Buffet or Plated

We are doing a buffet style. Plated is lovely and is much nicer in my opinion, however not cost efficient due to the size of wedding we are having.

We are (and I strongly prefer) a buffet style dinner! We have mixed backgrounds so this was the easiest way to include a lot of different foods for everyone!

Also I have been to so many weddings where the meal was plated and as they were good! They have never been GREAT! I have always enjoyed the buffet style so much more!

Plus you can pick what ever you want and how ever much!

We are doing buffet style as we want people to be full and satisfied from the meal, it also matches our rustic casual theme too!!

I will be going with plated

Neither! we're doing a family style.

Servers bring food to the table by each course and guests take however much they want and pass it on to the person beside them...continues for each course and if the table needs more food the servers will bring it

We are doing buffet. Catering just wasnt for us and most of the caterers in my town want to offer shellfish, which us great except I'm allergic. I didnt want to risk having an anaphylactic reaction on my wedding night but i also didn't want to have a fancy sit down dinner.


We are doing taco bar for dinner and pizza for late lunch

Good choice on the plated Tolu.

We had plated service and was great. Same as you're getting the late night service, we had that offered too and everyone loved it. We chose sandwiches, veggies and fruits over a cheese platter.

We are doing silver platter service (like cocktail but with some larger mains) Should be nice!

I prefer plated, it is definitely more formal, so it may depend on the vibe you are going for. Some people have said to me that they don't like buffets because they spend so much to go to a wedding, that they would prefer their food being served to them as opposed to them having to get up to get their own food. Like it mentioned it depends on the atmosphere you are looking for and also knowing your guests

I prefer plated because it's more formal and less of a hassle; guests won't be hungry and waiting for their table to be called in order to get their food. But it depends on the style of your wedding and venue, I think!

We're doing a little of everything.. plated and served starter, family style dinner, a self serve pie bar and then late night snacks in the evening. We wanted the family feel and the ability to eat what you want and need. As well the servers will then have the time to pour the wines vs putting bottles on the table which I feel ups the class factor as well as keeps our liquor bill under control by reducing waste. We will be at a sweetheart table so our meals and vendor meals will be plated after all. I likely will just take a fork and move my seat up to the pie table

I prefer plated purely because it's more simple. It's like "here's what yuou're eating, take it or leave it". I don't like the fuss of a buffet and people getting up to help themselves. I feel like they spend less time socializing at their tables.

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Hi Courtney,

Yeah, most likely I'll do plated.

It's very similar to yours but our late night would be some traditional food, which the venue offered to serve for us free of charge. So that's really cool. Hope your day is everything you imagine it to be.

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Hi Tatiana,

This helps so much in my decision. That's exactly what I want. Everyone to be seated and paying attention and for everything to be on time so it leaves us more than enough time for dancing etc. Thanks a lot for your feedback!

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Hi Summer,

When everyone suggested Family style, I thought about it and decided it just won't work for me. I've chosen to go with plated but I've asked my venue about buffet just to ask so that I have another option. It's definitely a difficult choice for sure

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Yeah, I'm gonna go with plated. I've asked my venue about buffet just to see how that option looks but I might just stick with what I have at the moment

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I think so too! Thank you

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Hi Janis,

I totally understand where you're coming from. My plated dinner would be 4 courses, a cocktail hour as well as a late night menu so I don't think I'd run into the issue of people getting hungry afterwards. There's lots of food. I think for the vision of my wedding I'll stick to plated. Thank you so much for sharing your opinion on this.

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Hi Lizmridha,

Thank you for your feedback. Yeah, I think plated will work better for me and my vision.

I have always preferred plated at other people’s wedding and choose my mine as well. It’s less chaotic and elegant in my opinion. Played service suits our theme better as well.

Both have pros and cons.

Plated is elegant and makes it look like you spent more. Downfall is you don’t want a guest with a rumbling tummy.

Buffet is an awesome idea; affordable and feeds plenty. Although, some people are “embarrassed” to get up and get their second helping of food. To avoid this, make sure food station is accessible in your reception room so people aren’t taking a scary walk through the room to get food.

I hope this helps!

I think Plated

Plated is what I’m doing!! I wanna feel fancy on my wedding day, and that is what my venue offers!!! If you have the option though buffet is a money saver.

Omg I was just going to post this! We have been debating too. Family style takes longer than a buffet. And the buffet is cheaper. I’m so torn!

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Family style is AWESOME! I love it. its really really common here. every hall offers it. if you want plated. you pay more.

We choose to have a plated dinner, this allowed us to have time to have speeches, cake cutting in a timely manner, and knew everyone would be paying attention because they were seated eating. And this also helped because we had more time for dancing too.

I have been to weddings which were buffet but they went on later into the night because during this time you can't hold any events. But it all depends on what works best for you.

I am not a fan of buffets. I know it's snobby but I always think of the food left at the buffet as the food the person in front of me didn't want!

We're having a plated, 4 course meal as well as a cocktail hour with food being served around and a late night Pizza and Fruit bar! It will be TONS of food for anyone who wants it. I also wouldn't be too concerned with food being cold if being served. Just ask your venue how many servers there are. There should be enough to get food out quickly!

Buffet. Generally better food, hotter when people it eat, gives people the option to their portion size (my fiance eats 2-3x as much as my mom), choosing their food (don't like mushrooms? dig around them)...

Also if there are lots of salad options, I sometimes even like to have my "salad"/cold food first, and then get my entree, as I'm a weirdo and I don't like when my hot sauces leak on my salad...

We’ve chosen to go with family style. This gives a little bit of both lol

We were offered plated 4 course meal and worked out perfect. I have been to weddings with buffets and not a fan of filling my plate up on the only round. Portions and presentation are enough for everyone.

We are doing plated (4 course meal). For 2 reasons:

1) we think it looks fancier (just personal opinion)

2) ppl will generally finish eating around the same time. So easier to get speeches done especially if you have a lot to do.

Been to 2 weddings that had one plated and one buffet. The buffet definitely added more options and if ppl were hungry they could go back for more. The plated was good but the portion sizes were small, most of us were hungry by the time 10pm came again.

We added late night snacks onto our meal and we had our menu tasting and the portion size was quite large so we aren't too worried with hungry guests.

We are doing buffet....BUT I actually just emailed out caterer to ask about switching it to family style. I like the idea because its kinda the best of both worlds. All the options of the buffet, but served right to your table. Less waiting, more eating and enjoying.

I'm just waiting to hear back on the cost difference. If we can do the same price as buffet, then I think I'd prefer that! I've never been to a wedding with family style!