Is buffet a no no?

There is nothing wrong with a buffet.

Self catering is different than a buffet style dinner. Buffets are totally normal at weddings.

Self catering is a lot of work. It’ll put a lot of extra stress on you and planning a wedding is already stressful. It’s also time consuming.

View Quoted Comment So it would be buffet style where the guests go up and put the food on their plates themselves . Is that ok you think?

Buffet style dinners are fine!

Hello ! I got married on 9/07/19 and my Husband also wanted to do a Buffet , self serving. But , we ended up with having waiters serve for everyone. I feel like it would of been a hustle for everyone to go serve themselves and maybe they could of made like a mess . It was much faster and neater for them to serve us. Hope that could help a little !😊❤

When you say “self-catering,” are you making the food yourself? A buffet style dinner isn’t necessarily made by you. If you’re paying a caterer and want to do buffets style I think that’s totally normal and really common.

View Quoted Comment No we wouldn’t be making the food our selves. The caterers would make it. Guests would just serve themselves.

I love buffets better than seated dining! I like being able to choose what I eat, and how much. I feel like it saves on wasted food too.

It sounds like you're talking about having a caterer but the food would be served buffet style with guests serving themselves. This is completely normal! I love buffets at weddings and so many other guests do as well!

We did a buffet and it was wonderful. We only had 45 guests RSVP yes so the line was quick and our caterer was so classy and professional. It was sort of a mix of self serve and servers. People got their own salad, rolls, dressings, and non alcoholic drinks but we had servers to scoop sides and dole out the meat, and a bartender to pour the beer and wine. People went back for seconds and thirds and they loved it. The servers also passed out appetizers, cleared the tables as people finished, and cut the cake. I was confused at first by your title because sometimes people ask about self catering which I would not do because of all the work, storage, prep and cleaning, and risk of food poisoning.

Self catering isn’t the same as a self serve buffet. Self catering is making the food for your own reception and it’s a no no. Buffets are fine, although I wouldn’t recommend self serve for portion control reasons. You’ll need to have more servings of most items since guests won’t give themselves proper portions.

View Quoted Comment

Yes that is fine

Don’t think so!

Buffets are perfectly fine! The only concern I’d have is if you have a large guest count, to consider how much time it would take to feed everyone

We are doing ours this way. Buffet style. I think it gives people more options. With buffet, you know how much you're going to eat pretty much and should portion well and we didn't want anyone working our wedding to serve our guests then have to eat last. You could always ask your vendor do they have a staff member who can monitor the buffet area.

We got married 2 months ago and had a buffet, but had servers! Everyone was able to go through the line twice, if they wanted! We had 123 guest and everyone was served quickly. I've been to two weddings where it was self served buffet where we got our own food. One wedding the line was very long and the servers only replaced food when it was gone, so we had to wait for them to restock things. The other wedding, people were taking more than they needed and food ran out.

Due to the current pandemic, if your wedding is in the next couple years, buffets/family style might not be the best choice for infection control unless you had like servers for each dish. The less people touching/breathing on the food the better. But otherwise, I love buffet style as long as you have enough lines and I'm not waiting like an hour for my table to be called.

I've been to plenty of weddings with buffet, totally fine. As PP said, if you have a large guest count it could take a while for everyone to get through. I've seen that solved with a line on each side of the food table.

There is nothing wrong with doing a buffet for your wedding. It is a personal preference and what fits into your budget. I have been to weddings with a buffet and the food was good.