How many canapés?

[Namechangedfeb22]

If it’s a canapé buffet instead of a meal at a wedding then how many canapés would you want? Wedding is at 7pm

thank you

@billybob4eva Thank you

If it's like a cone of fish and chips, small burger etc rather than canapes...probably three or four but I'm greedy. My even greedier (yet miraculously slim) DH would probably eat five or six and then moan all night that he feels sick 🤣

I find I eat a lot more of that sort of food as you lose track of how much you're eating.

I think the reference to canapes threw everyone off. I think of canapes as being bite-sized and just psychologically would probably not fill up on them at all, no matter how many I ate.

Finger food / bowl food, which sounds like what you are doing, sounds more practical. How many depends on the serving sizes at your venue though -- for my husband's 40th, I allocated about 10 per person but that was FARRR too many.

Well, you should have put in the OP that you were telling people it was a light finger buffet!

In this case - fine to serve what you are (plenty of - people always eat more when drinking!)

I would eat loads

Caterers make a recommendation based on hours that canapés will be available I think

Hog roast instead?

if travelling there will be a few who have a disaster / haven't planned and turn up ravenous

When you go to test them, could you take a big eater with you as a third opinion (preferably one who wouldn’t be polite to save you money!) sounds a nice idea for an evening wedding though

Even if you are only travelling half an hour it’s going to take 30 mins to get dressed on top of the 30 mins travel and if you’re 15 mins early rather than rushing in with the bride, you’d be leaving home at 5:45. How much can you honestly have expected people to eat before they come?

Exactly.

The expectation that one will be stuffed to satiation at a social event is so off-putting.

The idea is to gather, not gorge.

One can control one's drink intake and eat ahead if necessary.

Agree with this. Loathe tge typical wedding dinner.

A strolling buffet sounds lovely. What other arrangements do you have? Music, etc

We’re not doing the food this way for cost reasons, it’s because we wanted an evening wedding and a good night out afterwards. the venue is an independent wine/cocktail bar which we’ve hired. There will be music, cocktails and delicious finger food. we have been explicit on the invitation that the wedding is followed by a party with light finger food as we know most weddings are not like this. That being said, everyone invited is a close friend of family member who is just over the moon excited we’re getting married so I cannot imagine anyone passive aggressively complaining about it. We’ve not got anyone coming who we don’t have a close relationship to.

That being said, totally take on board comments about there being enough food and will do a taster to check how many needed to feel full and then add a couple more.

There are some photos of some of the food offered but in total there are 12 different options so a good variety

plus cupcakes!

Honestly OP take some of the comments with a pinch of salt. I once posted about our wedding food options as I wasn't sure if we needed a bit more (we were having a bbq, a cake table, pick & mix stand and an evening buffet) and posters on here were telling me that if they were attending they would be needing to get a take away on the way home and that everyone should have at least 2 burgers, at least 2 hot dogs etc! As it happened, we had so much food leftover that cold bbq meats got put out with the buffet and people were taking buffet food home with them!

We panicked about our evening buffet and ended up massively over catering. Mind you, the catering staff got a lot of freebies to take home, so everyone’s a winner!

@Namechangedfeb22

Sounds like a charming and elegant plan. Your guests will be fine.

I'd move wedding to 6pm and plan to end the party at 10, but that's just me.

If I was warned that it was canapés only then I’d be OK with that as I’d have a big dinner beforehand and would probably take some snacks in my bag. If they’re normal sized, I would expect at least 20 per person though. I think you’d be better to have about 5 per person as people arrive and then a hot/cold buffet for the evening. It doesn’t have to be particularly fancy but I think people would appreciate that. If the venue allows, you could probably spend a couple of quid a head at the supermarket and get a lovely spread.

I think what you’re planning sounds fine. I recently went to a wedding with this type of food and it went down a treat. They also had a large dessert table and about 11.pm just before last orders served bacon barms, which was ace!

Food looks lovely!! I would really like this. I think I'd eat about 6 over the night

A light buffet is very different to canapés.

That looks great, hard to tell the sizing, maybe works eat 2 and one extra later, so 3? To allow hungry ones to top up, some sliced garlic baguettes and soft rolls with butter could be useful yet low cost if they end up wasted; our families always plough through those when we do a buffet.

It's a tricky timing thing - the only wedding I've been to with that type of 'mini' food it was as the evening do buffet. I only got 2 and I really felt short changed as basically people were ambushing the servers as they came out of the kitchen so nothing made it to the back of the room. I'd say 3-4, because even if they are a decent size, people will want to try different foods and flavours.

OP this looks perfect. It’s a well established way of having a substantial cocktail reception and people neither raise their eyebrows or go off to eat elsewhere.

in my experience it usually starts with little canapés and moves on to small burgers, fish and chips, little roast beefs in a Yorkshire pudding, sushi, gyoza, or sometimes even little bowl foods such as small risotto or similar. Then onto dessert canapés. Your caterers should be able to advise but it sounds lovely and nobody will be well oiled, being sick in the bushes or stopping off at McDonald’s on the way home,

The thought of people "ambushing the waiters" just makes my skin crawl.

Social events primarily are about the socializing, not stuffing oneself with "free food!"

People with that sort of appetite need to satiate themselves ahead of parties, not expect to stuff their gullets at the social event. The food is a nice extra, not the main purpose of the gathering. And I say that even about traditional wedding breakfasts, dinner, and other hospitality. It's not all about the food.

Those who can't go a few hours without large intake really need to take care of themselves in advance.

Looking at the pictures I think allow 12 each, if I was there I’d probably pick one of each of the 12 some as nibbles and maybe a little plate full too. I need to eat a few early on otherwise I get to drink as I’m a lightweight.