Should You Have a Wedding Buffet or a Served Dinner?

In sports and in pop culture, there have been teams who held fiercely to their own team: LA Dodgers vs. NY Yankees or Team Edward vs. Team Jacob in the Twilight series. It’s the same with weddings: Team Served Dinner vs. Team Buffet Dinner. Let us give you the positives on each to help you decide!

Hey, Christie!

Thank you for all your help planning our wedding! You are making this process so easy for us!

Until last night… and it’s the fault of my mom for trying to change our minds on whether or not we should have a sit-down dinner or a wedding buffet.

Mom campaigned for a served dinner at our reception because it’s more elegant while Josh thinks that a buffet is better because it’s less expensive…and it went on from there…

Help! Could you give me your take on this?

Thanks

!–Katie, Confused in Corvalis, Oregon

Hey, Katie!

You are not alone.

Many of our brides and grooms struggle with this question of buffet or a traditional sit-down dinner.

Let me share reasons why each is perfect for different wedding situations.

Why a Sit-Down Dinner Might Be Perfect for Your Wedding

1. Increased Guest Satisfaction: If you follow some of the wedding forums, you’ll find very heated discussions by guests who attended a wedding at which the buffet ran out of food and the guests (or the father of the groom) ordered pizza, wings, and beer delivered to the hungry guests.

How did this happen?

In one post, the guests from the first few tables took enough food to feed a starving family of twelve. In another post, the guests from the first tables went back for seconds before every guest has been served once.

With a seated dinner, everyone gets the food they requested on their RSVP card and is assured of sustenance.

2. A sit-down dinner is perfect for guests with mobility issues. If your groom’s buddy, Scott, is on crutches due an unfortunate skiing accident or your Aunt Esparanza sprained her ankle, they would appreciate a served dinner during which they don’t have to wait in line at a buffet. If you are inviting older relatives, friends, and your teachers, they will appreciate a served dinner and not having to wait for a dinner roll at the buffet.

3. Everyone is served at almost the same time.

Your guests will enjoy the hot food, that it is exactly what they requested on their RSVP card, and that there is enough of it.

Since everyone finishes at about the same time, then they are all ready (and fueled up!) to get out on the dance floor to bust a move to celebrate your wedding!

Why a Buffet Dinner Might Be Perfect for Your Wedding

1. If you are concerned about costs, a buffet might be a better option. Food costs can eat up 29% of your wedding budget.

A served dinner requires more staff to plate and serve to each guest correctly so the costs can be higher than a buffet which requires fewer staff people.

2. A buffet is a picky-eater’s paradise because they can select what they want to eat.

Have your caterer label any food for a special diet such as Kosher, vegan, or gluten-free.

You could add a personalized wood-fired pizza station, a sushi-making station, or a carving station for even more variety!

3. Flexibility: For a buffet, you don’t need to assign seats for your guests.

(For a seated dinner, the catering staff needs to have assigned seating so that they bring the right dinner to the right guest.)

If you don’t like to micromanage your guests when it comes to seating, a buffet might be your better option.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to me.

Your friend in the wedding business,

Christie Shyne

Images above are courtesy of Pixabay.com.

Images below are from the Ainsworth House & Gardens wedding gallery.