Wedding brunch budget

How many of your guests are coming in from out of town/staying overnight and will still be in the area the next morning? You have to prepare for 100% attendance, but out of all the wedding events, the farewell brunch is usually the least attended. Some out of town guests might have an early flight out or want to go sightseeing, and any locals who went home the night before are less likely to come back for the brunch.

Is this for a morning after brunch? Have your invitations already been sent? If not, include a line on your reply card to include the day after brunch. There is no way to blindly estimate without some ballpark number. Not all guests will stay over to the next day without advance notice.

View Quoted Comment The brunch is actually the wedding meal. We wanted an 18th century style wedding. Ceremony in the morning with a brunch and short reception after. So we are planning to feed 100% of the guests who RSVP once invites go out. Invites won't go out for a while. Just trying to set a food budget right now.

Donuts, muffins, and beverages are light breakfast foods. I would look at the timing of your ceremony, and if you are serving your meal closer to brunch time 10am- 2pm, your guests will expect more filling foods typical of a mini-lunch. Definitely add more sandwiches as guests may eat 2 or 3. I would suggest adding warm foods like quiche or breakfast lasagna. After your early morning getting ready, you will also both be super hungry, and whatever you would feed yourself and your partner, is appropriate for your guests who are taking the morning to spend time celebrating you.

You can keep to your menu plan above, strongly shorten the timeframe, make it casual, keep location at the ceremony venue (no guest travel), and write "refreshments to follow" on invitations. This would be more like a cake and punch reception at a Church event hall. For further menu inspiration, you could look up English wedding breakfasts.

I understand you are trying to go by a theme, whether party preference or budget constraints I do not know. But, if you have to explain a theme on invites or a wedding website, this rarely goes well and it may not fulfill the spirit of your intended event (unless you're dressing like 18th century which makes it obvious). I wish you luck! And if it is simplest, make the ceremony earlier in the morning so the expectation is lighter fare.

View Quoted Comment If you are serving brunch as the reception meal, I think I would focus on something a little more substantial. For example egg frittatas, breakfast potatoes, chicken & waffles, bacon, biscuits and gravy, French toast, salad, pasta. It would likely be easiest to call restaurants and/or caterers that serve brunch and get a general price range per person. That will make it much easier to determine your budget.

Brunch receptions can be super fun, and that makes sense now that you’ve explained it. I don’t think you’ll need to clarify for your guests, but like others have said, wording is everything. If your invites say “reception to follow”, they’ll be expecting a more substantial meal, including hot dishes and plenty of options. Alternatively, if you say “refreshments” or “cake and punch to follow”, or really even continental breakfast since that’s basically what you’ve listed so far, then they’ll know what to expect. And just treat it like any other catered meal. Reach out to caterers in your area to get quotes, which will help you figure out how much this will cost. Assume 100% of invited guests will RSVP yes and select a caterer that can cover all of your guests for an amount you feel comfortable with.

Panera catering costs about $2,000 for a continental breakfast for 175 people (roughly). I would think this would be one of the lowest cost options.

I do agree with others about clearly stating what guests are being invited to whether it be "refreshments to follow" (what you described) or "brunch to follow" which would include hot meals as well.

What time are you planning for the wedding? If it’s at lunchtime, it would be best to provide a full meal as others have suggested.