Originally posted on https://bridesonamission.com/its-not-all-about-the-cake-keeping-wedding-guests-well-fed/

While any wedding is an exercise in learning how to save money while putting on the most lavish of affairs, we can go too far in one direction when it comes to saving our cash. Some people feel that it’s easier to send out invites on Facebook (yes, this has happened!) and others don’t have the cash to invest in a band, but the one area we cannot skimp on when it comes to the art of keeping guests happy throughout the day is the food. Too little, and everyone’s going to be hungry (or drunk too quickly), too much and there’s a lot of waste. What is the art of keeping wedding guests fed properly?

Letting The Guests Dictate The Portions

Taster stations are becoming very popular now, and have become a more cost-effective alternative to the formal wedding breakfast. Yes, while it’s akin to a buffet, when you are looking to cut back on your expenses a caterer that provides a wider variety of foods, albeit in buffet form, can be more of a winner than a sit-down meal where guests aren’t used to the prim and proper stylings of haute cuisine. It depends on the themes of the day. If you’ve got a nice rustic setup, do you want a posh meal or is a hog roast going to be more of a crowd pleaser?

Keeping Snacks Plentiful

As soon as the wedding ceremony is done, thoughts will always turn to food. Maybe your guests haven’t had time to eat anything this morning so they are quite peckish. And if you don’t want them to fill up on alcohol so early in the day, providing a few cocktails snacks will keep them ticking over. The same applies later on into the evening. If you’ve had the opportunity to sit down and have a meal, enjoy the speeches, but around the 8 o’clock mark, people are feeling peckish, this is where a cheese board and a pile of bread can help soak up the alcohol. And don’t forget the sweet stuff, especially for the children! You can make it part of your wedding favors, like chocolate bars with custom candy bar wrappers, giving your guests a little memento to take away. And if you and your partner are obsessed with food, this is one of the simplest ways to communicate your foodie-ness.

Couples are looking for an alternative to the traditional sit-down wedding meals. And while budget is the deciding factor, the fact is that buffets or taster tables are something different. And if you are looking for a different approach to the big day, and the focus needs to be on everybody feeling as relaxed as possible, heading away from the formalities of a traditional wedding can be done with the food you serve. Keeping your guests well fed is a priority because as soon as the blood sugar dips, so does the energy of the room, making for a partially dour affair, at least until people have had food in their belly! So consider your ideas carefully.