Nibbles on tables and desserts

[footballcrazy11]

Hi
We are getting married at 3pm in church, venue is 5 mins walk away and will be very relaxed no table plan etc. We are having an American BBQ gazebo outside which will serve pulled pork, chilli beef steak and bourbon chicken all with sides between 5pm - 8pm for as and when people fancy eating.
I am thinking of putting bowls of olives out and maybe something else. for people to graze on before the food starts. I am worried about nuts due to allergies so any suggestions gratefully received.

I was only going to have the cake as dessert is that enough?
Thanks for any replies in advance

I hate olives and know many who do so definitely would add something else...! How about some crackers/crisps? Fruit sticks, pineapple and cheese on sticks, that sort of thing?
I personally don’t think 3-5pm is a long wait for food as most will have had lunch before the ceremony., but if there’s alcohol before that then some nibbles are probably a good idea.

You might want to reconsider the "people eating whenever they want" plan and have a set dinner time, even if it is going to be quite casual. Otherwise you risk people not knowing what to do or when to eat, not wanting to be the first to get stuck into the food, or leaving it too late and not getting any. In my experience people do want to be told what to do at a wedding (in terms of timings), especially older guests.

Do you have a caterer for the BBQ? I think it's normal to have a few nibbles/canapés for people to snack on before the main meal. If you have a caterer then you might be able to get them to add on some things. If you're doing DIY then I would go for savoury finger food. Olives are a good idea, maybe cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, crisps, sausage rolls... things people can munch on whilst standing up and holding a glass in their other hand.

Cake for dessert is fine as long as it's big enough for everyone to have a piece.

I'm an event planner - definitely do canapés / nibbles before and I would suggest something and wedding cake for dessert tbh.

It feels a bit of a brush off to just have cake.

I know they're a bit old school but how about a choc fountain with fruit or marshmallow skewers? Fits with your laid back US theme - could even add Oreos and Golden Graham's (if you can get them) for a make you're own smores type thing.

I think if people are standing around drinking, it is nice to have 'crisps etc' there to nibble on. A lot of people don't like olives. However, as others have said, with your ceremony at 3, people will have had time to have lunch and can eat from 5, so won't be hungry / need canapes etc.

I do agree with Josephine that people are more comfortable with an 'eating time', than a 'any time over the space of 3 hours' thing.

Is 'the cake' a fruit cake / traditional wedding cake ? (Again quite a lot don't like that). If it is a more modern chocolate / red velvet / lemon / type things then I would say that is the same as a 'pudding' yes.

We had a 3.00pm wedding and served two lots of food - I was really surprised by how much of the food went, but it really did! In the first venue we had to pay the restaurant to cater extra food at the last minute because it all went, but to answer your question any nibbles; crisps, cheese, fruit, canapés will probably get hoovered up, especially if people are drinking.

A 3 hr window means the pulled pork might end up v dry

Some great suggestions here, thanks for your input all. I will cut down the food serving time and use some of your nibble ideas. The cake is vanilla sponge so hopefully that will be ok then for dessert. Would love to serve cheese and biscuits too but would cost too much as 120 guests

Just with the cake. Unless you have a massive wedding cake it usually does not go around everyone (usually!). Take along few nice (M&S or like) cakes in a similar flavour as well.

Yes to nibbles, even if guests have had lunch, something to munch with drinks is a good idea. Olives are nice if you like them, not everyone does.
I would give timings for the main food,get the venue to manage sending a group at a time and to serve the meat, otherwise there could be a big scrum, lots of queuing and greedy hogs at the front piling their plates up leaving others without.
Also - vegetarians: you need an option plus something to "protect" it so the meat eaters don't gobble it all up.

Yes to crisps and nibbles. Is there a vegetarian option for the main?

Great idea about the cake it would be terrible if that didn't go round and no other dessert.
Vege option is grilled haloumi with a dressing and a choice of sides.
It is not help yourself food so that will stop the greedy ones piling their plates up!

Just to warn you, I had a friend who had minor nibbles on the table, casual "serve yourself" table at a time fish and chips, and then cake for pudding...

... Except there weren't nearly enough nibbles or cake, and the food service took aaaaaaaages (are you with kkcatering?). The bride was going spare, and I wanted to eat my own arm.

Don't worry about the cake - the vastly important thing is that people don't get hungry at first. I'd upgrade the nibbles - M&S do a 100 piece buffet snack selection which is only £30, but has mini pork pies etc. Bit more substantial than nibbly.

I would say do think about adding to the cake as well as other food too. As I say, most wedding cakes don't go around the party (depending on size of course) so very easy to pick up some on the shelf cakes in the same flavour. We had a little bit left over so we served this with tea and coffee later on. All used!