Evening buffets

I'd assumed that you cater for all guests day and evening? I wouldn't like to think i was at a wedding as a day guest and couldn't enjoy the evening buffet!!!

My venue says 75% as a minimum but normally around 80%.

Hope that helps

When we spoke about this with the wedding coordinator at our venue we said that we would have about 90 - 100 to our evening reception and she said they they would then cater for 70 - 80 x

Usually you cater for about 80-90% of all the guests attending the night do regardless of whether they attended the day do.

If i ate at 3-4pm at your wedding i'd be starving by 9 no matter how much i ate! Cater for 90%,

Out here in NI the buffet tends to be served between 10 and half past.......so even day guests are ready for a bite.

My daughter has just got engaged and we were wondering..... is it mandatory to have an evening do? They aren't bothered as they want to go straight off on honeymoon after the wedding reception (as we did) We thought if they got married in the afternoon, would people expect to stay around all night too? None of us in the family are party animals or big drinkers but we don't want people to think we are being tight!

Awww - i think that's a great thing to do!! I don't think anything on your wedding day is mandatory. Lots of things have become "the norm" and "tradtional" - but that doesn't mean you have to do them.

I think as long as you state in your invitations (or info pack) that there will be the ceremony, breakfast(?) and then people won't feel like you're chucking them out the door ?

Hey Rainbow- we're not having an evening buffet - ceremony starts at 4pm, will be about 6ish for sit down dinner which will be about 2-3 hours incl. coffees and cake etc, then dancing etc after. same guests throughout the day - and I don't think anyone will be starving by the time we leave, how much to people need to eat?! lol! If you start in the afternoon I reckon you can do without, especially if you don't have evening guests. we will leave the cakes out on trays for the duration of the eve - let them eat that.

Our venue said cater for 85% of the total number of guests that will be there in the evening. Judging by what others have said, I guess most venues will be around 70-90%.

Hope this helps.

Also, as a day guest at a wedding I also enjoy the evening buffet and wouldn't want to miss out on it. That said, I def don't eat as much as I would if I had only been invited to the evening reception

Our venue said you should cater for 75%. x

We catered for 55% of the total guest we had in the evening and there was loads left over! Our venue actually suggested the percentage based on what they normally see happening - i guess it all depends also on the buffet "package" and how generous the venue is with the food - ours were very generous! I was a bit gutted that I didn't get more of the buffet, the mini sausage baguette I did manage to scoff was lush!

Also, I would have done what 22Tango is doing had we been able to get the 4pm slot at our venue, but we had the 1:30 slot so had to feed our guests twice!

We are having 69 in the day, and about 130 in the evening and our venue have told us to cater for 100. My theory (and experience) is that if you have been there all day and eaten a 3 course meal at about 4.30pm, then when the buffet comes out at about 8, most people are still stuffed. I am going to make sure that the buffet gets left out, because I think most people pick at it later on after a few drinks have been had!

Our wedding is smaller, we're having 30 in the day and about 40 or so in the evening so for 70 guests we are catering (this doesn't include children) for 35guests. i think it also depends on what the buffet consists of, ours is a choice of two hot meals (very doubtful the day guests would want that) and some smaller bits and pieces...

I would say cater for the total amount of guests, or a little under. You cant expect guests that have been there all day, to not be hungry in the evening!