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.

Make sure you warn people that you aren't eating until 5.30 to make sure they have lunch before they come. I would expect food earlier for a 1.30 wedding.

We had similar timings to you and had a hog roast for later in the evening, it went down very well. We had an open bar so it was good to soak up the alcohol! I would have dreaded people feeling hard done by/hungry though as I love to host. I'm sure your snack table and the cake will be fine if that's what you have planned, it all sounds lovely.

Omg is it London zoo? Can I come?? 🤪

I wouldn’t so more, my sisters timings went wrong, and after a large meal, more outside food was served, I saw most of it going into the hotel kitchen for staff .

Yes, a smaller meal/ buffet/ substantial snacks should be offered in the evening. 8.30ish?

I hear home made brownies are popular at weddings these days ……..

Your wedding sounds amazing!!! I don't think the burger van is needed at all!

Have an amazing day, I wish I was coming 😂

“we do have a snack table and homemade cakes for anyone who is peckish.”

OP, I think that will be plenty. My DD got married in December and her timings were similar to yours. We agitated for ages over evening food/cheese/whatever and in the end, we decided not to, and the wedding cake was cut at about eight and people just had that - and it was fine!! If you have got snacks and cakes as well as wedding cake, I think you’ll have plenty!

I think most people know these days that the meal is rarely served quickly after the ceremony. Mingling time is very normal. So if they haven't thought to grab a sandwich on the way, or have 'brunch' then that's on them. To be on the safe side, you could put approximate timings on invitation/ info sheet / wedding website. That's what the last one we went to, which has very similar timings, did. We were getting ready in a hotel, so grabbed a Tesco meal deal from local town in the morning and nibbled on it while getting ready. Another guest we saw was having a sandwich in the car after getting there early. Not ideal maybe but it's expecting a lot of hosts otherwise.

I think I will stick to my plan - maybe work on the snack table a bit. I will tell the groomsmen to listen out for grumblings on hunger and order something on Deliveroo if needed

I think this is plenty, people who are hungry can get something to eat if they want. You don't need a burger van on top of this.

Had I reveived the invite I promise you I'd have had cake. 😛

I don't think you'll need Deliveroo - it actually sounds like you've got plenty of food, because I misunderstood the canapés.
Plus there are loads of places around, people can get something on the way home.

I think if you want people to stay til midnight and not wilt then I would plan some kind of refreshments/snacks to be available around 9pm or so as that will be 3-4 hours after the meal.
Especially if they are drinking!

Sounds like a fabulous wedding and plenty of food! My only thought is that snack tables can look picked over and unappealing as the evening goes on so maybe stagger when things get put out? Perhaps have your savoury snacks out then put out homemade cakes (and tea?) an hour or so before carriages - whatever order you think.would work. Also ask the service team to keep the buffet tidy, seems obvious but can get overlooked.

Like most, I think your meal is too late (after a 1.45 wedding, when people will not have had a substantial lunch). But either way, you need something between a 5.30 meal and midnight. That's a long time to be drinking and not to have food. I suspect people will drift off from about 10pm.

I wouldn't eat anything further after dinner if I'm staying later at an event. I won't want to still be eating at 9 in the evening, that's usually when I'm getting ready for bed lol.

As long as the snack table is reasonably well laden, then I don't think you need extra food later!

We had canapés at 3 (ceremony was 2:30), three course dinner at 5, fish and chips at about 9 followed by wedding cake.

we didn’t have evening guests but I was just conscious that I’m usually hungry in weddings and certainly on the way home (we usually go to Burger King) so really didn’t want guests to feel like that.

It sounds like your main meal though will be very very filling so maybe you can get away with not having anything. Having said that, we thought food at nine might help soak up some booze and reenergise.

what are your canapés if v filling? Sorry if you’ve said. Ignore if you have. I wouldn’t have them too heavy before the main meal, esp if a huge buffet.

I'd move dinner back an hour and you'll be spot on. No need for anything else.

Making everyone wait until 3.30pm for canapés will be the hardest thing though but I appreciate it'll take hours to do the pics....

At the weddings I've been to, people have left early when there hasn't even evening food. A long day of drinking and dancing makes guests hungry. But if you don't plan to have a big party in the evening then I think that's fine!
I would make it super clear to guests in advance that you're not serving the main meal until 5.30, as most won't eat lunch before a 1.45 wedding. I went to a 2pm wedding where the main meal wasn't served until 6pm, so similar timings.. The canapés didn't touch the sides and a few guests snuck out for fast food once the canapés had run out.

If this is London Zoo (no need to confirm or deny) then I have run an event there and no-one actually did go and look around. I guess wedding shoes, etc, are not great for wandering around alongside school kids and toddlers.

This sounds like the perfect amount of food, I bet your guests loved it!

All weddings I've been to have a buffet around 9pm. Soaks up the alcohol. Plus often the meals at weddings aren't exactly huge.

Yes! People will be hungry in the evening and everyone will wonder where the food is 😂