How to deal with food allergies

I have food allergies and have been to weddings with assigned tables, not seats. The server just came out before the meal was served to ask who was gluten-free at that table.

I recently talked to a friend and she was going to to the colour dot system for her daughters wedding coming soon on August.

What i suggested and the same to you would be is to make a table plan on paper with the table #s and guest sitting if you put their names at that seat. One copy can go to the servers to know whom is to recieve the allergy dish rather than scrambling through the service.

Its a thought as i personally did that myself for vegetarians at our wedding and children meals. It helps keep you and the kitchen staff organized. Allergy dishes get served first as those guests don't get mixed up with the regular course.

They may be ok with having the servers ask, or you may be able to use your escort cards to denote who gets what. For my reception I assigned tables only, and color coded the ink I used on the escort cards to each food choice (ie chicken in light blue, vegetarian in black...). That way servers knew who to give what and I only had to assign tables to my guests. What does your caterer or venue recommend they usually do to handle this?

This is not a big deal for most caterers. if you are doing a plated dinner. just tell the caterer the table number and the person's name and what the allergy is.

I think Clarissa's idea would work best. Give your caterer a list of the 5 guests, and their table numbers. Then have them just go to that table and say they have x-allergy dinner for so-and-so, then they just give it to them directly.

I think for this an arranged seating plan is the way to go.
I like the bright card idea but I can't see it working too well if the wedding is over 120 people. The caterers are only human, and will probably mix up something. Depending on the allergy it could be a mild annoyance or something much worse, so that's why I'd use as much precaution as possible

What about having the persons name with their allergy written on a bright or bold coloured card and asking them to bring it to their seat?

I have a shellfish allergy and that has always worked for me !

You may want to reconsider seating plan to have the caterer know by tables and whom is to receive meals based on allergies. The servers will get very confused and give the dish to anyone who will accept it otherwise if everyone is seated anywhere.

I had organized guests being veg indicating on the sheet so no one was left without a meal.

Have guests list allergies on RSVP so that Caterer and vendors know.

We have something like this. If you know which table to send them to that should be enough. Talk with the venue and see if server can ask for the guest by name or just say “I have a gluten free plate for xxx”.

If it’s a buffet well they will be the one that hasn’t gotten up for dinner or doesn’t have a plate yet (I suggest trying to see if you can coordinate with the special plates being served while the rest of the table is up getting the buffet). If it’s platter dinner then have their plate be the first one served at the table So no mixup.