Are wedding menus necessary?

I made all my reception stationary so it cost me all of £2 worth of card and paper to type up and print each persons menu choice. I also put ' welcome to the wedding of Mr & Mrs W*****, please enjoy the wine and soft drinks on the table as well as your chosen meal of ( main) and your desert of (desert).

There was a bit more to it then that but can't remember it word for word!

I know our family's are pretty forgetful and I don't want some one to turn around and say 'well I'm not eating that, I didn't pick that' because we do have some people who would cause a scene about their meal!

It was nice to be able to welcome them to the reception on it too.

They don't even have to be fancy It was just really easy for me to make them as I had all the stuff anyway.

I don't think their necessary but if you think people will need a reminder it's the best way.

I to thought about doing this, but to be honest as my Mum has informed me there will always be someone who swears they ordered chicken when duck arrives on their plate. I'm not going to spend the extra. Just let the venue know where people are sitting and what they are eating in advance and let people "forget/ or swear" at their own choice rather than panicking the minute they sit down and see it on a menu or on their name card x

Cant you just use the rsvps of which they made their choices on? No money spent, and if they are reminded then they wont send food back 'swearing they ordered something else'

I'm printing my own but then again our guests have choices from 2 starters, mains and desserts and I know that they will forget.

I went to a wedding last weekend where there was just one menu per table. Could you perhaps do this? X

I went for a colour coded system! Those having a veg meal had a coloured star on their name card and a different colour for children. I bought a pack of stickers and it was easy. It was more for the benefit of the waiters than guests.

No, waste of money IMO

however I am intrigued as to your first proposal date- mainly as I am a nosy cow but also because that's the day we got engaged ?

If you are doing place name cards, just write on the inside or back of them the main course choice (or C /V). So in the case of dispute, they can be reminded in there.

I've done them but diy so they haven't cost too much. It's mainly because OH is a chef so we're quite foody and like making the menus sound a bit fancy! And I think they will look nice on the place settings.

You could do a nice board with it on that everybody can look at and maybe just write the choices they've chose on their place cards xx

Could you just do one sign at the entrance or something that just says

Starter: X

Main: Chicken OR Risotto

Dessert: X

And then hopefully the fact that they see it written out will remind them which they have chosen?

Then you only need to make/print one thing instead of one for every guest.

Can the venue not provide them for you? (We made our own in the end but our venue offered to do basic menus for free)

We just printed peoples choices on their place settings......

I was wondering this as well, as got all the menus back from people, but thought maybe a waste of money. Might just print 1 per table to remind them what they ordered but as someone has already said you will get the people that will change their minds when they see the food and say they order one thing when they didnt.

You dont need the added cost if you can avoid it

Not at all necessary! - unless you have choice of 3 or more mains which guests have to choose on the day!

Other things which I don't think are necessary:

Gift giving in front of everyone (embarrassing, takes up time, people who don't get gifts feel left-out of it)

Receiving line: If you have loads of people and don't have time you don't need to do it - they can be boring for those queueing up!

Photographs of bride getting ready - would I like a camerman coming into my flat in the morning when I'm getting ready for work? No! They would annoy the hell out of me. I don't get why this is any different.

Not at all necessary! - unless you have choice of 3 or more mains which guests have to choose on the day!

Other things which I don't think are necessary:

Gift giving in front of everyone (embarrassing, takes up time, people who don't get gifts feel left-out of it)

Receiving line: If you have loads of people and don't have time you don't need to do it - they can be boring for those queueing up!

Photographs of bride getting ready - would I like a camerman coming into my flat in the morning when I'm getting ready for work? No! They would annoy the hell out of me. I don't get why this is any different.

CristaMB im showing this to my mum! I agree totally with you and these are 3 things my mum thinks we need to do lol

Receiving line is American really isnt it, i will see everyone during the day and dont need to do this. Im giving gifts in private as hoping to have something special for certain people and i think its embarrasssing and they then need to lug them about all day or try not to forget them when they are drunk lol

Im defo not having a photographer on the morning, im stressed enough and certainly dont want pictures of me getting stressed

Thanks for this and happy someone else agrees x

CristaMB im showing this to my mum! I agree totally with you and these are 3 things my mum thinks we need to do lol

Receiving line is American really isnt it, i will see everyone during the day and dont need to do this. Im giving gifts in private as hoping to have something special for certain people and i think its embarrasssing and they then need to lug them about all day or try not to forget them when they are drunk lol

Im defo not having a photographer on the morning, im stressed enough and certainly dont want pictures of me getting stressed

Thanks for this and happy someone else agrees x

Controversially, I wasn't planning on giving my guests menu options, apart from asking if they're allergic to anything or have any special requirements, but this is because our invitations will have to go out before we have had our proper meeting and menu tasting with the venue.

So yes, we will have menu cards to let people know what they're getting on the day, which the venue print as part of the package.

We printed the guests menu choice on their placecard too. A few people still managed to mess it up and take the wrong thing meaning the hotel ran out of one dish. Still those who didn't get what they ordered got something else and the table got a free round of drinks so guests were happy.

Short of nailing the choice to their foreheads, not sure how it could have been clearer! ?

I wont be putting menus in the invites simply because we don’t have a “formal meal”. We do have an afternoon tea with a variety of sandwiches etc so I will be making 2x menus for each table listing the fillings for the sandwiches and the cakes. I am not sure how to start it though…… maybe “Afternoon Tea at the Wedding of Mr & Mrs V***** “ followed by the options?

I've done menus for the two children with their names on - because they have a special meal. And on the back of theirs I have printed a short story to keep them quiet and entertained.

But for the adults I am just printing my own - 2 per table, or 3 if it's a big table. It shows the starter, then main plus veggie option (clearly stating that it is for the people who have said they are veggies so other people don't suddenly think there is a choice) and then dessert, tea and coffee. Nothing on the back of theirs.

And at the bottom I put a note about the dietary requirements, so I have a couple of gluten free eaters, so I have said "where appropraite gluten free ingredients have been used". So they have a note, but not a separate menu.

I designed it on Word - super plain and simple, to the point. I got the card from eBay from a craft store on there, and then printed them at work (naughty). Pretty cheap and cheerful.

I wouldn't spend too long or too much money on them, people will just glance at them to remind themselves, and then they will be discarded at the end of the meal. You might want to keep one for your memory box, but that's about it.

We're not having a conventional wedding breakfast (it is at Pizza Express). Everyone had to choose their 3 courses and include it with the RSVP. We won't be having menus at the wedding, Pizza Express will have a spreadsheet and table plan to allocate the food. Some people probably will have forgotten what they chose, but I am assuming as they ordered it they still like it!

Can I come??? Love it!!! Our first meal together as married couple will be a Pizza Express at our fav branch in Birmingham the day after

Our venue provided basic menus for ours. Our guests didn't have a choice of what they had though and there no vegetarians.

In your situation though, where guests actually had a choice, I'd put their choices on the back of their place card or something. Otherwise you can end up with people forgetting what they chose or trying to have the other choice.

Awesome! It's our absolute favourite so it made sense. We try to go to as many different ones as possible! Been to the Bullring one but no others in Birmingham yet!

Gosh has anyone else just decided on the meal for everyone and is not telling their guests beforehand? I'm feeling a bit nervous I'm doing something wrong here.

we have picked the 3 courses, have obviously taken into account people's dietary requirements but I wasn't going to do menus.

is this the norm? I haven't been to a wedding for a few years and have no idea if they had menus on the table.

Honest answers please cos I can get one printed.

getting married 15th August 2014 (but can't manage to make ones of those ticker things!)

We haven't got choices, we have just picked the set meal for everyone (veggies and other dietry needs will be catered for) but of we wanted to give everyone a choice we had to pay a fair bit more so we we're tight!

To be fair, the last few weddings I've been to everyone had the same.

I will be printing menus though, just so people can prepare themselves and get any moaning out of the way, lol!

Not decided if I'm going to do a menu each or a few per table. I may ask the venue though to see if they would be able to do it for us, never thought of that!