As is well known, wedding catering is the thing that is remembered the longest from a wedding. Every wedding guest can remember the confit cod with lardo or the successful dessert with an explosion of flavors on the palate. Choosing your caterer is therefore one of the most important decisions you should make. Now, however, the question arises as to whether the catering should be served as a buffet or as a menu in several courses. Is a buffet really cheaper and a served dinner too little? Many bridal couples often opt for a combination of both variants when they are undecided.
In the following article, we will show you what options you have for catering at your wedding and discuss the advantages and disadvantages so that the decision is a little easier for you in the end.
Served menu
A course menu, also known as a “seated dinner”, is a wedding catering where the food is served directly to the seat by service staff. As a rule, the wedding guests sit down in their assigned place after entering the room. As soon as the catering is opened, trained service staff serve the wedding guests between three and seven courses. For example, starting with a cold appetizer, followed by the classic wedding soup, an intermediate course with fish, a light sorbet, the main course with meat, some cheese and fruit and finally with a dessert.
A menu is usually determined in advance and discussed in detail as to which guest gets which dishes. With such a fixed menu, it is very important to take into account eating habits, allergies and intolerances. To avoid surprises on the wedding day, you can ask in advance. The easiest way is to specify an additional field when sending the invitation cards , in which your guests can indicate their preferences. This way you can pass this information on to the chef.
We can say goodbye to the myth that guests don’t get enough to eat on a menu. So don’t worry that the small portions will not be enough for some guests. Discuss this in advance with your wedding caterer, who will be happy to prepare several portions so that a second helping is no problem.
If you are dreaming of a traditional wedding with bow tie and gala dresses, we recommend that you choose the menu served, as it is more formal and also in line with the style. In addition, it is more pleasant for the guests not to stand in a queue in front of the buffet in high heels and have to wait for their turn.
Another advantage of the wedding menu is that program items, such as speeches, stage show and your wedding dance can take place during the meal, as all wedding guests are already seated and do not have to be drummed up first.
Wedding buffet
This is a very popular option and allows your guests a lot of flexibility in what and how much they want to eat. This variant can be a self-service buffet or a buffet served by chefs, as you know it in canteens or on club holidays.
Although the served course menu is traditionally more popular, nowadays more and more wedding couples opt for the buffet. Wedding guests with food preferences have a free choice and can decide for themselves which dishes they want to eat. This saves the wedding couple the preparatory work and queries before the wedding. The buffet is also less formal and brings more movement and interaction between guests to the wedding party. If it is also a simple self-service buffet, fewer service staff are needed.
One way to spice up the buffet a bit is to plan LIVE cooking stations. For example, the meat can be freshly cut with a Berkel machine, pasta freshly prepared, the meat freshly grilled or the dessert freshly flambéed.
Family dinner
Wedding buffets or served course menus are the most frequently chosen, but not the only wedding catering options for your wedding. The so-called “family-style dinner” is a new trend that has only been found at German weddings for a few years. You can imagine it like the classic Christmas dinner with the whole family. In this case, the tables are already set with dishes and the service staff serve the food on platters and in large bowls, so that the wedding guests can help themselves at the table. However, this requires a lot of space on the tables. If there is no space, you can also work with étagères.
This type of catering gives you all the advantages of a menu and the buffet only with the small disadvantage that the tables will be very full. Like the buffet, it gives the wedding guests great flexibility and allows you to select and look up the dishes that you like. In addition, guests do not have to queue.
Buffet of appetizers at the table and served menu
The last wedding catering variant is a combination of the family dinner and a course menu. This is an appetizer buffet, which has already been placed on the tables, a served main course and a served dessert. It is usually the case that the appetizers or salads have already been placed on the tables before the guests take their seats. So guests have the opportunity to snack on a snack as soon as they take their seats. In addition, not so much space is needed on the tables for the starters alone. For the main course served, however, as mentioned in the course menu section, the food selection should be asked before the wedding.
We see this variant very often, for example, at international weddings, as they want to offer their typical dishes as a starter and their personal favorite dishes as a main course. This gives the catering an individual touch and stands out enormously from down-to-earth buffets.
Whichever wedding catering you ultimately choose, it is important that the guests leave the party with a good gut feeling. Look for caterers with plenty of experience and good reviews. If the research, food selection and coordination overwhelm you, it is best to talk to your wedding planner, because they have usually already gained experience with good caterers and will also take care of the smooth coordination on the wedding day.
