What’s your strangest ‘wedding food’ related story

[CosyMosy]

Sorry, rubbish title! I was chatting today with a colleague about a wedding I went to last year. The wedding was at the church at 12pm and we were invited to a country club for the reception. We turned up at 1 to find the buffet laid out but not open. We were told it wasn’t opening till 4!! Everyone was starving and the only thing behind the bar was out of date crisps (that the bar was selling for 10pm cheaper because of 😅). When the buffet eventually opened at 4, the bride announced over the mic that we needed to make sure we only took 1 small plate each because it had to last for the night guests as well 😵‍💫. The takeaway down the road made a roaring trade that night

My colleague told me she once went to the wedding of her DH’s colleague, when they sat down for the wedding breakfast half the table were given menus with prices on. When they queried this, it turns out the bride and groom had made the decision to only pay for HALF of the guests meals and the other half were to order and pay for their own meal at the bar!

Something about weddings brings out the worst in people!

Went to a wedding a few years ago where service started at 12 noon, finishing at 1pm. We drove to reception (40 miles away!) arriving to find no B+G. Apparently, they were off to some country park to have photos taken but there was wine and tea and coffee to keep us refreshed. However, B+G still hadn’t arrived at reception by 4 but as most of us had been drinking wine all afternoon, don’t think we cared. Most of us hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we were beginning to get hungry plus the alcohol munchies were beginning to strike. We persuaded the Candy store lady (one of those trucks filled with sweets for chn) to let us have some. (Took a while as she kept saying she had to wait for B+G but by 5 she’d given up trying to fend us off.) Finally B+G arrived at 6pm and then told us that there were more photos to be taken, ie guests you weren’t at the country park. We eventually sat down to eat at 7pm, to an amazing 3 course meal (with speeches after the food, thank goodness!)

Venue was set out for a sit down meal but guests had to get up and queue at another table to get buffet.
We were the last table to get invited up.
Dd was a few weeks old so I was busy feeding her. Joined the back of the queue and they ran out of food! Ended up with a bag of crisps from the bar!

Another one wedding was at 12, we were expecting a meal but nothing happened until the evening guests arrived and then a buffet was opened. This was before I had dc but other parents had resorted to driving to a nearby McDonald's and buying happy meals.

Went to another wedding this summer. Lessons learned and took emergency snacks for me and dc

The poshest wedding I went to - at a golf club. If you talk to the B&G, the food was amazing, the wine flowed. For us on the tables at the back - tiny portions of a roast, served cold and no gravy. I think it was 2 bottles of wine for a table of 10 and nothing else. We saw the wine being taken back into the kitchen.....It cost the Bride's parents an absolute fortune.

We found the golfers bar. It was a hot day and I was so thirsty. Comments were made by the golfers about 'dry weddings' so it was obviously common knowledge amongst the locals.

I don't think this is uncommon - keep the Top table happy and the rest can forget it. Even if the B&G try their best.

Weddings are a rip off!

Im so shocked at these stories and just generally how guests are treated at weddings here in the UK. We are serbian and food at weddings is always plentiful no one would ever dream of guests having to pay for their own drinks etc. It’s a joke for us. If you can’t afford a proper wedding then just keep it for family instead of inviting people you can’t properly host just so you can get your wedding present. Shameful.

I couldn't agree with you more, @leicester66 . For some couples it's less about the hosting and more about the pictures. Standing waiting for hours while pictures are taken is not uncommon now.

Very posh wedding, no expense spared on dresses, flowers, fancy cars, etc etc. They saved on the food. A table of 12 was given a small starter, then one (yes one) roast chicken and a few small salad bowls to share. We were all ready to eat the furniture. People with cars were rummaging for travel snacks left in the boots. It was the middle of nowhere, so no chance to pop to a shop or takeaway.
My advice to all those planning weddings is FEED YOUR GUESTS!!!

About 10 years ago or so, I went to a wedding overseas (in Asia) where it is normal for weddings to have 10-course meal as standard. I should've known it wouldn't be, since it was an afternoon wedding and the venue was at an old warehouse converted into an event space. All that was served there food-wise was a leg of jamon! Sure there were soft drinks and some alcohol selections (I didn't drink as I was pregnant at the time) but after the reception, me and my guest had to sit down for a proper meal nearby!

Not food but at our own wedding it was discovered that one of the waiters was stealing the wine!

We had been to several weddings where the pictures took hours and hated them. We had friends take photos and just mingled while the tables were prepared for the meal. The caterers were very dubious (the wedding ceremony was in a 1000 seater church which doubles as a party venue) when we told them "just get the guests to bring out the dinner tables" but we knew our guests and they did.

We went to a 3:00pm wedding once. Dinner was an Indian take away that eventually appeared at 10:00pm. I was hangry beyond belief.

Arrived at the wedding at 10, as instructed. Ceremony was at 11. Not a single morsel of food was offered until 5pm when a few plates of canapés (about 80% of which were meat based). I’m a vegetarian and all the veggie ones were eaten before I managed to get any. There was no sit down meal at all. These measly canapés were all the food offered until 11pm when they brought round bacon sandwiches for everyone, which again I couldn’t eat. We couldn’t even leave as it was DH’s cousins wedding and was in the middle of nowhere and we were sharing transport with a few other family members. I was nearly crying I was so hungry when they brought out the bacon sandwiches so DH went to the kitchen and managed to come back with a croissant. I might add that this was an incredibly fancy venue and DH’s cousin and wife are very well off so I have no idea what the thought process behind having next to no food served was.

We didn't tell anyone what they were having beforehand. I don't imagine anyone asked either (1990s wedding)

We went to one about 30 years ago where they were handing out canapes on skewers. We had a couple, then politely declined thinking we would save ourselves for the meal. When they started brining out skewers with 3 pieces of fruit on them we realised they were dessert & there was nothing else!

I went to a really nice wedding overall but there was a big cheese frustration. During the evening do/ dancing part of the wedding (I had been there all fay and well fed so far so no complaints there) there was a table of fantastic whole rounds of all sorts of cheeses. At least ten probably more huge cheeses. And about one packet of small crackers which the first few people used up. My friend and I asked the staff for more crackers and the staff said, oh the bride and groom arranged the cheese table not the venue/ caterers we cannot help. Now I think they should have found some bread or something but didn't think of that at the time. Friend and I didn't fancy just hunks of cheese on their own so wandered off and danced to the disco a bit more. Then we decided we were starving, just hunks of cheese sounded great and wandered back to the cheese table and the staff were putting the cheese away! It was dead early like 830pm! We said, please don't put the cheese away yet they said, sorry but we are. Sad, cheeseless me.

I’ve been to so many weddings. Most were great. A few memorable because the food or booze (or both) ran out. These were not cheap weddings either. I married later in life (late thirties) and thanks to being the last one meant I learnt lessons and put catering at the top of the priority list. Our venue and food were amazing and plentiful, got so many comments on it. Feed your people, no well wishes on empty stomachs.

Invited to evening reception. It was cold. There were no seats. It was hard to get a drink. The buffet was served hours into the evening and hardly stretched to feed all the guests. I couldn’t wait to get home for a cup of tea and a sandwich

Best wedding breakfast I’ve ever had was over 20 years ago (ok now I feel old!) but I still remember it. The bride and groom were students… and they had dominoes pizza and greggs bakery for their food! Not for all tastes admittedly but it seem to go down well.

Went to a wedding in the middle of nowhere. We had travelled by train and so had to go and check in at our accommodation after the service. We arrived at the reception about an hour later only to find that the reception drinks and canapés had finished. We went to the bar only to be told that the bar was now closed until the meal which was going to be another two hours. Err okay. Could we have some water as we had walked miles at that stage. No. The bar had closed and was locked up sorry. About 100 people standing around in the blazing sun for two hours with no drinks. B&G nowhere to be seen
Someone raided their car for 1 bottle of warm water and a bottle of champagne they had brought as a gift.
Awesome.

We went to a lovely wedding recently, married at 1pm, couple of group photos then delicious canapés that kept coming for a good hour. Three course meal at 4 and a Chinese buffet at 8. Was honestly stuffed. There was only thirty of us in the day so the service was impeccable.

The issue often comes with big weddings, it's impossible for guest 150 to receive the same quality of food/service as guest number 1. Also because food is often the biggest expense people do cut corners. (Including me!)

We wanted a big wedding and to have all our family and closest friends there.
We got married at 2pm (so people could eat before)) and served the meal at 5pm (no canapés! We didn't think we needed them)
The sit down meal option was literally double the price of the hog roast. (We are talking ££££ difference) We reasoned the only down side was it was self serve but the plus side was lots of fresh hot food and people could choose what they wanted. It was absolutely delicious but was my experience as first up the same as table tens?, maybe not.

It didn't occur to me at the time but there was also no starter. And dessert was an icecream cart! (Which meant waiting until we had done speeches/left the tables and yet again more queuing)
We then did bacon and sausage sarnies and chips at 9pm. We did include veggie options on the hog roast but in hindsight it was very meat heavy.

We also didn't tell anyone what the food was (this was pre online) as we didn't need to know preferences (we completely forgot to consider allergies but there were none as far as I knew)
None of our decisions were based on tightness or being greedy about wedding gifts . We both have large families and genuinely wanted them all there but we were on a budget.
But yes I wonder if everyone enjoyed our wedding as much as we did.

If you're on a budget it's tricky, but you just have to have a smaller wedding.

My friend had her wedding at a beautiful venue. When we got the invitation I googled it and the menus looked amazing. The invitation just said to let them know of any allergies or dietary requirements so I asked her which of the menus they had gone for and she said that they weren’t having any of them but were having a bbq instead. I was a bit disappointed as to me a bbq is camping food and I’d been looking forward to one of the delicious sounding meals on the website but it was her wedding and as dp said at least at a bbq there’s usually plenty of food rather than the tiny portions you sometimes get.

Got to food time at the wedding and queued up with my little token.
Burger or sausage?
No thank you

Moved on to next server

Chicken, pork or steak?
steak and chicken please
No you can only have one, it’s one burger or sausage per person and one piece of meat per person.
Sorry I didn’t know that so I didn’t have either burger or sausage
<shrug> so do you want steak or chicken?

Took the steak which was TINY, about a third of a normal steak and thought oh well, I’ll fill up on the sides.

Next server offered a mini jacket potato which I didn’t really want but took just in case.

Next server was serving pasta salad/ cous cous salad which I would have had but…
You have the potato so move on to the salad please

There was a decent selection of salad components; lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, grated carrot, sweetcorn, green beans, beetroot…BUT we were only allowed to choose three and got given a tiny spoonful of each. I rejoined the queue to try and get my burger or sausage but wasn’t allowed as I’d already handed my token in so had been served. We thought maybe once everyone had been served we’d be able to go back up to finish off what was left but they packed it away immediately. We were starving! At least dp had also had a chipolata in a bread roll and not just the tiny steak.

How awful, that sounds like they had a tight budget, though!

the staff were putting the cheese away! It was dead early like 830pm!

That soundss like yet another example of the venue seizing the opportunity to snaffle goods to be sold again, @Tadpole10

Sadly it happens all the time, especially with alcohol which is even harder to keep a track on

@Similars they needed to cut the guest list.

Our wedding had a buffet, and there was stuff left at the end so I hope there was enough. There were gluten free and veggie options and roast beef. But the beef was very rare so some people were rooting round for the ends...

But...have been to a wedding before where a group of us ended up in the bar surreptitiously ordering pizza to be delivered as tiny amount of food served at 4pm but copious amounts of booze had been drunk and we needed something to mop it up....

If you can't afford a big wedding don't have a big wedding. Feeding your guests is important and aunty Joan shouldn't feel second tier because she is frail and can't get up to the buffet as quickly as cousin Dave.

We went to a wedding abroad with a friend who is vegetarian. There was a huge gap between the ceremony and reception so everyone was starving. Unfortunately for my friend there was only one option...starter was beef and the main was beef. When my friend enquired about a vegetarian option - the staff looked very put out -and eventually came out with a large bowl of watery cabbage soup.. We ended up slipping away to a nearby restaurant to get her something to eat.