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.

I’ve never been to a wedding where there isn’t evening food. We did pulled pork barns at ours. Others I’ve seen pizza, cones of fish and chips. Bacon butties etc.

we went to a wedding and had 3 courses late afternoon very small portions - there was no evening food - every one was so drunk so many of us left at 11pm to go and get fish and chips.

London Zoo is an amazing venue. We were able to go round and look at the animals!
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Apologies if it's not LZ, just recounting my experience.

We went to loads of weddings in our twenties where there was a huge evening buffet that barely got touched.

When we did our wedding we had the breakfast as late as possible (6pm) and didn't bother with a buffet. We had the cake served up at something like 9pm. Some of DHs mates grumbled a bit to him after. I think a lot of blokes get a bit pissed and then want food at the end of the night. I regretted it as i hated that people thought we'd scrimped on it as I'd genuinely happily have paid for it if i thought it would be eaten.

Do something but keep it simple - if there's an option to avoid paying for something huge & wasteful via caterers especially, as they always only have an option thats more than is needed at high cost. Pulled pork sandwiches, bacon rolls, a big cheese & cracker buffet with a few pork pies.

It's a buffet.

I'd go for 9pm and one of these options that @JustSawJohnny has given because they sound more like they compliment your snack table.

I am guessing too late now, but if you have the option I would ditch the snack table or replace it with something simpler like a chessboard, and add the food van at 8/9pm with something substantial.

I’ve been to a fair few weddings in my time and I’m telling you, extra food is always a WINNER especially closer to the end of the night! Need to soak up all that alcohol!! 🙈🙈

The idea that people want to keep shoving food in their gobs after a buffet (more filling than a Xmas dinner PLUS hefty canapé AND homemade cakes and cheeses) kinda grosses me out. Makes me think of Augustus Gloop.

My wedding starts at 3 and I’m doing canapés at 4.30 and sit down meal at 6.30. Finishes at 1am. Can’t afford anymore we have 100+ guests at £150 a head for the day! They can get some crisps from the bar 😂

The buffet is being served at each table.

If people have been steadily drinking all afternoon/evening, they’ll need some fatty food later in the evening to soak it up, otherwise you’ll end up with people getting Hangry.

Nobody needs deliveroo do a nice snack table people can pick away at. One of my dc had bacon and egg rolls the waiting staff was dumping half eaten plates,

It fills the time when your musicians take their break. Stovies are good, bacon rolls are good. We went with a hog roast on rolls. The evening guests will need food.

I

The 'very filling' canapes will be devoured (a 1.45pm ceremony will mean lots of guests won't have eaten since breakfast), this will mean lots of the (very quickly to follow) meal will go to waste, and guests will be ravenous again at 8/9pm.

Is it Hampton Court or Kew Gardens? Or more central.

I would have evening food. I went through the same convo myself but ultimately it's best to over than under cater especially as people are kind of 'stuck' if they do get hungry.

No, she says central London.

It sounds like you have quite a substantial 'snack table' for the evening, as well as cakes etc- there really isn't any need to provide any more food, I don't think.

Although, depending on what your main buffet consists of, you could always put untouched leftovers out as well (if there are any).

At my wedding, our timings were similar to yours, although we had a three course meal, and no-one wanted the buffet that appeared 2.5 hours later. I have vivid memories of my mum going round with two sandwich platters trying to coax people to take some home!

Out of interest, what did you provide for vegetarians?

Yeah, I think you've got plenty.

A 1:45pm wedding, guests won't have had lunch. I'd be ravenous waiting for the main meal that late. I like the idea someone else said of cheese, crackers and chutneys for the evening.

I wouldn’t go ‘hefty’ for canapés as it entirely defeats the object of them as being a little something to keep people ticking over as they sip on Champagne or something. Guests then won’t eat as much buffet (or perhaps be as excited about eating it…) so they may v well be feeling hungry at night.

Do you OP. My friend had a dry wedding and hoped guests would respect their wishes as it was for religious reasons - guests were leaving to get crates of wine in the end and some had hip flasks all day. Extreme example but you might find guests differ in opinion to you about it being like Augustus Gloop.

If you send your guests home so hungry they have to stop at McDonalds it’s all they will remember.

Realistically, none of them will eat after 12pm. 12 hours on a couple of onion bhajis and a buffet isn’t much, especially if drinking, and more so with free drink. 6pm-midnight is a long time to go without any food, and 5:30pm is ridiculously late to wait. Cake isn't proper food.

Don’t skimp on making sure the guests aren’t hungry. It’s what they’ll all remember and if they’re hungry they’ll leave early.

It sounds absolutely perfect to me.

(But I do not need to eat every 2 hours)

Plenty of food. No need for more IMO.

Have a fabulous wedding.

Indeed! Neither cake nor snack table is proper food. The snacks generally go untouched.
A bacon roll (or slice sausage, as it often is here in Scotia) at 9.30pm goes down very, very well! Sets you right up for jigging to the pipe band, or for the final round of dancing (if the do is sans drums n' roses!) 😁