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Original poster

What's the worst meal you've been served at a wedding?

703 replies

Higgeldypiggeldy35 · 06/09/2021 22:43

I'm veggie so unfortunately have had my fair share of shitty wedding meals as the vegetarians often seem to get shafted but this one takes the biscuit. Fancy wedding, very expensive and exclusive venue, meat eaters had a feast and it looked amazing, I was served......a grilled mushroom, and it was cold. This place is probably £100 per head at the very least and the best they could rustle up for a vegetarian was a mushroom. So, make me feel better, what's the worst meal you've been served?
This is meant to be light hearted 🐱

OP posts:
theleafandnotthetree · 08/09/2021 14:20

@ManifestDestinee

And I’m confused by the poster above who thinks risotto is vegan - surely risotto without butter, cream and cheese is just a tasteless slurry with rice in it?

Not if you know how to cook risotto (which never has cream added anyway)

I'm with you on the cream and butter but I've never made risotto without adding some lovely parmesan at the very end. It just finshes it off so beautifully. Would yeast flakes give that same kind of flavour?
NotPersephone · 08/09/2021 14:28

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TurquoiseDragon · 08/09/2021 15:09

@ImInStealthMode

Oh god we're planning our wedding for next year and this thread is giving me the horrors!!

We are having a buffet as it's an informal do, but I'll make sure the caterers promise there'll be enough for everyone and that the vegans get first dibs!

Also having a cake and a 'stack of cheese' cake and both will be available for eating at no charge ConfusedConfused

I can't remember ever having an awful meal at a wedding, maybe I've been lucky?

It might be worth getting servers in for the buffet, so the first ones up don't pile their plates super high and then they fail to eat everything they grabbed

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General food Weddings
ThumbWitchesAbroad · 08/09/2021 15:16

Ugh, I'd never add cream to mushroom risotto! Shock
Personally I cook it with butter but it could easily be done without, and cheese is a condiment added later!

TurquoiseDragon · 08/09/2021 15:17

@BillyJoe111

I’ve been to a few weddings over the years that do buffets.

Caterers always say there will be enough, but NEVER underestimate the greed of some people at a buffet table. And the greedy ones will be the first in the queue with sharp elbows for second helpings leaving slim pickings for the rest.

Always over order. IME, catering companies vastly underestimate how much a person will take - no one will ever take 2 sandwich triangles and one slice of quiche.

And never believe caterers when they say that for 100 guests, you only need to order food for 70-80 people.
RosesandPumpkins · 08/09/2021 15:18

Cold quiche and salad. And there wasn’t enough for seconds. There wasn’t enough pudding for everyone and they didn’t cut the cake. Shit.

Another one was a hog roast which was ok but again not enough food for seconds. You need food and food in abundance at a wedding IMO.

CorianderBee · 08/09/2021 15:36

@Talkwhilstyouwalk

Not to be rude but I'm not sure what you expect. Ok a warm mushroom instead of a cold one would be nice but other than that all I can't really think of what works for veggies from a mass catering point of view apart from pasta/veggie lasagna, nut roast, risotto etc. Most food for weddings follows the classic meat, 2 veg, jus and dauphinois potato's formula. Difficult to find a replacement for the meat.....
Do you think vegetarians don't eat at home? They couldn't make a salad? Vegetables in a nice sauce? Curry? Noodles? Even mushrooms on bloody toast?
rookiemere · 08/09/2021 15:49

It's funny because my number one priority was ensuring people had enough to eat. So canapés on arrival, substantial three course meal and a huge and sadly mostly uneaten evening buffet, that an copious amounts of wine.

My dress cost about £600 and the catering was at least five times that.

Pbbananabagel · 08/09/2021 15:57

@rookiemere same!

We actually had a couple of bottles of wine and fizz left over and I took a tray of wedding cake to bed - we had a dessert bar plus the cake served, so much left!

BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 16:01

And never believe caterers when they say that for 100 guests, you only need to order food for 70-80 people

WHY do they always say that? Have the never seen people at a buffet?

NotPersephone · 08/09/2021 16:50

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TurquoiseDragon · 08/09/2021 17:33

@BillyJoe111

And never believe caterers when they say that for 100 guests, you only need to order food for 70-80 people

WHY do they always say that? Have the never seen people at a buffet?

I've no idea why the idea of undercatering keeps coming up, as I agree they must have seen people at a buffet.

I wonder why they think that people will have eaten beforehand, when we all know people will wait for the food at a wedding to do it justice.

If I get married, it'll be a hot buffet with plenty of veggie/vegan options, and I'll make sure there are servers to ensure all the guests get plenty.

Food and drink should be the priority expense at a wedding.

crowisland · 08/09/2021 17:40

A niece who is vegan had a vegan sit-down meal for 150 at a swish destination. Didn’t much matter that the tempe they served was rubbery and inedible since everyone had been vomiting all night from food poisoning at the pre-wedding reception

Carpedimum · 08/09/2021 17:45

I think it’s easier to describe the odd wedding where the food was spot on! I’ve been to dozens, and there’s rarely enough or at the right time. I think the worst was a freezing cold marquee in November with a gazpacho starter & cold quiche main. Another where my DP, who doesn’t eat bread, just ate the paltry ham from a crap white sandwich triangle, put the bread back on his plate on the same table as the buffet (not enough tables & chairs either!) a woman literally snatched the bread up, people were starving. Why invite guests if you can’t afford to feed them?!

LaDamaDeElche · 08/09/2021 17:47

Spit roasted pig. That was literally it, bar a few nibbles. Just some pork on a plastic plate. Had to travel abs stay in a hotel for two nights as well and that was all we got.

Rosejasmine · 08/09/2021 17:48

@Hoolihan I wonder if we wettest the same wedding reception in Manchester Grin

degsydoodoos · 08/09/2021 17:55

We went to an evening reception a few years ago, didn't have any tea as we presumed there'd be a buffet or something like a curry, like literally every other wedding I'd ever been to. Arrived at 7.30pm as per the invitation, to find that the day guests had not long finished their meal. There was no buffet, and the cursory nod towards feeding evening guests was waiters coming around with trays of bacon sandwiches. I got ONE quarter sandwich, it was cold and the bacon was underdone. The bar didn't sell crisps. We left at 10.30pm, starving, and headed to McDonald's on our way home!!!

Ibelieveinghosts · 08/09/2021 17:59

Also veggie here, shared afternoon tea for the wedding breakfast ( 1/4 of a cheese sandwich) then the evening food was a choice of bacon butty or hot dog! Luckily not far from home so jumped in a taxi went home for food then back for dancing😁

LegendaryReady · 08/09/2021 18:02

Some of you fo bear a grudge. I couldn't tell you what the food was at any weddding I've ever been to, even my own Grin

Mummabear89 · 08/09/2021 18:08

Not worst thing I've been served but thought I'd share the weddings I've attended. I've only been to 2 weddings that I can actually remember attending 3 if you count my own. I don't remember what was served at my aunts wedding as I was probably 8 at the time. My mums wedding had a pot luck buffet and I made a huge batch of lovely Mediterranean pasta as my contribution to the pot luck which everyone loved and a few asked for the recipe too. My own wedding we were originally going to be spending £600-700 for Jacket potatoes for 40 people at a local pub (I realise now that this was an extortionate price for what was being provided) when they decided to stitch me over literally the night before we were due to get married by telling me that we'd have to pay for the children's drinks when originally they were included in the price so I forfeited the £50 deposit, called up a different pub, gave them our numbers and budget for drink per person, they said no problem to everything except the budget as they had thought we had only set a budget of £5 per person for their meals and drinks, told us that if we spent £300 they'd throw in a bottle of champagne for each table, we ended up spending about £250 to feed everyone and they got to pick a meal that they wanted from the menu and everyone had dessert too. Everyone commented on how lovely the food was and how much of a good time they'd have. And we got 2 bottles of champagne too.

EspressoDoubleShot · 08/09/2021 18:09

It’s hardly a grudge to recall a rotten meal
Grudge would be going round and panning in their windows because you got a shite meal. That’s a grudge

itssquidstella · 08/09/2021 18:10

The food at my wedding was amazing and I don't even care that I'm boasting :D

There were copious canapés after the 2pm ceremony then a sit down meal at 4.30pm. it was a hog roast, but served on platters at the table with a huge range of side dishes, salad etc. Coeliacs, vegetarians and vegans were catered for separately and each got their own main course (most of the sides etc were also okay for them to eat). The servers kept bringing out platters until people started waving them away!

Then there was a pudding table with pavlovas, Black Forest gateaux and cheesecakes which my mum and aunties had made.

Then at about 9 loads of Cornish pasties (again including GF/vegan and veggie options). I had hardly eaten earlier in the day and must have demolished about seven of these!

If anyone is getting married in Devon and wants a catering recommendation, let me know!

Rosebel · 08/09/2021 18:19

SILs wedding we were the second to last table and virtually nothing there. Same thing happened in the evening by the time we got to the front it was all gone as in nothing left at all
We had beans on toast when we got home!

NoPaintedPony · 08/09/2021 18:20

Also veggie. Bride & groom aware & showed me the veggie options which were lovely. I wasn’t the only one there, about 6 of us out of 75 guests.
Food came out, rare beef. Blood dripping from it. Only potatoes were roasts in goose fat. Everything cold.
They had forgotten about the veggies so after a panic & delay. (They asked if I had mentioned I was veggie & checked with the bride, both saying that 6 veggie meals had been ordered). Everyone had finished when I was served an uncooked aubergine. It was totally raw to the point that my fork would even go into it.
They tried to clear away the tea cups before we had anything into them. Yeap. They had forgotten about our table so out came some cold coffee.
Never mind we thought the evening will be better.

Oh no. Out comes a hog roast. A whole pig. Apple in mouth, the lot. Again no veggie option.
The only accompaniment with the pig - chips. Only allowed 6 chips each. Even the FOB who paid for it all.
So all day I had a cold cup of coffee and 6 chips.
Was at the wedding with my parents, 2 kids & husband. We left early & stopped in the chippie on the way home 🤣

pollymere · 08/09/2021 18:22

Wedding top table had silver service, others were buffet style on each table for each course. First three/four courses were fish despite someone on the top table being allergic...

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