Menu cards, pre-set salad or no - poll!

I have seen option A done quite a few times and never noticed it interrupting the flow. The salads usually come out as soon as people take a seat, then welcome speech/blessing(sometimes) are here and dances and other speeches not until after dinner. That way you still get the look of a beautifully set table without food sitting out.

Also was dead set on making a menu happen because I did a "thank you" note on the other side--so I wanted it to be a focal point at each place setting.

I'm team menus and programs - i like having something to read/knowing what to expect. I don't like the idea of the salad sitting out and not seeing it being served to you, although i know it's common to have them pre-set.

Right now, the plan is to be announced in and go right into our first dance. If we had salads served, they would be served after the dance and FH and I are going to welcome everyone.

PPs have it covered. I just wanted to add that I love your option C wording, lol.

I vote B... I think it's nice to have something for guests to munch on during speeches and first dance. Put the menus next to the wine glasses. People will see them

Menus are so important in my opinion! I would love to know what I am eating

Have the caterers serve the salad after the first dance/toasts

To clarify, my intention would be to serve salads immediately after first dance, not waiting after any speeches.

I actually like the preset salad because it's colorful and it looks nice on the table.

Do that and put the menu on top.

I don't like when salads are pre-set. We chose to have the salads served after WP entrance and our first dance. It worked really well.

My venue will be serving the salads right before guests are seated. My wedding coordinator said that it helps get to dancing portion sooner and makes the food flow faster. I'm doing menus on the back of my table numbers. My menu is already predetermined and I have to provide numbers of entrees to my venue, so I'm hoping that they don't change their mind. I also listed my menu on our wedding website.

I'd vote B if you want to get through the menu faster. I like the look of menus at each seat, but as a guest, I didn't know where to place my menu once I was done with it. What about menus per table? Or just skip it.

If you don't have pre-set salads, at least have rolls. Having no food when you sit down is miserable, especially when there is the first dance, the father-daughter dance and the mother-son dance, Some food is needed.

I like the look of menus but I feel like it's such a waste. I also don't like the idea of pre-set salads.. you never know if there's a child that's going to touch someone else's salad. For hygienic reasons I would ask the server to serve the salads. I would wait until after the first dance to serve the salad.

Thanks all for your input on this! So FH agrees, he doesn't like the idea of food sitting out at your seat before you sit down. We're going to have guests be seated, have the bridal party be introduced and then have our first dance. From there, we'll all sit and have salads be served. That being said, no one should really be totally ravenous for food. They'll just have come from cocktail which has passed apps, ham and biscuits, oyster bar, etc. The salad is also a caprese, so less prone to wilting and more substantial. At this point, it's less about the menus and more about the food, although i'll still be making the menus.

We're having a pre set salad & I'm curious as to why the others don't care for them. I love menus but they are an extra cost that ppl will leave on the table or throw away. they do add a nice touch though

I don't think the menu is really necessary and we are doing pre set salads just to keep things flowing and organized. I don't think it will be distracting and they won't be out THAT long to 'collect dust' lol

We didn't have a menu, but had a thank you card set. The caterer also preferred a preset salad, but like you I was planning on having the thank you folded in. Here's what our place setting looked like for inspo.

ETA clarity because coffee hasn't kicked yet.

I love when we can pre-set salads at our venue. We would pre-set them right near the end of cocktail hour. It does make the tables look pretty. Also, we would never serve/bus during any first dances or speeches. Make sure you caterer's servers won't either.

No. I don't want to see a possibly room temperature salad at my place, or a cold/hard roll. Or a glass of champagne that has no bubbles left, or a glass of water poured a half hour ago, with no ice chips left in it. No, no, no!

Unfortunately most venues are going to pour water, if a champange toast, pour the bubbly right before guests come into the ballroom. Same thing with pre-set anything. (ok, well I can speak of how we do this at the venue I work for). I do love menu cards, tho not neccessary. Even if you have salads go out after speeches, this is fine too. I just would not want anyone working while dances are going on or speeches.

We did both menu cards and preset salads. No decent caterer is going to put out the salads so far in advance that they get wilted and sad. Our caterers began placing the salads 5 minutes before the doors opened for dinner. 5 minutes prior to serving you can bet they were going to be plated regardless of how they were delivered. We decided to go with preset because we feel that chargers are sort of silly and tablescapes look unfinished without *something* there. We also wanted guests to be able to begin eating immediately if they were hungry.

We're doing preset salads so that our guests have something to start eating as soon as they sit down. Bread baskets will also be set at all the tables. I was going to just do a menu board at the food set up but I'm really digging the idea of a menu at each setting and a thank you on the back! Thanks for the idea!!