Plan for extra meals?

RedJacks25

A comment in another thread got me thinking... Is it normal to plan to need extra food? Should we have enough food just in case a guest brings someone who wasn't invited, or someone who RSVP'd "no" shows up? What's the customary thing to do here?

We don't need to give a final count to our venue until 3 days before, but I've just been assuming the number we give them will be our yeses and our vendors. Should we add a few extra, just in case? Did you need extra?

ScoutF

We did extra just in case. Thank goodness, because we had a few extra show up. There were some leftovers, but we gave it to some family members that helped up clean up.

HisGirlFriday13

We did a buffet, so there was already wiggle-room built in to the amount of food we had.

I think your caterer will have a better idea. If you're doing a plated meal, ask them. They can tell you what they usually do.

I would assume there are extra meals in case people forget what they ordered or change their minds or it comes out wrong and has to be re-cooked or whatever.

daria24

If you have a caterer, and aren't providing your own food, the caterer should automatically be planning for a few extra meals. There's always a chance that a chef will burn a steak, or a waiter/ess will drop a plate, etc so they have extra on hand JIC. 

photokitty

My contact stated they would have t least 10% more of the final meal count available. I would check with your caterer on how they handle it. 

Kauris

My venue told us they would accommodate up to 5% over our final number of people.

sofakingmad

Caterers definitely know how to handle this stuff.  I wouldn't worry about ordering anything extra.

kittypolishnbags

I brought it up with mine, but since it's a buffet they said it shouldn't be a problem adding a few last minutes. Definitely bring that up with your caterer.

RedJacks25

Thanks all! I will add it to the list of questions I still need to ask.

CheleLyn

Our caterer automatically prepares 10% over the headcount.

Couggal12

We're doing a buffet and in our contract it states they will automatically do a 10% overage just in case. So I agree with PP that your caterer will have it covered but, I would still ask.

saacjw

Couggal12 said:

We're doing a buffet and in our contract it states they will automatically do a 10% overage just in case. So I agree with PP that your caterer will have it covered but, I would still ask.

Yup, this. Our caterer and location manager all planned on unplanned guests. I'm super glad they did, by the way. We had one family that said they weren't going to bring their kids end up needing to bring their kids (childcare issues, the kids were totally invited, but the parents wanted a night off and ended up not getting it) and needed the extra space and plates. 

lc07

We gave a slightly higher count because I had a couple guests who weren't sure if they'd be able to make it in time for dinner but were absolutely coming and I wanted to make sure that they would have something to eat if they did make it in time for dinner, and then we had another family where the husband's father died right before our RSVPs were due. They didn't RSVP and I was not about to call them to ask if they were coming or not. So to err on the side of caution, I put their whole family down as a yes but they didn't show.

We were way under our projected numbers so our budget didn't suffer from it and I thought I'd rather be safe than sorry.

In summary, I ditto the PPs on asking your caterer.