Do you think its ok not to have a buffet/ food at evening reception ?

Cat72

Hi
Im having a small wedding with about 24 people at the main meal- this will probably be about 4.30 pm. Its a traditional 3 course with drinks etc.
However the venue are only contracting us for the day guests and have not committed us to any costs for the evening.

They dont have a buffet as such they offer sandwiches with tea /coffee or bacom/sausage rolls with tea/coffee .This costs £4.95 per person.
Im not sure everyone would want sandwiches or tea and coffee and how many would require this.
They offer some extra buffet food as additional items , on top of this but at a starting cost of £4.50 for 3 items ( eg veg samosa, mini quiche, sauage roll )-which would mean a fortune and the selection isnt very good.

So I was wondering if it would be ok not to have any food provided for the evening do -which starts about 7.30 to 11.30 and their is a bar available ?
I thought this would mean I could invite more people and not be paying for sandwiches & tea that might not be eaten- or is this mean ?
Thanks x

hayleythedaisy

I see absolutely nothing wrong with saving your money, I always eat before I go to an evening reception because I personally wouldn't rely on there being a buffet (or one I would risk eating!)
Anyone who comes without eating with the mentality of "where's the food, oh congrats by the way" hopefully will sod off home when they're hungry at half 8!

zfrl

I think it is fine. I always eat before going to an evening do & very rarely touch the buffet if I have had the three course wedding breakfast. Some will of course disagree but as long as people know you should be OK.

nozzy6

I think its a tricky one - I can see why you wouldn't want to pay for things that might not get eaten but how about offering a slice of the wedding cake to everyone at some point in the evening? Does the bar sell crisps that people could buy if they were peckish? I know if I'm having a couple of drinks I like to have a nibble during the evening too, but I'd be more than happy getting myself some crisps and having a slice of cake

Cat72

Hi- thanks for your replys so far. At first I thought it was compulsary to pay for evening food but when the contract came through from the venue I thought oh no compulsary eveing charges !
There will be plenty of cake so good idea to incoperate it for the evening guests- so that be a good idea thanks nozzy6. I had not thought how I was going to give them the cake !

As we have a desert with out main meal so that would work out best to eat it later.
My friends love cake anyway- I think their idea of heaven would be wine and cake !

It would save us £300 and I thought the people from the main meal would have been fed and watered anyway. The moany ones are in this category and its friends coming to the evening reception who are nicer and I would tell before hand.

hayleythedaisy

I think as Nozzy says, so long as there is something to nibble it should be fine. From working in a hotel, evening buffets that followed a wedding breakfast normally about 80-90% of the food got binned and most of the other 20% would be found on the floor anyway!!

Dizzie77

Ask your venue if they can provide a fruit bowl or similar too - that shouldn't cost too much, and then people can have a slice of cake or a handful of grapes..!

Hopefully they will all be too busy enjoying themselves and complimenting you on how gorgeous you look anyway...!!! x

Alyssa_C_2

I think people will be fine with that, maybe give them a heads up in case they don't eat and then get too drunk! :rotfl:
But yeah, sounds fine.

RainbowDrops

I would say if you are inviting some guests for the evening only, a small buffet should be provided. I've been to a few weddings as either a evening only guest, or where addition guests came later on, and there has always been a buffet.

I realise it's an extra cost, but remember if people are arriving at around 7.30, they will have had to leave home earlyish & thus have had an early supper. So they may be hungry. Likewise, a 4.30 wedding meal will still mean that people are likely to get peckish later in the evening, or might need something to soak up the wine.

Just think of it if you were a guest, or even in normal everyday terms. If you ate a meal at 4.30, would you be likely to get hungry later & would you appreciate something to nibble on?

HTH

nozzy6

I meant to add that our venue gave us the option of either a buffet at £15 a head in the evening or cones of chips and sausage/bacon butties at £5 a head. Maybe worth asking if they'd consider something like that if you're still unsure? I agree what others say about buffets - so much gets wasted its really not MSE at all!

RainbowDrops

I wonder if you could aks about bringing your own?
Maybe call on people to make snacks as favours (you could ask the evening guests to do this instead of them getting you a wedding gift?)

Not sure how it would go down though...