Do people expect food after dinner at wedding?

Honestly, I think your wedding and your timings sound absolutely fine. It sounds like a fabulous day, your guests are lucky to be invited and it's not remotely your job to be all tied up in whether or not your guests have managed to feed themselves beforehand. I presume most adults, knowing a wedding is starting at 1:45, can plan around that or go without food for a few hours. Even those coming in from out of London are surely capable of having a few crackers and some water on the way?

I also agree with the PP who has said getting everyone onto the bus will be like herding cats, and then, allowing for London traffic, you are not going to have too much standing around time at the cocktail reception.

I would provide a bit of food, burgers or bacon rolls or pizza a bit later, because people will be hungry and have consumed quite a bit of alcohol and it's just fun. We always do bacon rolls at the end of the night when we have a party and everyone raves about how much fun it is.

My only question is whether you really need the snack table in between?

Hope you have gorgeous weather and a lovely day @Budka. This thread is mad!

No, didn't drive, most flew or came by train on previous days. Pleanty of time to get home if they'd wanted to - which many of them did.

@BettyBardMacDonald · Today 12:00
I think having generous bowls of nuts and pretzels on each table after the meal is sufficient; people can soak up the booze but there's no cooking involved and little service to repeatedly refresh them.

@owlexpress

Eww no, you don't want to be having to rifle about in a bowl of nuts everyone's had their fingers in.

Particularly hilarious as that first poster is currently pontificating on another thread about how disgusting it would be to be given homemade brownies in a wedding goodie bag for hygiene reasons, and being quite rude about the posters who have said they would eat them.

I haven't read all the comments but your wedding timings were very similar to mine. Ceremony 2pm, canapes 2:30pm, meal (not a buffet) 5pm, We didn't have any separate evening guests either. At 9pm, we cut the cake and the venue put out some cheese, fruit, mini desserts and the wedding cake. We also had a person serving ice cream which was needed as it was roasting! While people had some of the buffet, most was wasted as people were too busy dancing/drinking/socialising to care about food. I think your initial plan sounds fine.

The criticism of OP is getting ridiculous now. Some posters are saying, in the same breath, both that you must over-cater and that the canapés are too much because people will be saving themselves for the main buffet. The logical conclusion of that is that she has to keep catering over and over until last knockings just in case someone hasn’t eaten the previous offerings.

I think it’s horrible to be piling on the OP like this, bending over backwards to criticise her.

OP, crack on. You’re fine.

I went to a wedding with similar timings and we were all given a fancy cupcake as we left - it was the wedding favour but mostly people ate it then and there.

I personally would struggle to eat a full meal at 530pm after canapes so would likely under-eat dinner and then be super hungry at 10pm - but that's a me thing! If you're doing some sort of snack table that seems like plenty, though the tradition here (in Scotland, at least at the weddings I've been to) is something like a bacon roll around 9/10pm to get you ready for the second round of ceilidh dancing :-)

But I'd be delighted with a table of crisps, cheese, crackers, whatever and then it's not more queueing up and hot food making a mess after several drinks.

I completely own that I am being a snob on this specific point. I am not in general a snob in life though.

But for me, pizza is something that I have as a cheap takeaway when I am being lazy and can't be arsed cooking. It is not something I expect to eat at a fancy wedding in a smart venue. I would be disappointed to be offered junk food in that environment is about the best way to phrase it.

We have a similar timeframe to you with a sit down dinner at 5:30 and are having a buffet of hot and cold snacky bits come out at around 10:30 (as well as the wedding cake, as we are having a different dessert with dinner), with the plan to end the music at 1am. If I had dinner at 5:30/6 I would be hungry again in the evening, especially if there is drink involved.

Your wedding food sounds perfect to me OP. But then; I went to a wedding where they served chips OR a hotdog (not both!) and the bride didn’t cut the cake because she thought it was something “you did at home”.

Eww no, you don't want to be having to rifle about in a bowl of nuts everyone's had their fingers in. Nuts and pretzels are bar snacks for people who are out drinking after having three square meals that day, not people who have probably had breakfast at 9am (or skipped it because they had a hair appointment or long drive) and a buffet tea at 5.30, and nothing else. Well except the 'substantial canapes' of course..!

@angela1952 Gosh, no wonder they felt short-changed. Your DH really dropped the ball on that one. They probably drove, so after a lunch with lots of booze how would they have been able to get home the same day? If people are travelling a distance you need to make it worth their while.

@pollymere but the bride and groom are making this a more complicated wedding by having it at world class attraction with a tour laid on, a long time between ceremony and meal.

It's not just problems with entitled guests, brides seem to be trying to outdo each other. My neice told me that lots of her friends were married over recent years and people seemed to be trying to add an extra meal or attraction as compared to the last wedding they went to. Farcical really!
Personally I'd much rather have a glass of good wine and/or champagne than cocktails, they're ludicrously expensive and often very sickly so not good with canapés.
My DH's family are from Scotland where weddings typically take place in the afternoon followed by a huge meal, dancing and an all-night party. We were in England and had a morning wedding, a nice lunch (with lots to drink) and that was it. We wrongly thought that they'd be pleased to be able to go home the same day and avoid paying for another night in a hotel - instead they all felt short-changed. You can't please everyone.

You're just about to eat a HUGE buffet. Cocktail markup is horrendous. We paid corkage and had champagne imported especially and it still worked out vastly cheaper 😂.

It's really weird how entitled wedding guests are becoming. Rather than celebrating with the bride and groom it feels like there's a points card system which you have to pass. My guests didn't "expect" anything other than possibly a Wedding Ceremony and a bit of food.

We went to a wedding like this. We were a bit worried when we realised that there would just be canapés, but they kept coming and we had plenty to eat. If people know that there won't be a meal later I'm sure they they'll be fine, but if you do want to do something later that's obvioiusly OK too.

I disagree. I would totally expect cocktails and canapés. If there was just a glass of fizz and a bit of water the guests would all be complaining.

I get you OP. Drinks and canapés on a scenic terrace sounds lovely, it will occupy guests during photos and help those who've had to miss lunch. But dinner will only be max 2 hrs after so maybe you could make canape offering lighter in favour of the optional burger van at 9pm for those getting the late munchies or needing to soak up booze?

Of course the caterers want you to have cocktails and canapes! It's an extremely expensive add-on to your wedding.

We went and had photos done at a different location but our guests survived with a welcoming glass of fizz/oj/water until we got there.

I've been to weddings where the evening food was devoured (including ours) but if there aren't evening guests it tends to go to waste. I've seen huge buffets thrown away. I like the idea of snacks, cheese and biscuits, or bacon rolls later on. My sit down meal was 2pm. If yours is early evening I can't imagine anyone being hungry for anything more than a few picky bits at 9 or 10pm.

Hi OP, I think it sounds like a fantastic wedding! I think you are putting on plenty of food for everyone. I actually think that the drinks reception may be shorter than you expect as my experience is getting guests on to the buses is like herding cats! I think if you did extra food later - like 10pm, people would like it and eat it , but no one is going to starve without it. Hope you have a brilliant day and the sun shines!

Weddings used to have the reception ( not a bloody breakfast!! WTF is that about) after the ceremony. There would then be a break in proceedings followed by an evening 'do' where food usually buffet/ hot sandwiches would be served.

We had mini bacon rolls at 11:30pm and after hours of dancing and drinking they were very welcome. I also went to a Scottish wedding where they had haggis as a late night snack too

I think having generous bowls of nuts and pretzels on each table after the meal is sufficient; people can soak up the booze but there's no cooking involved and little service to repeatedly refresh them.

Haha! What would your negative judgement be?! What can you possibly find negative about offering a slice of Pizza as a late night snack?!

It is turning a bit peak mumsnet "Goodness I will have had 5 almonds and an apple at breakfast time and won't feel hungry until the next morning !"

It's the timings that make it tricky. For example I would probably eat a lot of the heavy canapés if I had been drinking for a while meaning I wouldn't be particularly hungry for the buffet dinner 2 hours later. I would probably appreciate some cheese later in the evening though.

Plus not all the attendees are going to be teeny weeny mumsnetters with appetite of a bird. There may be teenagers and gym fanatics and a whole spectrum of appetites.