Advice for Wedding Day Food
During your wedding planning you will eventually come to the topic of food.
This is a point that all couples reach, and not all couples agree on. That is to say, the topic of whether or not to have food at all. While it is not a rule that you must have food, there are some things you should consider before you decide against it.
Clarification on the word “Food”
To start, I think it’s important for us to clarify what I mean when I use the word “food”. This blog refers to non-dessert items. Generally, all couples provide some sort of dessert for their guests; it could be anything from cake to cookies. But, for the purpose of this blog, dessert is not included in the word “food”.
When I say “food” I mean what’s provided for the guests (and yourselves) to eat after the ceremony and before the cake cutting. Regardless of type, whether it’s a full meal or just snacks, this is the food I’m referring to.
Comparing your options
So, what are your options?
Believe it or not you actually have quite a few! This all depends on what style of food you're looking to serve. In my experience there are three main styles of food served at weddings:
The Formal Dinner
The Buffet Line
Grazing Table
We’ll break down each one a little and then I’ll elaborate on a new and exciting trend I’m seeing more and more at weddings these days!
The Formal Dinner
The formal dinner is just a fancy way of saying that you’re having a sit-down meal. Now even within this style there are some options afforded to you. For one, you could hire a restaurant to cater your event, they would prepare, setup, serve and handle cleanup of the food at your wedding. Alternatively, you could DIY your sit-down meal. Prepare, setup, serve and handle the cleanup yourself (when I say you, I mean your family, friends or whoever you’ve hired to help run the day of the wedding). This is certainly a money saving alternative (as I’ll explain more below), but it does require extra prep before the wedding and extra work on the day off.
The Buffet Line
It is exactly what it sounds like. Again, there are the same options as above for this style. You can either hire someone or DIY it. Generally, this is the more economical of the two options presented so far, but it has a less organized feel and flow, so if you have a tight timeline to run that’s something you may want to consider. That said, this style is great for stimulating inter-family interactions! It encourages mingling and conversation thanks to its less structured design.
Grazing Table
This, again, is just a fancy name for snacks. This is obviously the most economical option and the option with the least amount of structure. If people are snacking it will definitely encourage conversation, but there’s also no guarantee that people will hang in the same area vs wandering off with their pretzels to check out the venue. A bonus to this style is that, generally you can set out snacks at the beginning of the wedding without fear of them going bad. This allows people to grab a little something between events and can be really handy for parents of kids!
A New Trend
This new trend is becoming very popular and it’s something that I wholeheartedly recommend checking out. This trend is hiring a food truck to cater your wedding! They are somewhat of an all-in-one package. Obviously, they prepare, cook and serve the food, which means the only part you might get left with is the cleanup. That said, you get what you pay for generally with food trucks, and they can vary in price. I’d put them on the same level as a Buffet line for style with a price range in-between Grazing and Buffet, generally.
The Cost
No matter what style of food you decide to serve, there is no set standard for the cost. It totally depends on how much you want to spend.
Truth be told, most people can’t or won’t pay for a restaurant to cater a full sit-down meal. The reason is because it’s so bloody expensive! The average is around $70 per person to have a sit-down dinner catered. Although most catering services charge an overhead price (which is then broken up and divided by the number of guests), the math isn’t linear. If the price to have catering is $10,000 the more guests you have = less each guest pays. Obviously, there are a ton of variations, so be sure to discuss cost, overhead and per guest, with any restaurant you contact before making a decision. A great way to cut that number down is to DIY your sit-down meal. But, as I mentioned above, this means a lot more work for you, your family, friends and anyone you hire to run your big day! That’s not to say that it’s a bad idea. If you want a sit-down meal but don’t like the $10,000 price tag then this is a great way to go, you just need to understand that it’s going to add to your to-do list!
The Buffet is by far a more economical idea. Especially if you DIY it. A general price point for having your buffet catered is about $15-$30 per guest. This is a substantial savings over the catered sit-down meal by around 70%-85%. However, just like with the catered sit-down meal, you need to ask for all the specifics of pricing and cost from each and every place you consider. Some have a minimum cost requirement that may be well above what you're looking to spend! Another note on pricing, if you choose to DIY, you need to account for the fact that you can’t be sure how much each guest will eat, unlike with a sit-down meal where everything is portioned.
Snacks are easily the most economical choice; you don’t have to provide a lot of them, and they can be very simple things. Giant bowls of chips, pretzels, cubed cheese and sliced meats, fruits or other simple things. To drink you could provide a mixture of bottled and canned beverages and some cheap non-alcoholic sparkling drink for the toasts. I wouldn’t recommend hiring someone to cater snacks (if you could even find a place). It makes more sense to have some of the wedding day prep crew set it out whenever you decide the most appropriate time is to do so.
When it comes to the cost of hiring a food truck, it varies greatly. They aren’t as expensive as hiring a restaurant thanks to the moving kitchen they travel in. You also generally only pay to have them for a set amount of time. While you may be able to find a food truck that charges you an overhead price for everything, more often than not, you’ll pay a set amount for the truck to cater your event and then you’ll have to pay for your food on top. This can be nice as everyone pays for themselves, meaning that if someone wants more than another, they pay for the extra food they want.
Selecting Your Food
When it comes to selecting the food you want to have at your wedding your options are far more limited if you hire someone to cater for your event. Often, especially with sit-down meals you get a small selection of menus to choose from and then a small variety of customization within each menu. This allows the chef preparing the menu to offer you things that are in season or that are a specialty of the restaurant you’re hiring. You will find that you have the same restraints to options if you choose to hire a food truck, they generally will have a set menu for you to work off of. It’s a similar set of circumstances with hiring someone to cater a buffet for you (although you may find that you have more variety to choose from). Obviously if you DIY a sit-down or buffet style you have the ultimate freedom to choose what you and your guests will eat! There are tons of great ideas for buffet line foods, regardless of whether or not you choose to hire someone to cater. One of my favorites is a giant charcuterie table. This incorporates all the major food groups in a variety of styles and flavors. When done up right it’s truly an awesome sight to behold, an artwork of the edible kind! If you choose to go the snacking route, you have a wide selection of what you want to serve. A benefit of doing a Grazing Table is that the food you provide can be of wide variety and it doesn't necessarily have to match. Choose some simple foods to appease the younger audience and some more “complex” snacks for the adults. The options are virtually limitless.
Weather Can Affect Your Food
A quick note on whether you're serving food indoors or outdoors. If you're inside then there’s not as much weather for you to have to consider, but if you’re having an outdoor reception then you should be wary of the temperature and elements of the day. Heat encourages bacterial growth on foods like meats and cheeses after a certain point. On the other side of the coin, if it's pouring down rain, moisture can cause grains (breads and crackers) to become moist and lose their crispiness.
In closing, the wide world of wedding food is open to you. Choose what you like and what you can afford! There are no set rules saying that you have to serve food at all, although generally couples will for the sake of their guests. It’s also of great benefit to you if you have something to eat in the middle of your big day. Every couple says that they won’t be able to eat for some reason or another but I promise you, having food is worth it!
When considering what style of food you’d like to provide at your wedding, think about the statistics of the day. What time is the wedding? How long will the whole event last? What’s the weather like? Will your guests have recently eaten a meal? These are all important factors to consider when planning the food.
Finally, whatever you choose to do, make sure your guests are aware of the plans! You want everyone to enjoy your wedding, and nothing kills off a party mood quite like hunger!
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