Are you doing buffet or sit down dinner?

WeLoveLilo05

The venue we are having our wedding at has the option of a sit down dinner or a buffet. The sit down dinner is $10 more per person and its a salad, and pasta, and then a choice of NEw York Sirloin Steak w/ mushrooms or Chicken and Shrimp Francese.
The Buffet we get to chose I think 5 different things as well as the pasta and salad. I feel like you get more with the buffet and i am sure everyone can find something that they like.
Do people typically do buffets for weddings?

SD3194

Every wedding I've ever attended has been a buffet. It's usually cheaper and offers more variety than a plated dinner. However, if you're having a massive guests list then I would recommend doing a plated dinner so you don't have to worry about a long line. Nothing is worse than waiting in line forever for dinner.

RoyalSpoiledOne

We're doing the buffet.

SaraAndrew2010

I did a sit down dinner at my wedding, which is typical of other weddings I've been to in my family/social circle.  I just think that a plated meal make the reception nicer and more formal.  As a guest, I don't like standing in a long line at a buffet or sitting at my table waiting to be "released" to go up to the buffet.  I also like having food that is nicely arranged on the plate, versus plopping a bunch of food on my plate going through a buffet.

There's no right or wrong way to go in this case.  Just personal preference.

SuMmErKuTiE

We had stations because we always prefer buffets or stations because DH and I are always hungry after a plated meal at a wedding. They either don't give you enough, or it's not fresh or hot enough, or you don't like what it comes with. We actually get excited when we're invited to weddings that have stations or buffets because we know we'll be able to choose what and how much to eat. When it's a plated dinner, DH always makes us hit up the drive-thru on the way home because he's so hungry.

The stations at our wedding were set up beautifully.. no bunson burners or anything like that and the display was amazing. We had a carving station with prime rib, ham, and turkey, a tuscan station, a summer grill station, and a pasta station. The guests loved the variety and the ability to go back up for as much as they liked which we definitely saw people doing. We had a formal wedding and it didn't take away from the formality at all.

BlueBoxBride

We're doing plated.

janicejab

 We're doing plated. I think it's more relaxing for everyone than a buffet. I don't like lines or having to carry my food across a room. Plus it seems like I'm always the one who gets to the buffet as food is running out. So I either get the last dried up bits of food in a dish or I have to wait for more food to come out. I would never side-eye anyone for having a buffet, but that's just not what I want at my wedding.

AshRouss

I am doing  a buffet.  Our favorite Italian restaurant does a buffet catered meal and we couldnt pass it up. I am so ecited to share our favorite food with our guest. 

fallbride1109

Ditto SummerKutie, we did more of a station buffet.  Plated would have been $5 more pp at our venue and that was too much.  Plus my husband didn't want the "formality" of a plated dinner--although we had a pretty nice, formal hotel wedding.  It didn't take away from anything and worked out fine.  If plated is in your budget, that is the way I would go but a buffet is perfecty fine also.

AllAboutTheBenjamin

We did a buffet.

sb9411

We're doing a plated dinner. It is more common in our social circle and I just prefer it :-)

Copic34

Suit down here. Dont know what to have though. I know one choice will be chicken parmasain because its a food that my fiance always made for our anniverseries.

TEA&Co

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_doing-buffet-plated-dinner?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:23Discussion:16603fff-0006-4f77-9f93-b0fa67801967Post:30c2ecbd-cced-417c-b12a-fe7877e12fc7">Re: Are you doing buffet or sit down dinner?</a>:
[QUOTE]I did a sit down dinner at my wedding, which is typical of other weddings I've been to in my family/social circle.  I just think that a plated meal make the reception nicer and more formal.  As a guest, I don't like standing in a long line at a buffet or sitting at my table waiting to be "released" to go up to the buffet.  I also like having food that is nicely arranged on the plate, versus plopping a bunch of food on my plate going through a buffet. There's no right or wrong way to go in this case.  Just personal preference.
Posted by SaraAndrew2010[/QUOTE]

Ditto this, exactly, except that we're not married yet!

topchef33

Our venue only offers plated dinners.

I don't mind a buffet as long as it doesn't take 30 minutes to get my food. We went to a wedding where there were 2 tables of buffet food (both the same items) and people could line up on both sides of the tables.

vignesle

I think it depends on your social circle as to what is considered "normal" for a wedding. Personally I prefer seated.

My wedding was plated, because that's kind of the norm for our crowd of friends and my family. But I know my DH side of the family almost always has buffet dinners at their weddings

doeie04

We are doing buffet. It is the norm for our circle.

HoneyBee+26

Buffet. I've been to an even mix of both and I prefer buffet-style. FI and I both want to make sure that our guests get enough to eat and won't leave hungry. The last wedding we went to, FI's cousin's wedding, there was a plated dinner and the portions were very small. It didn't bother me much because I don't need to eat a ton, but the men at the table were filling up on rolls and the candy buffet after dinner was over. 

RebeccaB88

Both FI and I despise plated meals, so we will only consider a buffet.

antoinettejosephine

We are doing a buffet.  Our family and friends like to eat so we want them to be able to go back for seconds if they choose.

colstj

It's really all up to your preference.  Think about what your guests would want more.  I am planning on doing a sit down to make the atmoshphere seem more formal.

BergiesGirl

I personally love a buffet, and I think if the food is delicious a line is a minor annyance.  It also depends on the style of your reception and your crowd.  Ours is less formal and we are doing semi seated.  Salad and dinner rolls served at the table, then the tables will be escorted to the buffet line.  Plated is nice, but I like choices especially since one of our proteins is beef tenderloin.  Most of my family likes their steak done at least medium and his likes it closer to medium rare so having a carving station gives as an opportunity to make everyone happy. 

brit_bell90

At my venue I could have gotten family-style for $1 pp more than buffet, but I chose buffet since we're doing round tables and the last wedding I was at we didn't really have enough room on the table for all of the dishes of food. They set up the buffet so there are two lines at once going through and getting their food, so it'll be much faster than a normal buffet.

lanejane

We're doing a sit down dinner. Our venue is extremely formal and it just seems appropriate. Plus I like to be waited on and not have to walk across slippery floors in a dress and heels with a plate full of spaghetti and bright red sauce!

KJ7985

I think the size of your wedding and--perhaps more importantly--the efficiency of your venue has a lot to do with guest satisfaction. We went to one buffet wedding (140 people) and we were able to get our food quickly--it was great, perfect, awesome. We went to a somewhat larger wedding (200+) and they did a buffet. Our table was seated for an hour and twenty minutes before we could even get our food! We were starving! If you go for a buffet, make sure that your venue can efficiently accomodate your group size.

mica178

We did sit-down.  My family would have been horrified if it was a buffet, my father especially.  I'm not a fan of standing in a buffet line in a nice dress and cannot imagine doing it in my wedding gown.

VRL

We're having a buffet. My family and my FI's family appreciates good food and lots of it - they also don't appreciate overly formal atmospheres - so a buffet is perfect.

To help prevent line congestion, I'm going to ask my venue to set up stations - an appetizer station, two separate entree stations, and a dessert station - with one of each station set up on either side of the ballroom.

That way our guests can divide themselves between the two sets of stations, hopefully reducing wait times; and with the food separated into stations, our guests would only have to wait for the foods they actually want.

I'm not entirely sure yet if that will be feasible (and if it is, at what cost), but that's how I hope to set up our 'buffet' so that the buffet feel and long lines are reduced, while providing our friends and families with as many options for food as possible.

kgrunow

We are doing family style. It kindof combines buffet and plated. I have been to weddings with all three types of meals and to be honest I more clearly remember the flavor of the food and not the manner it was served.

jess9802

We're doing buffet. With 45 guests or so the line shouldn't be too ridiculous, and servers at a backyard wedding would be over the top. Besides, I do like the ability of our guests to pick and choose what amounts and kinds of food they like.

Budnotes

For me, most weddings I've been to were always a plated dinner.   I went to only a handful of weddings that were buffets and personally, it made the wedding appear cheap.  My husband is a big guy and at his cousin's wedding we went to the buffet and they asked him what he wanted chicken or fish - he wanted to try both and they actually told him it was one or the other!  I thought a buffet meant you got to have a little bit of everything!  I say a plated dinner is the way to go. 

wiser516

We are doing a plated dinner.  I like the sit down dinners better because then you don't have all of your guest standing in a line waiting to get food and i think its more elegant for a wedding to be a plated dinner.  I've been to weddings that are buffet style and the wait of the line and until your table can go it gets frustrating because by the time you get your food most of the people are already done with their food and sometimes they run out of food so you have to wait till they come to refill the buffet.  If you do a plated dinner you can have a cocktail and ors D'oeuvres hour.

xoxohispanicgirl

We are doing the buffet dinner with 3 entrees.  It allows more of a selection for our guests (and it costs less too!).