Food/buffet/name cards

If you’re having a buffet why did they choose meals? I’ve never seen that before. Buffets I’ve attended have always had enough to give everyone each protein.

Guests shouldn't have to make meal selections ahead of time for a buffet. Meal selections on RSVP cards are for plated meals. Have you discussed this with your caterer? This is definitely not a normal practice. Your caterer should account for enough of each entree for people to select whatever they want and for some people to select both entrees. There's no way to make people choose the correct entree on a buffet.

Yes, my caterer did recommend to have their guests mark what food they want so she can get a good idea on the quantity of chicken/beef/veg + some extra. She isn't requiring us to have anything at the table to mark what each person chose. I've just heard friends who do buffet style and have their guests mark a protein from the invite and then at the wedding everybody all of a sudden wanted the chicken only so that ran out and beef was left only. Not everybody eats beef and it was a disaster

I thought the whole point of a buffet was to be able to choose in the moment. If you're terribly concerned about making people eat what they chose, then have plated dinners.

Can't you just do plated meals instead? At least with that, you have control over your proteins. If I see meal choices on the RSVP card, I would expect a plated meal. Most guests when they see a buffet, would want to try everything. I really have never seen nor heard of this before.

Hmm I am going to have to agree with everyone else. I asked my coordinator as well if I was supposed to have my guests make a selection for the buffet and she said I could but it wasn't necessary. Buffet portions are more than likely smaller than a plated meal/prepped differently so if someone wanted both chicken and beef they technically could do so. So there should technically be one of each for everyone and then some in case people eat 2 beef or 2 chicken. Ya never know as I said they're smaller portions! I would be a little concerned about this, because I fear if your coordinator goes too much based on their protein choice there won't be enough. I mean you could do the place cards then once everyone went through they are allowed to go back through and get the other protein if they wanted.

I agree with PP. It defeats the purpose of the buffet. I don't think there is any way to manage this efficiently. If it isn't required by your caterer, I wouldn't. Your caterer should be experience enough to know the correct amount of portions for everyone so nothing runs out.