Do you need staff for a small wedding?

I think it depends on how much food you have. I prefer staffed buffets because I’ve been to several weddings where my table was one of the last called and by the time I got up there hardly any food was left because people took such large portions. So that would be my only concern!

I don’t know that I’d be put off by it, but I would just be nervous that people would load up on portions and you’d run out of some stuff before guest 30 gets to the line. I know buffet is different than plated, but for our family style reception we have one server to every 12 guests. Perhaps you could just hire 1-2 people to man the buffet/bus tables.

I think it'd be ok if you didn't have one since it's a smaller wedding. Having one would be preferred though.

Yikes I didn’t think about that! We did order extra food in case people overate but someone could still go hungry if people grabbed seconds and thirds.
It’s a pretty simple dinner. Chicken parmesan, pasta, green beans, salad and bread. Plus a gigantic dessert table.

I say do buffet style for a small guest list. Thats what were doing and it will save on the cost as well.

I would want a staff person to handle the clean up of the buffet table more than anything. Or round up any cups and plates etc. It's a nice touch.

If you want someone to handle food/ plates/ stuff of that nature you can talk to local schools (high schools with culinary programs and culinary college/trade schools) and they might be able to help you out and for a good price (sometimes free if you sign something saying they actually showed up and helped or write a recommendation letter for them! By doing this you can get kids extra credit at school and/or credits they need to graduate!!! I know this cause I was a culinary arts kid and I loved weddings!)

A buffet can get pretty disgusting if it's not staffed. People spill stuff, and it doesn't get cleaned up. They use utensils from one dish to serve another, and get bits of one food into the other. If you finish up one pan of something, there is no one to take it away and get another one, so you're left with a mostly empty pan with dried food crusting it. I would hire someone.

View Quoted Comment That’s a good idea! I work in a restaurant so I could probably hire someone I work with but I like your suggestion a lot better, not sure I want to have someone I know doing it.

View Quoted Comment That’s a good point. I have well mannered guests(I host dinners a lot) but accidents do happen! I sure as heck don’t want to clean up spills in my dress.

I am torn on this because 30 people for me is literally like any holiday and we don't have people serving food, except for like christmas eve where someone in the family dishes out the pasta for everyone. But for a wedding, even if laid back I think it could be helpful to have one or two people to serve the portions, replenish, and clean everything up then.

View Quoted Comment You’re right, that’s why I was torn. I host these same people for big holiday feasts so in a way it felt the same given our guest count but at the same time it’s a wedding, not dinner at my house.

Depends on your people. I'm not having any serving staff at my 80 person wedding but my people would have no problem serving their own buffet plate and if I asked any of my able-bodied guests or bridal party members to help my elderly grandma get her plate or help my sister with her five kids gets all the kids set up and fed they would be more than happy to do that. If something gets spilled or whatever I'm sure my sister or dad will clean up. We're not fancy people.

View Quoted Comment That’s also my situation. My guests are all well mannered ones I’ve fed before. I don’t know if I want my guests to clean anything but they would be perfectly happy serving themselves. I don’t know, it’s a tough situation. We’re not fancy either and the wedding is more like a simple church meal rather than an extravagant affair. I just don’t know anymore.

View Quoted Comment I get that feeling! I don’t know that I’d want someone there either! If you talk to a school that might even send a team of 3 or so so they can help with cleanup and everything. You just have to talk to the school!
Thats so awesome you're even considering this! It really helps with experience and it really helps with a little extra credit in class!

We had fifty people at our buffet lunch reception. I wished we had servers because our day was a little unseasonably cool and we had people take portions that were WAY too big. The staff had to cook more food on the fly!! I mean, a few people STACKED their plates - it was kinda comical. Even having two people dish out food would have been nice. People don't mind serving themselves (I don't!) but some people may OVER serve, lol!!!

View Quoted Comment Do potential customers just go into the school and ask to talk to a staff member that handles jobs for their students? and how common is this for schools? I’m open to the idea, just never heard of anyone near me doing this.

View Quoted Comment That’s a huge fear and the reason we literally doubled our food! I definitely know some big eaters. They know not to stack their plate their first run(I’ve hosted dinners before) but they absolutely go for seconds and thirds! My dessert table is massive considering the small guest count, I know people will wolf down the expensive cake if I don’t have tons of sweets to choose from.
Free food brings out the gluttony! I’m ok with that, but I’m worried about messes. Were your guests sloppy when piling up their food?

View Quoted Comment So people contacted our teacher over the class and she picked the students she thought would best fit the job.
I would call/ email schools and say
Hello, I was wondering if your culinary arts class has any students that would like some out-of class experience. I am having a wedding and we need some servers and I would be more than willing to write a letter of recommendation for them! If so what do I need to do/ how do we go about getting this set up?
Some may say they need payment it really just depends on the place (I think my school charged 100$ for food once and it was quite a bit of food. That we made so if they aren’t cooking you shouldn’t have to really pay)
Hope this helps some 😊

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much! I’ll have FH do it, he’s more friendly over the phone and wants more “wedding work” to do. We would absolutely at least tip even if they don’t charge.