Choosing a buffet-style dinner for your wedding reception

The ceremony site is set; the reception has been booked, now it is time to decide on the food. There are several different choices that you will have to make as a couple when it comes to your menu. I am going to lay out the benefits of a buffet style dinner for your guests. The simplicity of this style of dinner can take many stresses off of your back when it comes to your wedding day.

Choices: By having a buffet style dinner service, it gives your guests several different options to choose from. You will probably have two to three choices of protein (poultry, beef, and seafood) to choose from and that leaves your guests the option to choose what they would like to have for their dinner.

If you have a preset menu, your invitees have to decide weeks in advance of what they want to eat on the day of your wedding. By providing a buffet style dinner, your guests can eat at their own pace and choose exactly what they want at
that moment. The normal buffet will offer several different entrees and sides that should please everyone in attendance.

Cost: There is no doubt that a buffet for your reception is much cheaper than having a sit down “service style” dinner. The catering company or chef can utilize their expertise on a wide variety of menu items at a cheaper cost. Plus, the quantity of food available is much greater when you utilize a buffet.

It is easy to explain..

If you are having a dinner party and invite 20 people, you would rather do a buffet style dinner than a plated dinner. It is easier to do and requires less work. This is the same philosophy in a professional kitchen, less staff to produce your meals and it gives options to everyone involved. You have to remember that by doing a plated dinner for your guests adds quite a bit of extra cost to your wedding venue. Your venue will need extra personnel in the kitchen to plate each guest’s entrée, plus you will need the staff to serve it to your guests (which requires extra dollars for automatic gratuity). If you utilize a buffet it will cut the staff way down and that give you tremendous savings on your wedding budget. The culinary experience can still be quite good at half of the cost, plus nobody can complain about what they ate- they chose it.

All in all, definitely consider a buffet for your wedding reception.