Buffet vs. Food Stations vs. Plated

wiser516 · September 2011

We had plated food. I think its much nicer at a wedding to have the seated dinner rather the buffet. Buffets you have all your guests up standing in a long line waiting for their food and sometimes by the time the last people get to the food its either gone or starting to get cold. I just think it looks tacky having all your guest waiting in line for food. I think food sations would be good for cocktail hour or walk around servers, but not for the actual dinner part. Have seated dinners you'll like it alot better.

calindi · September 2011

I'm a big fan of anything as long as it is done well. I agree if you're having an extremely formal wedding, black tie optional or such, then plated might be the best way to go. But you should have a quality of food fitting the formality - if I dressed up like whoa and my guy had rented a tux for the wedding, we better not be getting lukewarm chewy chicken and two overcooked carrots and a scoop of instant mashed potatoes on our plates. A plated meal isn't "formal" simply by the fact that it's served to you - crap food is crap food, and good food is good food (whether you have to carry it or not).

I personally like trying lots of things, and like others find that it's easier to be able to pick what I like and skip what I don't. This also makes it easier to keep track of - with stations or buffet, you don't have to get guests' orders ahead of time and keep track of it with the caterer. And you don't have to worry about people having special dietary needs - just be sure to offer several different dishes, and everyone will be able to find something they like! We're going to make sure we have options that are vegan, gluten-free, Paleo (my FI follows this diet), low-sodium, etc., plus a selection of seafood, chicken, and meat so everyone can have what they like/can eat!

LVK033 · September 2011

Our venue has awesome buffet options but I think a plated dinner is such a nice touch at a wedding. I, personally, loathe waiting for my table to be able to go to the buffet, waiting in line, etc. so I plan on going with plated.

DIZMO · September 2011

My brother had buffet at his wedding and i enjoyed the food more because you can eat as much as you want and eat what you want to eat. My wedding is in 2013 and i will be doing buffet.

hcontreras3 · September 2011

When I was looking into places for our reception all the places we looked at actually charged more for buffet. It was opposite of what I thought, but maybe because they have to account for the fact that people take more food at a buffet. But that was only my experience. We are going with a sit down, it is a cheaper option for us, plus I prefer the more formal appearance of a sit down.

You have to think about what you want. Is it more important for the appearance or to save money. I have been to weddings with buffets and it doesn't look tacky or anything, just not my personal preference.

rb30966 · September 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_buffet-vs-food-stations-vs-plated?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:23Discussion:1e76c544-4df7-42b1-9f0e-6dffb282e439Post:7e3f7b2b-8919-41ff-9640-9af006844e9b">Re: Buffet vs. Food Stations vs. Plated</a>:
[QUOTE]I agree if you're having an extremely formal wedding, black tie optional or such, then plated might be the best way to go. But you should have a quality of food fitting the formality - if I dressed up like whoa and my guy had rented a tux for the wedding, we better not be getting lukewarm chewy chicken and two overcooked carrots and a scoop of instant mashed potatoes on our plates. <strong>A plated meal isn't "formal" simply by the fact that it's served to you - crap food is crap food, and good food is good food (whether you have to carry it or not).</strong>
Posted by calindi[/QUOTE]

This. I've been to several plated weddings. One I remember as having the best food of any wedding I've ever been to. It was a black tie reception and they DEFINITELY pulled out the stops. Another was meager and lukewarm and flavorless. I've also been to buffet weddings where the food was AMAZING and buffet weddings where the food was mediocre. If your caterer is good in the end the food will be good either way.

shipsinthenight · September 2011

I've been to weddings with plated, buffet and family style. It does depend on your venue and your caterer which option works best for you. The last 2 weddings I've been to were both buffet. The first one was really good with a variety of choices. The second was not as good, but I think that was because of the food coices the couple made, the fact that they had a chain restaurant do the food, and it didn't stay warm between when it was picked up/delivered and when the reception started. The venue didn't have a big enough kitchen to keep it all hot enough. I can say that, cus it was at my church.

Plated meals can be nice, but you can end up waiting just as long to get served as if you'd had to wait in line for your food. It does ensure food for everyone, but seconds may not be available if people want them, and you can end up with less options.

I liked the family style receptions I've been to, both were Chinese. There was tons of food (like 12 -20 courses...) and it wal all delicious.

I think we will probably either do buffet or family style. I'd like to have a picknic like atmosphere for the reception because there will be lots of kids there (I'm a children's choir director) and picknics have played an important role in our dating history.

Sit down with your caterer and hash out all the costs. Then think about the atmosphere you want. People will mingle whether you have seated or not, that's what the dance floor and your seating chart are for

emilye1227 · September 2011

I've been to 2 weddings in the last month and both were buffets. While the food was great at one (cold at the other), the time it took to feed everyone was ridiculous! Each wedding had just over 200 people there, so it may be a great choice for a smaller wedding, but it took nearly an hour to get everyone through the buffet. People were done eating on one side of the room while the other side of the room was still 15 minutes away from even getting food! If you do have a buffet, I think it is VERY important to make sure someone is directing tables to the buffet. This did not happen at one of the weddings and it was clearly disorganized!

Heavens7thstar · September 2011

My fiance and I have a very laid back family, and our reception is casual so we are having a buffet style meal. Its less expensive, food is still great, It gives people a chance to walk around and say hi to other tables, and pick and choose what they want on their plate so they arent throwing a bunch of food away they dont want. Buffets also leave room for seconds. People have to walk up to the bar to get a drink anyway, why not grab a plate of food after?

SuMmErKuTiE · September 2011

I always prefer stations or a buffet compared to a plated meal. Like pp mentioned I've never had a great experience with a plated meal.. there's either not enough and I go hunry or it's not warm enough or I don't like the sides it comes with. Plus DH always makes us hit up the drive thru on the way home because he's so hungry.

We did stations at our wedding so our guests could choose how much and what to eat and have the option to go back up for more which I saw several people do. There was plenty of variety and no one went hungry!

We did 4 stations.. a carving station which had prime rib, ham, and turkey, a pasta station, a summer grille station, and a tuscan station.

jess9802 · September 2011

All of the weddings I have gone to have been buffet. The food has ranged from mediocre to quite good. While I haven't been to a wedding with a plated meal, I do attend social/professional functions with plated meals, and they have all been pretty bad, with one exception. And while you do get to sit while waiting to be served, it's a crap shoot whether you'll be served quickly. At the last such function I attended, my table was one of the last ones served; the tables around us were done with their meals before we got our plates--with cold food, of course.

We went with buffet for our wedding. It was a semi-formal backyard wedding and so plated meals were incredibly impractical and would have seemed out of place. The food was plentiful (we had leftovers at the end of the night), delicious, and at the right temperature. We only had 45 people so the food service didn't take too long - buffets with large groups do work best when the line goes on both sides of the serving tables.

lariquintale · September 2011

I believe that among all the options, you can have a spectacular wedding. What really matters in this choice are two things: The caterer and the organization of the hall for dinner (lunch, others ...).
I've been to events where there was a buffet, and disorganization reigned! It was terrible! Lot line, lacked food and not replaced.
On the other hand, I've been in marriage where the buffet was beautifully served, with several places where guests could serve themselves.
I've been in marriage where they served plated, according to the choice of the guest. Some well-served, others don`t (left starving). Again, everything depends on the service you hired. What I see is that usually at parties that they served plated (at least here in Brazil...) for success, snacks are served longer in larger quantities (also quality and variety) so that people don`t go hungry because the plates are generally smaller than those of buffet and food station.
In the case of food station ... I do not see much difference from the buffet,, because if the guests are going to have to get up to get food, why not serve yourself?
Buffet is usually the cheapest option, but if you compare this same level of services. It has very expensive buffet out there compared to a simpler plated dinner.
The idea of a plated dinner is not getting up. Thus it avoids some problems with people falling with their food, children clashing with guests coming back with their plates ...
I´ll go plated...

sweet_melissa81 · October 2011

it all depends on how many people you are having. If you are having a large reception with 250+ you should consider doing plated because it can be really chaotic and it takes a lot of time getting though all the tables when you do a buffet style dinner. It feels like you are waiting forever to go up to the buffet. I haven't noticed a difference in price at any of the reception places we've been too. It's just a matter of preference. There will always be people who want a buffet and then there will be people who think they're tacky. Honestly, I feel hungrier after a buffet dinner than I have with the plated dinners at the weddings I have been too. I think it just comes down to personal preference.

[Deleted User] · October 2011

I like great food, regardless of the serving style. However, all things being equal, I'm not a huge fan of the logistics of buffets. We're doing family style which I think is a good compromise between the pros/cons of plated vs. buffet. Food stations would also be a good compromise.

Buffet vs. Food Stations vs. Plated

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