Dinner Catering

My best friend is still having buffet. Her caterer said they’re having servers at the line serving, so people aren’t going to be touching the serving utensils themselves

We're having a buffet. Our caterer hasn't mentioned whether or not we will be having any staff serve it or not.

Our caterer is blocking off one side of the buffet and will have servers rather than self-serve. Guests are also required to wear masks when not seated at their assigned tables. During social hour, since we can’t have passed appetizers, they are putting together smaller platters to put at each table. I would be prepared for an increase in cost due to the additional staff required. Our caterer isn’t increasing our price because we’re under contract and won’t meet our minimum anyways with the limited capacity, but my guess is they will be increasing the cost for new contracts.

View Quoted Comment Okay,that makes sense. Thank you.

View Quoted Comment Great, that buffet is still plausible. Thank you.

View Quoted Comment

Most definitely! You're welcome.

We are having buffet and my caterer has informed me that our dinner will now be plated at no additional charge.

While we got married pre-COVID, we did have a buffet, and the buffet had servers. A lot of places do this, anyway, to make it a little more formal.

Plated dinner. It ended up being cheaper than buffet style.

View Quoted Comment This is a relief! Thank you.

View Quoted Comment Ah! I hope so.

View Quoted Comment What?! I guess it depends on the menu.

View Quoted Comment Right?! I was like HOW? lol

You might be surprised about what you can afford. When there's a buffet, they always have to provide more food than they think they'll need (especially if it's sells serve) because there's no way to know who will want each item in advance. With a plated dinner, they only have to plan for a few extra servings because they know exactly what each person is supposed to get. There's more labor required for a plated dinner, but the food cost is lower, so it's not always more expensive.

I just had my wedding last week. We had a buffet. The wedding planner dismissed one table at a time. The caterers served the food on each of the plates.

View Quoted Comment Great! Thanks Sandy.

You can ask if your caterer can switch to individually wraped items. They typically do this at no charge. So all the food will be in trays but wraped up. Your guests will have to do a bit of assembly (condiments would be provided on the side), but no one else will touch or breathe on the food before the guest gets it. Of course, encourage using hand sanitizer while unwrapping the food.

View Quoted Comment I really really really like this idea! I dont want to seem overboard but this is how I feel...Lol. I am prepared to take all precautions.

They can have servers serve the buffet items.

View Quoted Comment Alrighty. Thanks Molly.