Hey, what’s up, hello.

I know it’s been a minute, but work and life has been on the more busy side lately. Couple that with a bit of a dry spell in my creativity and there you have it…No posts haha.

Luckily, my Instagram followers always supply at least an idea or two when I ask, so today I bring you a post about something that is very important when it comes to weddings and life in general: is Hawaiian pizza legit?

Just kidding, it’s about the food at your reception.

Now when it comes to wedding food, usually there’s two options: a buffet or a sit down dinner. What you choose is totally up to you, and depends on what your wedding style is (unless your venue doesn’t give you a choice, which many of them don’t). I’ll outline the pros and cons of each to help you decide what your wedding food style is. I know cocktail hour receptions are coming into fashion also, but I really don’t have enough experience to talk about those (they seem like they could either be really cool or a logistical nightmare…not really sure). I’ll also briefly discuss cocktail hour (which I think should be a cocktail hour and a half because let’s be honest, everyone likes cocktail hour food more anyway).

If you’re into the buffet life, here are some pros and cons:

Pros:

-It’s less expensive.

-It could make the dinner portion of your reception faster so you have more time to party.

-Guests can somewhat customize their meal (aka if you hate green beans they don’t have to take up real estate on your plate).

Cons:

-Your food could be dry/overcooked.

-Some foods just don’t do well in a buffet, so your choices may be limited (certain cuts of meat/fish may be off limits, like filet mignon).

-You have the whole thing where there’s a line and they have to call guests up table by table. Great Aunt Susie may not be happy if she’s last.

-Also can we talk about the pressure when there’s 8000 people behind you and you’re trying to make a serious decision about whether you want penne alla vodka or capellini in a white wine lemon sauce? And then you just pick whatever and instantly regret it because penne alla vodka clashes with the braised short rib that you also have on your plate? Sadness people. Sadness.

-The table calling could interfere with anything you planned on doing during the dinner service, like speeches, dances, etc.

-It could ruin your wedding aesthetic depending on how/where it is set up.

-It could be too similar to your cocktail hour if your cocktail hour includes a carving station/pasta/etc.

Now for all of you seated dinner people…

Pros:

-No table calling chaos.

-Your guests can choose what they want to eat before and know what to expect based on your menu options that you put on your invitation (unless your venue takes orders the night of, which they still get usually a choice between three different dishes).

-No extra tables/set up for the buffet.

Cons:

-Could be slower depending on how it is executed by your venue/how many courses you have.

-More expensive.

-If your people are stuffed from cocktail hour, the two or three courses may be a little overkill.

Regardless of what you decide, I think the most important thing is that your food isn’t super eclectic, especially during cocktail hour (unless your entire guest list is into eclectic food). Honestly, I think people like things like sliders, mini tomato soup shooters with grilled cheese, and fried mac and cheese balls. They are all super fun yet chic-ified versions of comfort foods. Keep the dinner entrees somewhat normal too (which means don’t serve sweet breads with kumquat dusted rice puffs and wasabi infused macadamia oil finished with sorrel mushrooms that sat in a bath of miso broth for ten years at an unwavering temperature of 115.345 degrees). Also sweet breads aren’t even bread so what the heck is up with that? Image thinking you’re getting a beautiful bun of goodness and instead you get cow pancreas. More sadness!

Overall, I recommend going to a tasting before and make sure to bring your fiancé and maybe your parents or a trusted friend. Remember, not everyone has the same taste in food as you, so don’t be selfish when it comes to your food choices. Believe me, I could have a wedding reception exclusively serving fish, but people probably wouldn’t be too happy about that. As for my personal opinion, I am team sit down dinner, purely because I think the food quality is usually a little better and there’s usually more options that can be executed. As long as the service is quick, totally okay with me.

What team are you on? Let me know!