The food at non-Jewish weddings?

Question

I have been to a number of non-Jewish weddings and it seems that all of them have buffet-style food. For example, you are not served the food, rather you have to go pick it up from a buffet style line. Is this a tradition at non Jewish weddings or is this simply done because of cost (being cheaper).

maybe I should have been more specific....it was a buffet style food....where we had to go and serve ourselves from a # of choices...but however it was NOT as much as we wanted to eat. They did serve the cake at our table tough.

Answer 1

I've been to non-Jewish weddings with sit-down dinners. I thinks it's more a matter of preference. Personally, I chose a buffet for my wedding because I didn't want to have to keep track of what each guest wanted and then having people change their minds, etc. With a buffet they can decide what to eat whenever they want and eat as much of it as they want.

Answer 2

Buffet-style meals at a wedding can be done with any faith. It is not a tradition of non-Jewish weddings, though. I've been to many Christian weddings where a plated (sit-down) meal was served. I will have a Christian wedding reception that will be a plated meal.

However, a few good reasons to have a buffet-style dinner are:

- Typically, it is less expensive than a plated meal
- The buffet offers more options/choices for pickier eaters - and lots of variety is appreciated by many guests
- A buffet makes seating a bit easier when coming up with a seating plan. A buffet allows you to have the freedom of not assigning seats (I think you should assign seats anyway, though). But it also makes it easier when you are giving counts to the reception hall. You don't have to let them know that there are XX beef, XX chicken, etc. And some halls require you to seat people specifically at certain seats at the table so they know who is being served what. This can be chaotic.

Why not have a buffet style?

- If you have a large number of guests it will take a long time for each guest to go through the line (our hall did not recommend a buffet for over 120 people).
- Buffets can be questionable sometimes in that the food can become cold and a bit stale (a good caterer will not allow this to happen, though)

Answer 3

It's an issue of ease.

It's actually generally a little more expensive to do a buffet, as you have to provide enough of EVERY dish for every one to have some (although it sounds as if it wasn't done right at weddings you've been to).

The alternative of tracking everyone's dinner order is a lot of work, in particular if you have a lot of guests. Then, there's the issue of people changing their minds when they get there, or forgetting that they ordered the beef, and they just had a roast beef sandwich, etc.

It's a lot of work to keep all of this straight. I wish it weren't, 'cause I'm not relishing this task for my daughter's upcoming wedding, but I think the budget says we can't afford the buffet.

Answer 4

Although it is common to do this at weddings, it actually isn't cheaper. Every caterer that I work with charges $3 more per person for a buffet style than a plated meal. Some people just choose to do it this way so they can offer their guests a choice. Rather than having people choose one of two entrees, they choose to offer a variety that their guests can have over and over.

Answer 5

You know, it's cost as well as efficiency. Out of the last 20 weddings I have been to, only two were not buffets. One had service to the table, the other was family-style, with food on tables.

Answer 6

Different halls and restaurants do their logistics differently. Buffets are sometimes presented as a less expensive options, but sometimes they are not less expesive, so you can't assume that that's the reason (more food need to be prepared to keep the chafing dishes full in a buffet-- for plated dinners it's clear how much need to be cooked and plated).

Plated dinners can sometimes be more expensive than buffet because it makes you have to use more waitstaff, but again, every wedding hall seems to price things so differently from each other and work their packages and logistics so differently, that buffet can be the less expensive option in one place and not in another...

Answer 7

You must ask them what their requirements for kosher food are (different people hold by different standards) then see if you can arrange it with the caterer. Know that it is almost impossible to serve kosher next to nonkosher unless you serve those un-appetizing, vacuum-packed, airline meals. Many Orthodox (MO or ultraorthodox) don't feel comfortable at non-orthodox weddings and prefer to stay home. The 3 or 4 times I have been to non-Orthodox weddings, it was in Israel and I knew the catering was kosher, but there were other issues such as mixed/ immodest dancing, no facility for netilat yadayim (i.e. having to go to the kitchen), etc., that you just simply prefer to skip out on. You can try to 'appease' but if they still refuse, do not take it personally. Their level observance was a free choice just like your level of observance was yours.

Answer 8

This is because it's cheaper...has nothing to do with Jewish or Non-Jewish. For instance....go to an Italian wedding...never...never a buffet...at least 7 courses of served food with a little sorbet here and there to cleanse the pallet between courses (ensalada, soup, ziti, sorbet, fruit, main course, desert w/expresso (coffee) and then some food too go...cookies MMMnnn

Answer 9

We're doing this at my wedding, but it's so people can eat as much as they want, there's greater variety, etc. Through my caterer, it costs the same as a sit down meal.

It's not a gentile tradition, people do buffets for different reasons.

Answer 10

buffets are less experience. if you price it around a typical luncheon will cost about 40 - 50 dlls considering what type of food it is. but however, with the buffets, although it is very cheaper, you much check with the catering department of the hotel to find out.

all hotels have catering department and are there to attend to you.