Do you count vendors as guests for head count for food?

Yes. You should speak to your caterer, as sometimes vendor meals are less expensive.

As Sarah replied, yes. The main caterer we are considering offers much cheaper vendor meals.

Please feed your vendors! As others have said, sometimes caters will charge you less for vendor meals.

Yes they are. My caterer is very laid back about this. My vendors will eat from the buffet for 25% of what guests will cost.

Make sure to ask your vendors to confirm how many people for dinner. My photographer for instance is two people eating (in the beginning I had no idea and would have ordered one meal) - if it is plated dinner caterers usually have a vendors meal which is a little different than the guests one at a reduced price. If it is a buffet I believe it’s the same food/price, but I’m sure it varies from caterer to caterer.

Definitely talk to whoever is in charge of your food, whether that be caterer or venue. Our venue has a reduced vendor meal so that's a separate number from our guest list.

For our wedding we need to guarantee 125 guest. Anyone over that amount is half price who is another vendor or under the age of 12. You do need to pay for them to eat to answer your question.

I would definitely count them in your guest count. You can ask your caterer about vendor meals, but also ask what they are, I can't tell you how disheartening it is to work a 10+ hour day with no meal until 7 hours in and you're given a cold sandwich and a stale cookie. As a bride, I am making sure my vendors are fed the same food as my guests. I feel like it's demeaning to feed them lunchbox food after they've worked so hard all day.

Question: if you're feeding your vendors, do they usually get assigned a table to eat?

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It's usually greatly appreciated. As a photographer, I hate being seated super far away from everything. Some venues actually put you in another room, so if someone does an impromptu speech you might miss it. Also, sometimes if you wait around trying to figure out what seats are empty, you miss your opportunity to eat all together. I suggest putting vendors all at the same table, and talking to your caterer about letting them go right after the wedding party and immediate family if its a buffet, that way they're done eating by the time you, and can get back to work.

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Makes sense. Thank you! I don't think I've seen this question before.

My venue is offering half price for the vendors

I would just to be safe!

My vendors will be served a separate meal of the menu of the location for our reception.

Yes, they need to be fed

I am including them in our food count as for the bar will be closed dj and photographer will also join us for dinner

Talk to your caterer about whom you should include in the count. For example, we don't have to include the venue staff/doc or the catering staff in our count (though food will be provided to them), so the photographer and band are the only ones we need to account for. Our officiant will get an invitation of her own. And as PPs said, make sure that you ask about vendor meal pricing as it may be a lower rate.

Yes!! All vendors should be counted.

My venue is also my cater. Talk to the Cater's because ever place is different but all vendors that will be there for the whole wedding should be counted.

The vendors need to be fed but I'd assume you'd just tell your caterer how many adults are guests (at full price) and how many are vendors (at a discounted vendor rate hopefully).