Is It Worth The Extra Cost To Provide a Late Night Snack At The Reception?

I think it depends on what time you're serving dinner. I've been to weddings where dinner was right after cocktail hour and as a guest, I definitely appreciated the late night snacks. But for East Coast style weddings when the entree isn't served until much later, I don't think having late night snacks is as important. Our wedding was East Coast style and we did not serve a late night snack because our entree was served at 9 pm and our cake was served at 10 pm. Our reception ended at midnight, and we ordered several rounds of nachos during our after party at a local bar. But when the entree is served at the beginning of the reception, I think late night snacks are much more important!

I've been to weddings that had pizza around 9 pm (dinner was at 6) and after drinking and dancing, I was so happy to have that food! I think it does depend on when you have dinner but most people who have been partying will not complain about extra food. It might actually keep people at your party longer.

The only wedding that I have been to that served a full meal instead of just cake and punch/coffee had so much food from the buffet (no appetizers or dessert beyond the cake) left that some guests ate during the latter half of dancing and everyone was invited to take home leftovers. A late night snack would have been a waste.


We're debating it. If we do a plated meal which are generally small portions then we would consider it. With food stations (super fancy buffet), I would skip the late night snack.

We’re planning on having chocolate covered toffee later on in the evening for our guests to snack on.

I mean, I'm a hypoglycemic, so I'll eat pretty much all the time!

But it's not common where I am.

The fun part about weddings is how much is still regional!

I agree with the above; is it more of a causal / buffet wedding or 5-star plated meal where it’s served later in the evening... the only weddings I’ve been that served a late night snack, which was yummy by the way, were the more casual weddings.

I think it depends on what time the wedding is at. Are you also doing hor dourves/cocktail hour, a sweets table?

I went to a wedding that had hor dourves during cocktail hour, then dinner was served a couple hours later, and then they ordered pizza as a late night snack! Everyone loved it! They also had a sweets table with pies, cakes, candy, and other goodies, there was so much left over from that.

We had a late night snack, but the only reason we added it was because we were under our food and beverage minimum. We had a nachos bar. I honestly wasn't paying close enough attention to know how much the guests ate.

It was definitely worth it for us! We had an afterparty from 10pm-2am where we served late night bites— sliders, wings, quesadilla, onion rings, fries, corn dog bites, and cheese displays. We also had an ice cream truck! We had a full open bar at the afterparty so it was definitely necessary to have food there.

For me, no it's definitely not worth the extra money. Just get a feel for your guests on wether they are major foodies or not.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this post, timing of dinner and how late your festivities will go should be the deciding factors. I am planning a midnight menu for mine and we will have entrees at 8:30pm ish but my reception will probably go until 2-3am. If there’s lots of drinking and dancing involved I think it’s a good idea! Honestly I find dessert to be what most people skip at a wedding lol

If you think your guests will be having a few cocktails, it’s always nice to have a late night snack.

View Quoted Comment Oh wow! I'm not familiar with East Coast style weddings, but I didn't realize that dinner was served so late! Dinner will be served somewhere around 6-6:30 at our wedding (timeline not finalized yet, but it'll be somewhere around there). We will have a smores bar available all night (since there is a fire pit at our venue), so we'll have at least some kind of snack, but I'm not sure how many people will actually take advantage of it. Our venue offers pizza as a late night snack for an additional cost, and we're not sure whether it's worth the extra cost or not, especially since we already have the smores bar. But I also realize pizza is probably a better choice than smores when everyone's been drinking.

View Quoted Comment That's a good point about the extra food potentially keeping people at the party longer! We're planning on serving dinner around 6 or 6:30pm. We are also planning on a smores bar, but not sure whether it's worth the extra cost for a pizza late night snack as well.

View Quoted Comment We're debating it as well. We're doing a plated meal, which includes a salad, entree, and a couple sides, plus dessert, plus appetizers at cocktail hour. I've never been to a wedding that had a buffet, but the ones that had plated meals still served a LOT of food, to where I couldn't even think about food for the rest of the night after dinner! But, I also know of many people who are fans of the late night snack, and with people drinking all evening, it might not be a bad idea to offer pizza. We will have a smores bar, but I don't know how many people will take advantage of it, or if it's worth it to do both a smores bar AND a pizza late night snack.

View Quoted Comment Oh my gosh, that sounds delicious!! Great choice!

View Quoted Comment I'm not sure how common it is by me, the weddings I've been to, half of them had a late night snack. One of them, I didn't even know the late night snack was even available until a few weeks after the wedding lol! At another, I was WAY too full from dinner (appetizers, soup, salad, main entree and sides, and dessert, plus a candy/dessert bar) to even think about a late night snack. I love hearing about the different ways people celebrate weddings! There are so many cool and unique things that people do, many of which I've learned about through being on these forums.

View Quoted Comment We're doing a plated meal - dinner will be served at around 6 or 6:30, so not super late in the evening. We'll have a smores bar available all night, but not sure if it's worth also paying extra for late night pizza, since we know people will be drinking all evening.

View Quoted Comment We're doing a cocktail hour late afternoon, dinner around 6/6:30, dessert, and a smores bar (the smores bar will be available all evening). We have the option of paying extra for late night pizza, but not sure if it's worth the extra cost or not. We're not super worried about having leftovers from the smores bar - my fiance and I love camping, and we always bring smores with us, so anything left over from the smores bar will be used on our camping trips! We are worried that if we pay extra for late night pizza, too much pizza will be leftover and/or not enough people will take advantage of it to make it worth it. At the wedding you went to, did most guests enjoy the late night snack? Was there a lot of pizza leftover? Or were the leftovers mainly from the dessert table?

View Quoted Comment That makes sense why you added the late night snack! A nacho bar sounds delicious!