which was alternate drop, and sure as anything, more people wanted one dish than the other so not everybody liked what they ended up with (I swapped with the person next to me and we were both happy, but not everyone could do that!). We had three meat options (plus sides) on the buffet and everyone was happy and got what they liked. We did do plated dessert though.

I prefer sit down but can't see spending the extra money on it. Our venue will have 2 buffet lines set up so it will go fast.

I prefer buffet and that's the only option our venue offers. I prefer it because I get to choose what I eat. I'm a bit of a picky eater and buffets tend to have more options. They also make it easier to accommodate food restrictions. The food also tends to be hotter. If you go with buffet, try to have multiple lines open, so people can go through faster.

You're going to get passionate advocates of both, but in my experience if your caterer is good it doesn't matter all that much. A good caterer will make sure the food is hot and people get it promptly, and the rest is gravy, really. I think plated is somewhat more formal, so that's something to consider. Of course, you can always do stations or family style if you really can't decide.

I think you'll get a lot of pros and cons for both here--almost 50/50 each side.

I like a sit down/ plated dinner for larger receptions (125+). It's more elegant, it flows better--there's no big line up at the buffet table and the food is served hot, although I've heard stories of it being served lukewarm too.

I prefer a buffet for smaller groups, you can offer more choices for guests with dietary issues, I think it's more social, and the food is hot--although I've also heard the opposite too but not as often as I have with sit downs. Also, in some areas buffet is less expensive than plated,

I'm doing buffet because I have a GL of 60 and it's the less expensive option at my venue--$1100 cheaper. Works for me!

ETA: sentence structure & words.

@KiwiDerbyBride--what's an alternative drop? I've never heard that before. Curious

We decided to go buffet due to the cost really. I've seen some beautiful set ups for buffet that my caterer has done.

We are doing a buffet, that's the only option our venue offers and is the norm in our area. Beyond that, I've never had a bad experience with a buffet. I've never stood in line all night or waited forever to eat. Your venue will know how to accommodate you properly based on how many guests you are expecting. There isn't anything wrong with sit downs, I've only been to one. The food was good, but it took awhile to arrive. Good food is what counts, regardless of which style you go with to serve your guests.

I think buffets make it easier for picky eaters or the people with dietary restrictions. You can pick and choose what you want and how much. With a plated meal you are kinda stuck with what is served.

I prefer sit down. As long as its in the budget.

A plated dinner is much more formal in my opinion. I have quite a few dietary restrictions though, so I always dread played dinners. We will be doing a buffet mainly for that reason. I prefer being able to pick and choose what I want. I also don't like wasting tons of food which I always have tondo with a plated dinner.

Sit down.

@kari, alternative drop is cutting down the entree selection.

In her post she mentioned having 3 entree choices in their buffet vs. the typical 2 selections guests have to choose from with a plated dinner.

Our venue only offers buffet. The difference in pp cost is worth considering, but plated needs more servers so that's an additional cost. Alternative drop means if you have beef and chicken, 4 people at each table get beef and 4 get chicken (set down beef, chicken, beef, chicken, etc). You don't choose your entree on the rsvp cards... You just get whatever they set in front of you.

We are going with buffett it fit better into our budget and I always appreciate being able to pick what foods I do and don't want on my plate.

We are doing a family style dinner that includes Italian chicken and prime rib.

I love buffets because they are so accommodating to everyone's issues

Our venue (a restaurant) does either plated or buffet, but you get pretty much the same options for both, so either way you would be eating the same food. I think the only difference was that buffet was slightly cheaper than plated at each price point (they had three different tiers of food packages you could choose) because the buffet option had one less meat option. For example, the cheapest plated option had two meat choices, whereas the cheapest buffet option only had one. We are going with plated.

We are doing buffet for a few reasons, first of all it's waaaay more popular where we live so we don't have to worry about things going smoothly, second of all they design it in a way where you don't really have to wait on line so that takes care of that, and third of all they agreed that if we have guests who have mobility issues then those guests will be individually served their meals at no extra cost. Lastly I just think it's easier with dietary issues/preferences and this way people can try all of the entrees and sides as they like without being limited.