How many servers do I need?

For our wedding, which is about 190 people, and is a buffet, we are having 5 servers. One (2 during high traffic times) is going to be tending to the bar, and the other 3 will be doing other stuff. During dinner, one will be at the bar, 2 at the buffet, 2 will be going around to tables.

I trusted what the company told me. They said at my venue, and with the number of people, they could MAYBE do 4, but to do 5 to be safe. So 5 it was.

As a server myself I can keep up with a table top of 25, but it's an amazingly easy to fall a little behind on refilling drinks, if I had more than that. I couldn't even begin to imagine myself alone on the floor trying to refill and remember drink orders for 120 people by myself. I think I might go a little insane. I think your quote is accurate, this will keep your guests happy, refills will be provided in a timely manner, and it will be less stressful on your staff. I know that when trying to cut costs on your wedding that this may seem like a good place to start, but no one likes to be served by a waiter/ess that isn't smiling because they are so stressed out. It can really affect the mood of those that they are serving.

Are you doing to have servers do the drink refills as well? We are going to have pitchers of water on the tables, but other than that, we are going to let our guests get the drinks they want from the bar... so my estimate is probably different than yours.

The 1 to 25 ratio is very common. Would you really want to cut that down, and have you guests feel like there was not enough servers?