Do people expect food after dinner at wedding?

Put the cake and snack tables out later, around 9pm. There’s no need to provide more hot food later if there are no evening guests arriving. It’s a ridiculous extra expense, as is having a burger van arrive, unless you are made of money. Including your substantial canapes, there is more than enough food by anyone’s standards.

You need to serve something or people will get really drunk.

I think you might need to think about some of your timings. Our wedding was at 1. Canapés at 2.30 and dinner at 4, and we had a hog roast at about 8ish.

As others have said, most guests will have missed lunch to get ready and get there, so canapés need to be absolute latest 3pm, with dinner 4.30 and substantial evening snack (bacon rolls/hog roast/hot dog with rolls, chops salad etc about 8.30. Dainty picky food won't cut it at that time when people have had several drinks.

Rather than a burger van or whatever, can’t you push your snack table back a few hours and add some more to it? Then at least you’ve got something for those that want something but unlikely have lots to t waste:

Just a word of caution - you're having the canapes because of the photographs? Just don't keep the guests hanging around for hours while you have them taken. Apologies if you're planning a shorter episode!
Yes, get more food for 8-9pm.
It does sound like a beautiful venue, though.

I think people will expect something yes - my DB and SIL had similar timing at their wedding and had bacon/sausage baps around 11.30pm (I was still full so didn't have one but a lot of people were tucking in!)

But there is cake and a snack table.

That should be enough.

5.30 to midnight is a long time if you're drinking and dancing. I'd want something to eat in that time, personally.

Yes, just have a sit down meal straight away.
The canapés won't be filling.

Nope, I wouldn’t provide evening food beyond cake and snacks. We did a hot buffet (our ceremony was at noon so we provided an afternoon tea, three course dinner, hot buffet) and the buffet was hardly touched. We did have evening guests arrive too, but there was so much waste and at £800 it wasn’t an insignificant cost.

When people drink alcohol it's always a good idea to give them food to absorb it. A pizza van sounds a great idea.

There is the planned snacks table with samosa, falafel, cheese twists etc. though, which I read as being for the evening. Plus cake.

Every wedding I have been to has had evening food. The most popular tends to be trays of rolls and bacon or sausage. Starts to soak up the alcohol.

Your snack table doesn’t sound that appetising to me and would rather have a little bit of stodgy food at the end of the night than snacks throughout the night

I think it is expected.

We went to a wedding in November and there was a gargantuan evening buffet - all hot food. Having had a 3 course meal at about 5 pm, I could not even think about eating, but most people seemed to be all over it. There were no evening guests either, it was all the day guests eating.

I went to a wedding with THE BEST canapes. Big delicious BBQ pork belly 'lollypops', succulent chunks of southern fried chicken, I can't remember what else but there was plenty and it just kept coming! It was ace. I think there was bhajis, too.

I'm guessing those that can't imagine the canapes will be sufficient must have been fed as if they were toddlers 😂

Noone gets full up on 4 x salmon blinis!

Weddings are like Christmas where you can eat much more than you usually do, I think it's all the hanging around. I suspect people might expect food around 9pm just because that's what a lot of other people do.

Sorry, but if they are eating dinner at 5:30, then dancing and socialising with no food until midnight, they are going to be starving. Also if they are starting drinking at the ceremony, and there's a 6 hour period with no food, it will get very messy.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy or super expensive, but you do need to have snacks available.

I don't get why people are so confused with the timings.
I get married next week, our ceremony is 1.30pm, drinks reception and canapes afterwards, called through to tables at 4.15 for speeches then dinner, Evening guests arrive 7.30pm, first dance at 8pm, buffet at 9.45pm
Again, this is Scotland though

If this snack table and the cake table are available later on the evening for anyone who is hungry, and there are no separate evening guests, then I don't think you need anything else. As long as there is something available to eat, that's the main thing.

I think if you're doing canapes at 3.30, people will not be hungry again by 5.30 and may not eat much dinner, making it more likely they will need something later on.

I am not a teeny tiny by any stretch of the imagination.

However, I can't see how people could be that hungry after a three course meal and cake.

I would never expect a three course meal at 5.30pm and then more food, plus cake a few hours later! That seems like an insane amount of food.

People who are traveling can have a big breakfast or bring a snack if they can't wait that long to eat.