Evening Buffet

[MrsMc2019]

I'm looking for some advice!

We're getting married in Gretna then having a big reception at home.

The reception starts and 6pm and ends around 1am with 200 guests invited.

For the buffet we will be serving rolls in bacon; sausage or potato scone, my questions are how many would you cater for bearing in mind that this is the only food we will be serving (apart from wedding cake and a sweetie cart) and what time would you serve it?

It doesn't have a cost implication as the evening buffet for the guests in included in our package but I'm worried about too much waste or not enough food!!

I would cater for all guests to have two each. Most people will not have eaten for a reception at that time. Are your family big eaters? If so maybe three each depending on what other sides there are

For a 6pm start I would expect a full buffet not just a snack - bacon rolls tend to be served as a late night snack at weddings I find. You certainly need more variety, vegetables etc. If partners are being brought then you can guarantee there will be vegans and gluten free. If the reception was starting at 7.30 then it's reasonable to expect people to have eaten but not by 6pm. People bothering to come to a wedding will expect to be fed I find

The hot rolls are normally in addition to a sit down meal remember!

Personally I think it starting at 6pm is wrong if you're only serving a small snack.

I would usually expect an evening reception to start at 7-7:30pm and then an evening buffet 8-8:30pm would be fine. You would put the evening buffet and cake out together.

Maybe add something in the invite that a light buffet will be provided so people know to eat beforehand.

On average you would assume 2 per person however not everyone is going to eat so I'd say 300 units (maybe 125 bacon, 125 sausage and 50 potato).

Any evening reception I’ve ever been too starts around 6 or 7pm and guests have always eaten beforehand, no one expects a full buffet so rolls would be perfect (seems to be the norm here around Glasgow).

If you’ve got 200 guests I’d probably cater for 300 given that some people will probably eat more sweets/cakes than others. Plus if your venue is near town then guaranteed people will be picking up kebabs and chips afterwards anyway

If it starts at 6pm, probably buffet by 8:30/9pm as there’s other things to eat around too and like I said, anyone I’ve ever known going to an evening only wedding would have eaten beforehand. Serving too early would leave a ton of waste.

Thank you @DefinatelyAWeeGobshite x

To all who have replied - we've now made up our mind and we're more than happy with our decision.

Just make sure you get some too! We catered for 100% in the evening after a wedding breakfast and they had to go and cook us (bride & groom!) some more cos our guests got totally stuck in!