Pros and cons of a wedding buffet vs. serving individual meals?

Question

I'm mostly concerned with price and waste. Would serving meals be cheaper than serving a buffet because of less food, or would wait staff add up? (There are less than 50 guests and like 6 tables max.)

A buffet would produce more waste, but it would be untouched and could be saved. Yet, there could be so many leftovers that most of it would be thrown out anyway. On the other hand, the guests could each take their own leftovers home if we serve them meals.

Answer 1

I would say that it may depend on the venue. Are you having your reception at a place that serves food? Or do you have to provide your own caterers and/or servers?

Where I had my reception, we had to provide our own EVERYTHING....lol. I bought the food and had some friends get it ready for the buffet line. We took the leftovers home and used that food to have lunch with the family the next day while opening our wedding gifts.

Answer 2

Well the thing with waste is that if you serve something they dont like at a sit down meal then its going to be wasted as well.  I have only been to one sit down meal at a wedding and I barely ate a thing as there was nothing I liked.  I honestly think buffet is the better way to go and no matter what you do, there will always be waste.

Answer 3

I'm all for a buffet.

If something were on my plate and I didn't eat it, its probably because it is a food I don't like and wouldn't eat it anyway - - and I doubt anyone is going to want leftovers from someone else's plate.

Where as a with a buffet, the leftovers didn't come from someone else's plate and you can usually find someone who enjoyed each item and would be willing to take leftovers home.  Another perk to the buffet is if you have a big eater - they can get up and take second helpings.

In many places, buffet will cost you less money.  Although where I am, they are the same price.

Answer 4

We are doing a sit-down served dinner at our reception.  The reception site we are using provides all the food and as long as we pay for the food, and meet a certain minimum, then we don'y have to pay anything for the site or the waitstaff or anything.  The sit-down meal is actually $3 cheaper per person than the buffet at our site.  There are 8 different entrees that the guests will be able to choose which one by checking the box on the RSVP card that they will get in the invites.

Answer 5

Buffet

Pros

more choices for guests

seconds

gets people up and talking

cons

less room due to the setup

guest waiting in line

need more food so no one goes up to the last peice of something

plated dinner

pros

more formal

more room due to no buffet tables

order as many dinners as guest, no extras

cons

less choices

no seconds  

Answer 6

in general, buffet's are always cheaper because the guests go up and serve themselves instead of having staff serve them.  if you are worried about leftovers - someone can bring that home. tell your family and friends to all take some home. the reception place will be more than happy to pack it up for people in some big 'to-go' boxes.

also - when i got married, i had 200 guests and the reception place told me that buffet might be better for that many people because if we did sit down, they coudn't guarentee that all the food would still be warm after brining out 200 plates.  

Answer 7

Advantages of the sit down meal:

If you want your reception to be formal and elegant, the sit down meal may be the better bet. Picky guests are more likely to be impressed.

Your guests don't have to work for their food! This is especially helpful to elderly guests and guests with small children.

For guests who have traveled a long distance, it may feel appropriate to feed them with a more formal meal.

You don't have to worry about running out of food.

Guests don't have to worry as much about making a mess on their nice clothing.

Advantages of the buffet meal:

If you want your reception to be more casual and laid back, a buffet might be the better bet. Guests are more likely to feel comfortable.

Buffets are usually less expensive than sit down dinners. There's no wait staff to pay, and the food is often cheaper.

You can offer your guests a variety of food options. Aunt Bertha will be satisfied with the meat and potatoes, and your vegetarian cousin Aurora will be delighted with the veggie lasagna. People enjoy having a bounty of food to choose from.

Buffets encourage mingling. They force people to get up from their table, at least once!

Hope this helps!

Answer 8

my husband and i had 50 guests and served buffet style. we figured that each guest would return twice ... so we got enough food for 120 people (including guests, as well as the photographer, djs, staff, etc.). it worked out perfectly and most people (being out of town) took a plate to go.

if you're worried about wasting the food at the end. ask family to make plates and take them to your local homeless shelters. not only are they thankful for your contribution ... you did a good deed.

serving buffet style is more cost efficient than a served meal. just think $7-15 per person vs $35+ per person. it just depends on your budget. good luck!

Answer 9

see if your venue donates the left over food - that's what my venue does - it's a buffett - if it were individual meals they wouldn't do that (that's nasty )  

Answer 10

The pros and cons you've already mentioned are valid and to be considered carefully!  If you don't really care one way or the other as far as the formality factor or the reception order then your main considerations will come down to the way your particular caterer does business.

For example, the area in which I live and plan weddings has several hotels that offer ballrooms for wedding receptions.  They have certain catering minimums to be met depending on your guest count and the type of meal you are serving. So, if you had 100 guests, let's say your minimum for trays of hors d'oeuvres would be $1500, your plated individual meals $1800, and your buffet $2400.  Surprising that the minimum is cheaper for a seated dinner right?  This may be the case at your site too, so check on this.  My brides who had originally planned on having a buffet usually end up doing plated meals at these locations because the difference in the end is usually just a few hundred dollars more.

Also, remember that if you do a buffet, the prices usually only include the food itself, so then you have to try to make sure you have enough of each food group, drinks, etc.  So, in the end it may cost you $40-50- per person at some locations to get all this once you add it up.

In contrast, plated meals may start at $32 per person and already include a set portion of meat, veggie, starch, salad, bread, butter, water, tea, coffee & even sometimes an optional dessert course.  

Ask very specific questions of your caterer when you compare the prices of buffets vs. plated meals.

Also, sometimes a buffet meal with one or two meat choices, veggies, rice, bread, and salad instead of small individual hors d'oeuvres style buffet choices may be cheaper in the long run too, b/c the labor is less on large quantities than on individual appetizers.

Answer 11

There are only pros to a buffet for tons of reasons, most importantly is the cost for you, and the variety of choices for your guests.

There is LESS waste with a buffet, actually. Depending upon the caterer, some of the food can be used for the late lunch, and/or for the gift opening the next day. Alternatively, food can sometimes be donated to a shelter, for example.

Guests do not take home leftovers from served meals, not at a wedding.

Answer 12

I think individual meals are much more classy and upscale feeling. You don't have to hire waitstaff if you know of family and friends who have teenagers willing to dress up the same and serve. There's less waste for individual meals because they don't go back for seconds. If you get a catering service to prepare the food and then have your own wait people it can be a great way to go. That's what we did and we gave $ to the teens for their summer missions trip. But, it was way cheaper than paying for waitstaff. You can even use fancy recyclable plastic plates that save on cost. Almost anything is possible.  

Answer 13

I would go with the sit down dinner. I think that those are much more elegant and usually less expensive then a buffet.

But, since you have a small amount of guests then you could consider doing the buffet.

If you are thinking about leftovers or food being saved you should ask your caterer/reception venue what their policy is about that. My mom wanted to take home her entree at my wedding - the country club wouldn't let her because of laws/insurance. I thought it was silly, but they still wouldn't do it...