Do people expect food after dinner at wedding?

[Budka]

Ceremony is at 1:45 pm. We are serving very filling canapés and cocktails at 3:30pm and dinner at 5:30pm. There will be the actual cake, a homemade cake table, hydration station and a snack table. The wedding ends at midnight. The meal itself is A LOT, we are doing a sit down buffet (think Las Vegas buffet).

I've seen trends where a pizza/burger van turns up as guests are leaving.

Would you as a guest expect more food after dinner?

I personally wouldn’t. I do feel people get weird at weddings re good where they almost expect to be fed and watered on the hour, every hour. But in everyday life you would probably be happy with eating far less (I do appreciate dancing, drinking causes hunger).

But would you expect to be given more food after dinner and cake?

My sister thinks we should order a load of pizza to send people away with.

i dunno i find the idea a bit ott. We are serving a lot of food. People are not those bottomless pits! But I obviously wouldn’t want people to actually be hungry.

We had similar to you for food. We did get a 'cheese cake' - basically loads of cheese, crackers, chutney,grapes and had that out and the wedding cake.

I think the more food after dinner thing has generally emerged from the need to feed evening guests, if you have them. If not, no need.

Do you have enough of the very filling canapés? Why serve them before the meal if so filling? Also canapés IME at wedding and corporate events not everyone gets something they want if they're at the back of the room and someone has eaten three of something.

I'd do a chessboard in the evening.

What on earth is a hydration station?

Most weddings I've been to have a buffet about 10pm....but with just cheese/ cake and something like bacon rolls as well?!

What’s on the snack table?

I wouldn’t want to eat again but lots of people
would!

Absolutely, yes! Your guests will be hungry again by 9pm and it’s always a good idea to offer food around then to soak up the alcohol. Burger or pizza vans or a buffet, for sure in the evening.

Is there a reason why you're serving cocktails and canapés rather than going straight into the wedding breakfast? It's been a while since I went to a formal wedding but can't ever remember one where it was nearly 4 hours between the ceremony and sitting down to eat.

Hydration station is water ?

I would expect food late evening, yes.

However much you lay on for the initial buffet, if that's later afternoon then people will very likely be hungry by 9.30/10 especially if they've been drinking

We had a cheeseboard at our wedding- this went untouched after the ceremony and canapés at 17.00 and barbecue dinner at 6pm

cause that’s very normal whilst photos are being taken. At least in my opinion it is. All the caters we spoke to had this as the go to option.

Thank you for thinking about hydration. I don’t drink much and getting a damn glass of water at a wedding is like finding a needle in a haystack.

It is at my workplace - there's a posh sign for a giant Kilner with water and lemon in it

I think most guests would expect something simply because it would be unusual not to. 5:30 is quite early to have dinner and I think people would probably start to get a bit peckish around 9ish. If it’s not in the budget, then it’s not in the budget. I can’t imagine that anyone would starve themselves at dinner simply to save room for a sausage roll later that evening.

Also, wtf is a hydration station? Do you mean a table with drinks on it?

If you’re eating a three course meal at 5pm with cake in the evening then no I probably wouldn't want to eat again, but I think it’s more for evening guests. If you have people coming just for the evening then you should have something for them to eat in my opinion.

What precisely is a filling canapé - can you provide more detail? Hard to say without knowing what the canapés / meal consist of.
Broadly speaking 530pm is too early if carriages are at midnight.

I’d have a shorter gap between the service and the meal, skip the canapés and serve a small supper at about 9/10pm

Intrigued to know what constitutes a hydration station? Is it jugs of water?

I personally wouldn’t. I do feel people get weird at weddings re good where they almost expect to be fed and watered on the hour, every hour. But in everyday life you would probably be happy with eating far less (I do appreciate dancing, drinking causes hunger).

Since when is a wedding everyday life? It’s not, of course it’s not. So why do what you do in everyday life. Your wedding is surely one of the biggest thing you’ll ever host, host it well.

Also how do you know the canapés will be filling? Depends if your guests see them in order to eat them, you order enough, have had lunch beforehand, have small or large appetites, like what’s on offer. It’s not unusual for people to totally miss the canapés for whatever reason!

The thing is your dinner will be done by 7/7.30 and people will be drinking. I’m in Scotland where we’d usually feed people again around 10 while the band takes a break. Things like bacon rolls or pizza go down well - I wouldn’t provide people with food as they are leaving though, by that point everyone just wants to get home.

I’ve never seen canapés that are particularly filling tbh, they’re designed to be a mouthful of something while photos are taken rather than anything substantial.

What's the split between all day guests who will get the canapés and buffet, and evening guests who won't?

Last wedding I was at had Indian snacks (samosas etc) at around 11pm and they were devoured. They didn't go overboard with a vast number of them or anything but they were all eaten.

yeah something like this, that’s just what all the wedding people refer to it as. I am very much in the wedding industry bubble right now.

How are canapés ‘very filling’? If I had dinner at 5.30 then I’d probably be hungry by 9 and want some snacks. I’m skinny before anyone thinks I’m being greedy.

we are not doing the evening guest only thing.