Wedding Breakfast menu/food choice

Hi Rosco,

I know what you mean, I wasn't keen on having to choose a menu for everyone, and for this reason we're having a v nice fork buffet (still as a sit down meal, but guests go up 1 table at a time to get food - not 'formal' enough for everyone, but suits us). I think you're suggestion is a good one, and I think it's fairly common. In response to your question, I don't think people would find it strange to be asked in advance, some would probably be glad of the choice. The one thing I would suggest however is that you put something on the tables/placecards to remind people what they ordered as I have been to a wedding where it had been several weeks since people had selected their choices and basically just took what they fancied on the day, meaning a lot of us didn't end up with what we ordered (worked out ok for me as I ended up with a gorgeous dessert that I prefered to what I had actually ordered, but could have been really annoying). My mum had b.ad memories of going to a wedding like this where she was left with a main she really didn't like because there was none of what she requested left. Oh, and double/triple/quadruple check the order with your venue as we had a mix up at my grandmas 80th birthday do a couple of months back where they had made 8 of 1 starter and 18 of another, but got the numbers the wrong way around!

Just realised this post may sound really negative, not my intention, I think doing food this way can work out really well, but has to be done v carefully!

Ally

This is exactly what we have done!

Its a brilliant idea I think and no ones has questioned it at all. Gives the venue a chance to get everything in place too.

I made up nice menus and sent them with my invitations, they ticked what they wanted and adding any other requirements and ive made up a spreadsheet which I will hand in to the hotel showing what everyone wants. The choices are then written on the back of the place cards to remind guests what they chose and there will be a menu on the table too to remind them.

Go for it! - if you dont mind the added paperwork it will give you.

Hi Ally,

Thanks for responding. And don't worry I didn't think it negative. Our venue have asked us to let them know who wants what, so when it comes to serving the guests at the tables, The dishes for Table 1 (for example) get brought out and people get they pre-ordered. I think this will help solve the problem you mentioned about not having what they pre-ordered.

An thanks for the tip about double/triple checking get the numbers right! I will do that.

You said its quite common, thats refreshing to hear as all the people I know who I have asked about doing it this way have said they have never been given a choice in advance..

Rosco

I've been to one wedding where there was a choice - however, the menu choice card was missed from my invite and I wasn't chased for my choice / didn't realise there was a choice so I got the default option. Also the service was really slow on the day - the groom complained and the venue said "well if your guests hadn't gone for so many different meals" - which is bizarre as this is what the venue offered them in the first place!

Anyway, with a more organised B&G and a venue that knows their limitations - I think it would be work well! We aren't offering a choice but have really tried to come with an option everyone will like - a hard task!

I think that having a choice of food at your wedding is a good idea. My mum had a choice of 2 dishes for each course for her wedding last summer and sent an insert with her invitations for guests to tick and return. Hers was a small wedding (well the meal was) so I don't think there were any mistakes with dishes being served.

My H2B's cousin got married in January & sent all the guests a copy of all choices of food (without realising that she had to choose 2 for each course) so we eneded up with food that we hadn't ordered! Lucky the staff were realy helpful and made me up a dessert of just strawbeeries with chocolate sauce rather than the dessert that I didn't like (can't remember what it was but it incorporated the strawberries & chocolate sauce). So make sure you only let guests know the food they can choose from!!!

We would like to be able to offer choices but it'll cost quite a bit more so unless we can agree a deal with our venue I think we'll have a set menu.

This exact thing attracted us to our venue, which is actually organised enought to offer individual menu options to the guests on the day of the wedding, without an excessive cost! Means everyone can have what they want! I would have gone with a fork buffet otherwise! Would def recommend putting the choices on the name plates as a reminder though! People rarely remember their order!

We are able to give a choice although the venue advised to give only 2 choices plus 1 veggie choice otherwise it does slow things up on the day. I am going to put menus with tick boxes in with the invites, and then write it inside the place cards to remind people what they chose.

This is what we did. The only problem we found was people trying to choose between the dishes!! ?

We I have had no problems collating the information and all the venue has asked is that they know how many of each dish is required, etc. We are also having a little reminder of what people have asked for on their place names. We went to a wedding in December and none of us could remember what we were having because we'd picked a few months in advance.

Hi. I would really prefer a venue that could offer a choice to my guests. Can any of you suggest a venue, preferably in the Bedfordshire Hertfordshire area?

What's with all the old (2009) threads being dragged up by people with only one post?

This is the second one I've seen tonight.

Spam?

I was wondering this too, took me a minute to click when I didn't see anyones name I recognised haha.
Always wondered what spamming on the net actually was lol...

I've seen 3 old threads dragged up by new users with ony 1 post now.

Could be a coincidence but I'm not sure...

This one really confused me as the user name is almost mine.

I registered with hitched.co.uk to have a look at venues. However I actually found this thread via Google. Would I be better off starting a new thread?

I was confused and thought it was you also Rosco!

Yes- pop in the title your area and what help you are looking for and I am sure you will be able to get some up to date advice from hitchers who know that area

Welcome along BTW!

We did this and it made life so much easier all round. People made their choices and we could pre-order so no waste and no over catering. We had soup or pate for starters and pie and peas/cheese and onion pie or lasagne for mains.

The venue had a doctored version of the seating plan so they knew who was having what and where they were sat. People were told they had to sit where they were given as people moving around would confuse matters. But there's always one - the wedding organiser told my sister-in-law in no uncertain terms that where she was allocated was where she was sitting and that was the end of the matter.

Swampy

Last work 'do' I went to, we had place cards, on the inside was a printed sticker with the individual's meal choices. Ensured there was something to check in the event of a disagreement.

Planning on using this at ours, just for dietary requirements, we've known people take the veggie option on the day because they fancied it, leaving an actual veggie with an uneatable meal

Let me just clarify, the previous happenings were at work events, and not our family/friends.

Im hoping to go with:

starter:

soup

main:

chicken

a veggie option (like pasta)

dessert:

chocolate cake

and then a diabetic option as there are a lot of diabetics in the family (but i dont know what yet)

something for everyone in there