Plated or Buffet style dinner

I always prefer plated but it really comes down to personal preference and formality. If you decide on buffet I would have people serving the portions so people don’t take too much. And will you be taking pictures after the ceremony? If so you should have a cocktail hour. Am I reading correctly that your ceremony will be an hour and a half?

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Is that too long for a ceremony I was just estimating I am not really sure.

View Quoted Comment I’ve never seen a ceremony be longer than 20 or 30 minutes unless it was in a Catholic Church with mass and communion and those were an hour.

I also always prefer plated, especially when there are more than 50 guests. Most weddings I've been to have a cocktail hour between the ceremony and reception, but I don't think it's necessary unless you are taking pictures between the ceremony and reception. Also, that is quite a long ceremony. Are you doing a mass or something?

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Okay so I should not book extra time for that. I have never been to a wedding and dont have enough in the budget for a planner.

I had it in my head that buffet would always be less expensive, but that's not true. It depends on the caterer/venue. I personally prefer plated. I would include appetizers for that many people.

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Not having a mass lol guess I just over estimated how much time was needed for a ceremony.

View Quoted Comment Usually it’s 30 minute ceremony, 1 hour cocktail hour, then dinner and dancing. Most weddings I’ve been to are 5 or 6 hours total from ceremony to end of reception.

My experience has been the same as Kelly's. My venue gave us their timeline and I stuck with it. We have the ceremony 5-5:30, cocktail hour 5:30-6:30, and reception 6:30-10:30pm.

If your venue is a more typical wedding venue, they will probably have an events coordinator that will help you with some of these details. I don't have a wedding planner or my own day of coordinator. Our venue coordinator has been very helpful in putting things together.

I prefer plated. Especially with that many people. By the time the last table gets their food, the first table to go through the line is done eating and bored. Also, the last few tables to go through the buffet line tend to get either cold food or food that is over cooked from the heated containers.

We are doing buffet and appetizers

You should see if your venue/caterer does family style. Combines the serving at the table with prices closer to buffet

I always prefer plated. It's nicer and more formal. Our budget didn't accommodate for the extra $1,500 for plated, so we are doing buffet. It depends when you are serving dinner, I assume guests will be hungry & expect food around 4-5.

So this might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like buffet is better in a lot of ways. I always thought plated dinners were super fancy and wanted one for my wedding. But after I started attending them myself I saw TONS of people who were dissatisfied with the plated meals, there are always picky eaters or just those who are still so hungry after the small already portioned food has been eaten. I attended a wedding recently and everyone kept trying to trade things for others. So we are doing buffet because everyone can pick what they want and how much they want. For instance, my fiance hates sauce, so he can have plain mashed potatoes! I don't eat pork, so I can get the chicken and skip green beans with ham. My fiance is allergic to tree nuts so he can skip anything with pecans, almonds, etc. I've just found when you're dealing with that many people giving control of plating their own food satisfies more than not haha

It is complete personal preference. We are having 100 guests and doing a buffet. I don't like the idea of making guests choose what they want to eat 6 weeks in advanced. I have a hard enough time deciding what I want for dinner each night let alone 6 weeks from now lol.

I believe as long as you have the room for people to be up and walking for the buffet then either option is fine. Completely up to you and FH for what you want.

We're doing buffet simply because I didn't want to have to deal with coordinating meal choices . Trying to get RSVPs is bad enough, add 3 menu options and you're asking for trouble lol.

We are having buffet for around 120 people. Too many picky eaters and plenty like to have 2nds.

I prefer plated. A lot of times it is actually cheaper, because they know how much food they need to make without too much extra, whereas with buffets, the cooks have to make so much more because they don’t have any idea of what the guests will prefer. Also, if you have 150 guests, then by the time the last guests get their food, some of your guests will be already finished eating. There will be a lot of waiting, either standing in line, or waiting at their table, hoping they are the next table to get their food. You also have to have the space for the buffet to be set up with all the equipment to keep the food just as warm for the last guest as the first.

Another option is “family style”, where you have all the food on serving platters/bowls on every table and the guests serve themselves from their table. That way they can have what they want, but every table eats at the same time. The issue with this though is that you can’t have giant centerpieces as you need room for all of the food platters.

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This is a great reason to talk to your caterer before making your final decision. Ours is cheaper to go for plates rather than buffet, which is the main reason we are doing plated.

I personally think buffet food is always better. It's hotter and fresher and you have options. I have never once had a plated dinner at a wedding that was as good as a wedding buffet. The food is usually lukewarm or cold, tiny portions, and it takes FOREVER to get your food. (Typically only a few servers for 100+ people). IF you do buffet, your caterers will know how much to prepare for the number of poeple you have and I would not worry about having too little of something. Also, ask them to set up multiple bufffet lines. We had 2 lines, and people could go on both sides. 150+ people were through our dinner buffet in about 10 minutes.