Do people expect food after dinner at wedding?

That really doesn’t sound very filling tbh, in fact it sounds like what is usually the evening buffet. If that is in place of a wedding breakfast then you absolutely should provide food later on.

We put on an evening buffet. It was a waste of money, hardly anyone touched it.

Are you having evening guests that won’t have the meal? Usually you have some type of evening buffet for those people plus enough for others to pick at.

I did exactly this and didn't provide a buffet or anything to eat after we had finished our reception , which ended at about 8 pm.
We have been married for 31 years and there s not a year that passes without me saying that I wish we'd provided something later on! Big regrets.. no one commented, but I look back and I feel like it would have been appreciated, especially by the guests that joined us later for the party..
It was a brilliant wedding though, so I reckon it wouldnt have mattered to anyone... But it still bothers me🙄🤣

We did the same, had a cheeseboard laid out around 11pm.

But most people can only eat a certain amount in one go. A buffet served at 5:30 isn’t going to still be getting eaten at 7pm. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to eat a plate of food. Most people will be done by 6.

My sister did this at her wedding and there were lots of very hungry kids and adults! After the main meal there was only wedding cake… nothing else!

Especially kids! They didn’t like the fruitcake so they hadn’t eaten much all day, they were bridesmaids and had to be at the venue a considerable distance away by 10.30am so had eaten breakfast at 8am, then the main meal was at 3pm and then nothing was provided apart from wedding cake.

We knew about this in advance and had some sandwiches and snacks in a cool bag in the car for 8:30pm when the kids were hungry! We saw the adults emptying the bar of crisps and nuts with the bar running out by 9pm.

It’s usual to put on an evening buffet or extra food as people definitely get hungry. We had a hot and cold buffet in the evening and we also had a tier of chocolate cake for our wedding for the kids and people who didn’t like fruitcake. This was in addition to a two course Wedding Breakfast - we thought that spreading the food out over the whole day was a better option, and balanced this with skipping a starter on the wedding breakfast.

Despite all the effort my sister put into the wedding, the lack of food is the thing that people remember most of all!

In my experience of Scottish weddings and evening buffet is expected

It sounds fine to me if you have a snack and cake table for the evening.
Key question is are you having any evening only guests? Generally the evening food is aimed more at the guests not invited to the wedding ceremony and sit down meal. So if you have a lot of people with evening only invitation you may want to increase catering in the evening.
Does the hydration station include teas and coffees? Or is it basically a water cooler?tea and coffee is hard to come by at wedding so that would be a bonus imo

Ah, that's fair enough then.

What is the difference between a Las Vegas buffet and a normal one ? Does it just reference the quantity of food ?

As I said upthread, buffets are all very well provided you can guarantee everyone has equal access to food and vegetarians and other special diets are catered for without it being eaten by others.

Forgot to add: have an amazing day

View a wedding like you would Christmas. There's nothing to do but talk. People will just eat more than usual.

I think the issue here is that it sounds like SO MUCH FOOD. And yet I'm not a big eater and have only ever been to (catered) weddings where the food was a bit scarce. A caterer will sell it as a 'Vegas style buffet' because no way would you part with £70 a head or more for a regular buffet... and 'filling canapés' (an oxymoron surely) when in reality they have catered for 3 items per person and those who have positioned themselves correctly manage to scoff a dozen, while a few empty tray circulate etc. As a veggie the sit down meal is usually cauliflower 'steak' or something. I just think you really can't over cater because whatever the caterers say, the portions will be on the small side.

The first time I was at a wedding and bacon sandwiches came out at midnight it BLEW MY MIND do it

It's a Las Vegas style buffet, which if done right is all you can eat. If you have had that kind of meal, with speeches and cake, finishing 6.30-7, plus another snack and cake table on offer, you really do not need another pizza/burger meal before the end of the evening.

For me it’s not the amount of food, it’s the time between the end of the ceremony and the main meal. I probably would have got bored waiting for the meal to start and the photos to end and want to go home by the time the main meal is ready

Dinner needs to be about 430 so people can start eating at 5ish with speeches after. Save your money and ditch the station thing, and provide decent food to soak the alcohol up in the evening. Generally, that food comes out about 8:30

Have read replies - tbh I’d ignore everything here

So what is the point in asking anonymous people on the internet, for a consensus ?

But then you advise what everyone else has said - that you do need food in the evening

Have read replies - tbh I’d ignore everything here and take the advice and guidance of the planners and venue? Our wedding was similar to yours in terms of style and timings. We did have a few evening guests, though, and did put on a buffet in the evening. Our wedding was for about 95 for the sit down meal and an additional 2o or so in the evening, in case that is relevant. I’d talk it through with the venue in terms of your numbers, how many are just evening guests, whether you have an open bar (you have? We did… a buffet/evening ‘snack’ slows down the drunkenness/soaks up alcohol if you are thinking of that?)

PS it sounds amazing btw!

I hear you, fellow weirdo.

It’s a buffet served at 5:30.

This.
I would have brunch before leaving home and I am more than capable of going more than 4 hours between meals. Canapes and a sit down meal that finishes around 7, no way do I need to eat again until the next day.

What OP is offering is pretty much what we did. Over twenty years later, friends still say it was the best wedding they have ever been to. So something went right without having to provide limitless food opportunities.

Your wedding sounds amazing. But I would have a pizza van doing pizza slices at 9.45pm.

I would say if your ceremony starts at 1.45 then people won’t have had lunch before they come so will jump on the canapés as they’ll be really hungry and hitting the fizz and if dinner finishing by 7 I would provide something to soak up the alcohol like a cheese tower, sliders, pizza or similar.