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I prefer buffet. But this is because I enjoy food so much that I am willing to get up and get my own if it means I can get what I want.
I do think a buffet is slightly less formal than a sitdown dinner can be, but it's also a nice break for guests to get up and mingle. I have been to way too many weddings with horrible food, or gravy poured all over my meal that I think a buffet would be refreshing!
Depends on the wedding but normally I feel buffets go with a more casual wedding...like if I went to a black tie wedding and there was a buffet, I would think it was unusual.
All things being equal I usually prefer a plated dinner just cause if a buffett isn't run right it can be a long wait and a bit of a hassle.
If you go the buffett route one thing I would watch our for is the warmth of the food...I'd say at about 90% of the buffetts I've had at weddings the food just hasn't seemed warm enough.
I prefer a buffet. I've had a lot of pretty disappointing plated dinners, but buffets usually provide enough of a variety of food that there's some good stuff in there.
Hmmm depends on the style and size of the wedding
smaller wedding a little more casual and festive- then show me the buffet!
more elegant- larger wedding, then a sit down plated dinner is what I'd prefer. But then again I'd be happy just to attend, so whatever you decide should be wonderful :)
I'm doing a buffet, and I'm not totally fond of buffet meals but due to our outdoor location we have no choice.
I've never had a bad plated meal, though every plated meal wedding I've attended has been at really expensive venues. I think a lot of people do like buffet because they can pickand choose. Just make sure you have the right flow because guests hate long lines.
BUFFET BABY!!! I have NEVER been to a wedding where I ended up liking the seated meal! It's always cold, or rubbery, it NEVER seems worth what you know they paid for it!
Oh and don't be afraid to just stick with good ole' food that you both already love. Skip the fancy schmancy, get good and tasty. Your guests will love you (or at least I would if I was your guest!)
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Okay, I guess I'm the only one who prefers a sit down dinner. I'm a little ocd, so when I go somewhere and there is a buffet, it is very difficult for me to eat. I can usually handle the carving station, but most everything else is off limits for me. I like the formality, yet relaxed feeling, of a sit down dinner. I've been to quite a few weddings with great seated meals, the food was good without having to wait in line.
I think it really is personal preference.
definitely seated! i dislike the lines at buffets. i do like dessert buffets though!
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buffet is gross. who wants to wait in line for their food at a wedding? also you end up going up by table.. so if you're the last table you could end up waiting quite a while... staring enviously at the other people. a guest asked if i was having a buffet or seated dinner and she was upset that it wasn't a buffet! i thought that was rude.
I am having a buffet. I have never been to a wedding with a seated and plated meal. Everyone just goes and gets food. And if the line is long, then you just grab a drink and talk while you wait.
I think that maybe having a cocktail hour with passed trays can help with the idea that people may be very hungry when the buffet is opened and storm it. It addition a buffet can look very nice, it all depends on the presentation of the food.
I'm extremely picky, so you'd think I'd like buffets, but I'd still prefer seated dinners (this, even though I generally don't like the food for a lot of them). This is for a couple of reasons: 1) even on buffets, ther's limited selections, and just like a plated dinner, you get to choose what you prefer and 2) I HATE having to carry my plate full of food, especially if there is also a glass of wine involved. I'm petrified of dropping it all down my dress! Maybe it's just because I'm a klutz, but with everyone holding plates and others moving around (usually slightly intoxicated), it's a disaster waiting to happen. Thus, we're going with a plated dinner at my wedding -- only I'll like this food because I can pick it out :) .
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I also prefer a sit down dinner! It's more formal, and I really don't like buffets for reasons that pps mentioned. Cold, rubbery food can happen with both a buffet and a plated meal -- you just have to have a good caterer!
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I like plated too! buffet food can get stale and overcooked just like plated can not be great. If I am dressed up it is nice to be served and not standing in line and jostling around for food. But do what you want and can afford!
I'm torn over buffet versus seated dinner too! I like buffet b/c it's more cost effective, thereby allowing you to provide more options. Also, I want to have a casual wedding so a buffet seemed like the best way to get people to mingle and eat throughout the evening. Also, I am so indecisive and really hated having to come up with the meal selections for the invitations so far in advance...
BUT, I am doing the plated dinner b/c (1) I hate having dry, semi-warm, or soggy food (and that's what I usually see at buffets) and (2) I'm really afraid of my older relatives piling the food on their plate so that the guest who get in line later only have scraps (or we'll have to end up paying more anyway b/c the caterer will have to make more food). We did decide to also have passed "small bites" and a chees/cured meats station before dinner to encourage mingling (my ceremony and reception are at the same venue)...and I'm afraid my relatives are going to gorge themselves on these leaving scraps for our more polite guests...oh well...
I agree with the plated dinners posters. But I am lazy and a germaphobe. I don't like to have to work for my meals - I have never been to a wedding where I didn't feel like time was wasted standing in line for the buffet or that people were doing gross things to the food ahead of me. And I despise when people let children go to buffets.
We're doing buffet because doing a plated option was way out of our budget. Food and wine are big on our list and we wanted the best we could afford. The buffet lets me choose several options for both main course and sides for my guests.
Buffet also means people don't have to select beef OR chicken, they can go with both options!! Or whatever options you are choosing. Even I would have a hard time deciding between my caterer's beef and chicken meals! :)
I agree that the feel of the wedding can help dictate your decision. I would have to think that a plated meal would seem odd in our very casual setting. Size of the group also plays a role. If you have a very large group but are doing a buffet ask about the possibility of two buffet lines to keep things moving faster. Another option is to ask the venue for servers for the buffet line. Then its not totally "serve yourself", your guests are still being served their meal.
oh man...this is going to be a hard decision! Thanks everyone for your comments. Now I'm kind thinking back on such weddings that did seated and ones that did buffets.
I guess the seated dinner felt more formal, but I was always afraid of whether or not the food was going to be good...you only had 2 or 3 choices (if you were lucky to have a choice!)...and for buffets...I always feel awkward serving myself at functions. Like what portion is appropriate to take, and does it make me look like a hog if I go back for seconds? But I loved the variety and being able to pick and choose exactly what I wanted and to go back for seconds for something I really liked.
Keep your comments coming guys! I'm so torn still!!!
I prefer seated. But maybe my view is skewed by the fact that I've only been to larger weddings. I've been at the last table called for the buffet at a few weddings, and there's waiting while everyone else is starting eating, waiting while they bring out more food, or if they don't, cold food, still eating when the dancing starts, the staff rushing to take away your plate - just not too fun. For a buffet to be done right, there need to be enough lines so that people can get food relatively quickly, and that's difficult to do for larger weddings.
I personally had to make my decision based on what kind of plated and what kind of buffet service my caterer performed. To my knowledge there are two kinds of each. For plated there is the synchronized service where you have about one waiter for every two guests and every waiter comes out at the same time and each plate is set down at the same time. It becomes a sort of performance and is truly impressive/fun to watch. The second form of plated is where you have about 4 to 6 wait staff that comes out with carts of food and does a table at at time, which makes food cold, people have to wait, etc. I would choose plated if it was the synchronized service, however that means a lot more money for the large amount of wait staff required. But keep in mind that performance can take away from the bride and groom because it is a mini-show that people tend to rave about. In regards to buffets the two types are the permanent buffet that usually has lighting, a stationed server at each section (hopefully two sections to keep things flowing), etc. The second kind is the non-perm ant buffet that gets set up in the middle of the room (dance floor usually) that people have to watch be disassembled before they can dance. This format usually does not have an attendant and the food sits and gets soggy or trays stay empty for awhile rather than being refreshed. I've only been to two weddings in my recent history, one with the less formal seated dinner and one with the less formal buffet. For my wedding I have elected to go with the permanent buffet. I would suggest determining which type of buffet and seated dinner your caterer provides. As a guest I would prefer either the synchronized plated meal or the permanent buffet with attendants and lighting.
Seated. Being all dressed up in nice clothes, and waiting in line holding a plate for some sloppy chicken, rice and green beans is not my idea of a celebration.
If you want the best of both worlds, why not try a "family style" serving?
I have worked for a catering company part time for the last 5-6 years and have worked quite a few weddings. We usually do a buffet, but sometimes there are plated and served meals. In regards to some of the concerns posted about buffets I would like to share my experience with this topic. We have NEVER placed a buffet in the middle of the dance floor. We are usually on a side of the room that we can have our food close to be able to change out. So when it is time for the buffet to be disassembled no one really notices us because the party has moved on. When there is a large number of people we have had as many as 3 or 4 separate buffets, which would be 6 or 8 buffet lines. This helps with the flow of people a lot. Also we do not rush people to eat, we usually just pick up plates as they are emptied. We don't get to eat until later and our food has not been cold. As for served meals, you do not get that much food and if there is only one choice, you may not even like the food. At a buffet at least you can choose what you want and how much you want. I will be having a buffet for my wedding because it is simpler and easier for me.
I'm not sure this post is really going to help you, Reesey! It seems like everyone else is split down the middle! Haha. I prefer a seated meal, I think it definitely adds to the formality of the wedding. How formal is yours? I guess I kind of always knew I would have a formal wedding even though I am not formal AT ALL in my regular everyday life. And my venue didn't have a choice, it is only a plated meal, which I was happy with, because if they told me the only option was a buffet, I probably would have looked elsewhere. People have noted that there may only be one choice with a plated meal, I've never seen that, and there will be three meal options for my guests, so that's definitely something to take into account. When I've been a guest, I'm not sure that I've ever been to a wedding that had a buffet! That's a little odd, now that I think about it. But I still think I would prefer a plated meal as a guest
We're doing a buffet. I will say that buffets are not always cost effective, sometimes they are even more because some extra food has to be made because people are serving themselves and may take larger portions than what would be served by a waiter.
Our buffet will also haev two lines, one on each side of the table to make it go a little quicker.
I've been to a couple seated weddings and frankly I felt confined at those! At least with a buffet the line can provide a little more time for mingling.
Interestingly enough, the best wedding food I have ever had has been buffet. Although this is probably because these were buffets put on by 5-star restaurants. Trust me, if you skimp on the catering, you will get crappy, cold food and long waits with either a buffet or a plated meal. I personally like the buffet because it lets you have multiple entree and side dish choices without making the guests pick in advance (we are having salmon, crab cakes, pork loin, and prime rib). I also like that it makes people get up and mingle more.
I do have a couple of friends who have objected to the idea of walking in their 4-inch heels to and from the buffet - to which my answer is that if you can't walk in your shoes you sure can't dance in them, and you should get some new ones.
And I see no reason why, at a formal buffet, you should be trying to carry a drink and food. In formal buffet service the drinks are served at the table, just as for plated service (think about going to a nice restaurant for brunch. You don't haul your own drinks!)
However, I should point out that our buffet IS NOT costing us less than a plated meal. That's not why we chose it. And it is part of why I expect it to be well run, with little or no waiting, and excellent food throughout the evening. The stories about dried out or cold food have nothing to do with buffet style service at all - only with bad service.
Ok, I've been to a bunch of wedding and the best have been ones that were either had different stations, so that everybody wasn't all bottlenecked at the prime rib (does EVERY wedding have to have that?) or buffets that have a seated first course, such as salad. If you have a buffet I would strongly suggest that you have assigned seats or tables at the very least. That way everybody has a place to sit their drink and purse while being in line.
Personally I don't like Buffets - I think one of the nice things about a seated dinner is, depending on where your dance floor is, you can get some of the things out of the way while ppl are eating salads or soups. You can give speaches and have your Father/Daughter Son/Mother dances then as well and no-one will miss them b/c they are in line and those that get bored by them (like the men folk) will have something to do.
Seated dinner, no question. I hate dressing up then standing in the line caffeteria style trying to balance salad plate, main course plate while "elegantly" placing food on the plate. Come on ! You invite people to dinner, you serve them the meal.
One exception where I really liked buffet was a wedding of our friends who had several ( maybe 10 or so) buffet stations instead of passed hors d'ouvres. Each station had at least two carvers/servers so there were basically no lines as people mingled. Among others, there was a pasta station, sushi, warm carvery, etc. This whole extravaganza was followed by a seated multi course dinner. Now I am not saying this is cheap, but it was yummy. Yum !
The way I look at it is - when you go out to dinner, do you really think, mmm, lets go to a buffet for dinner! No. So why would you host your family and friends to a buffet dinner? The cost usually isn't that much different. The comments about the food being bad for a plated dinner just means that the catering/venue is not good at what they do. You pay for what you get when it comes to wedding dinners. The food and the party is what the guests comment on. If the food is crappy, you are going to hear about it. We went into planning saying, venue/food is first and foremost important. We have to throw a good party! No one cares about the flowers or decor. really. The only thing I have heard since our wedding was how delicious every piece of food was, and a few comments on everything else. and we spent a LOT on decor and other little details. however, if the formality does not require it, maybe its not necessary. I still howver would prefer to be served no matter what kind of wedding I was at.
To me, seated dinners are a little more formal and elegant and buffets are a little more casual and less formal. I usually prefer a sit down dinner because you don't have to walk half way through a room with a plate full of food. The one good thing about buffets, though, is that people usually have more options. If budget is an issue for you, I found that seated dinners are actually cheaper. So, if price matters, there's the answer for you...but I would check with your venue just to be sure of this.
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Seated dinners.
During buffets, there's that uncomfortable period when half the room is already finished eating and the other half is still on a long line. Also, I never know how much food to take--and often end up taking too little!
Seated dinner ALL THE WAY!!
I also agree with some other posts that the bad food served on a Buffet or plated meals has to do with the service and food, not the style.
I have just been to way too many weddings were I was the last table to eat and I looked up and saw the bride and groom getting ready to dance before I was even served. (Plus my stomach was ready to eat itself.)
From a few posts it does mention that Buffets are more expensive and this is also what I experienced. If it is a smaller wedding, buffets can work great, larger wedding ie. 200+ do a seated dinner. (Iheard this from 3 different venues, my venue will not let me do a buffet with 300 people.)
Just my thoughts, what ever you decide will work out great, so do not stress too much about it :)
I personally like buffets. I think they are more casual then a seated dinner and I don't feel like that is a bad thing.
We are having a buffet because it will just be easier then a seated dinner and that way our guests can eat as much as they want and they can pick and choose what they want. Since we are only having 100 guests I think it should work out nicely but if I was having more than that I would probably go with a seated dinner just so no one has to wait in a buffet line forever.
Thanks so much for the comments! I'm still really, but I'm lucky...I still have time to think about it. One option a caterer gave me was to do a strolling buffet. It sounded neat...and it offered variety.
I don't want a super formal wedding, but I don't want a picnic wedding either. I'm going to have an evening ceremony and reception. I guess I'm just so afraid that a buffet can make us look cheap...is that weird?
I'm going to have to do a tasting and base it on that, I suppose.
Seriously, thanks for all your comments! I appreciate it!
loves-a-limey above mentioned Family-style. Have you considered that option? I know there have been other discussion threads here about it, but I'll put in my 2 cents anyways :)
It's the perfect balance of formal and casual. You still may have the issue of food getting cold, but I think that just depends on the quality of the caterer. It encourages conversation between guests who don't know each other, and I think the communal effort is friendly and fun :) Also, we have some guests who are vegetarian or kosher, and they will be able to choose from a variety of items on the table. There are little issues that come up, like you can't have centerpieces w/ a huge footprint b/c you need more room on the table. But, overall, I think it's a wonderful idea, and I'm so glad we're going to do it at our wedding! Oh, and we're doing passed hors d'oeuvres during the cocktail hour to add a little more formality.
Good luck!
The last wedding I went to was a buffet, with tons and tons of stations. It was outdoors on the beach in Fl. ... it was very very casual, but still fancy if that makes sense.
well, I sometimes prefer plated...if it is really good. Recently went to a wedding where the buffet had the BEST wedding food I've ever eaten. Guess it all depends on the caterer. I can definitely say that the seated option seems more elegant. Because of cost, we're going with buffet. Guests will have three entrees and a number of sides from which to choose.
By the way, our caterer doesn't charge for extra food and doesn't measure out the food for people. They charge a set per person fee and then keep the food coming. I thought that was pretty standard...but I guess not?
I think if price wasn't an issue - I'd definitely go with plated!
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I am a buffet person. I like the variety and the grazing ritual, maybe because it forces me to get up and therefore requires me to speak to other people (this is particularly helpful when the seating was not so great for you). I can go at my own pace. Also, almost everyone can find something at a buffet.
At the plated dinners I have been too, it has always made the meal seem to drag out only to get a meal that was rather disgusting! I have never seen so much oil on pasta primavera in my life (YUCK!) or such horrible swordfish (both at very upscale hotels I might add). I have also been to plated where it seems rushed, you aren't quite done with your plate because your catching up with someone and oops your appetizer/salad/dinner is gone. If you have plated meal make sure you don't get to fancy, it really hard for guest decide between lamb and some exotic fish if they have never had either only to find out both were not for them :/ On another side not I tend to notice that a lot less people get up to dance at seated dinners for some odd reason, I am not sure because they are more "formal" or if people just don't get the mingling down or what.
I think you will find most people have a preference but its likely you won't find a consensus one way or another, so you will just have to go with your instinct on it! Good Luck!
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I've never been to a sit-down, staff-serves-you reception. Every wedding has been buffet. Maybe that's the thing in the northwest, I dunno.
My preference is definitely plated. THat's just me though. I worked at a buffet as a high school student and haven't looked back since I left. No buffets for me, thank ya.
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As a guest to a wedding, what is your meal preference, a buffet or seated dinner?
I'd also like to know if you felt a buffet made the wedding seem more casual? Or does dinner style influence the wedding feel--make it less or more formal?
I've been to weddings that have done buffets, and ones that have done seated dinners, but I'm on the fence of which I prefer. All things equal, what would you choose (did you choose) for your wedding, buffet or seated dinner?
TIA for your opinion!