Q+A: When Should Vendors Eat During a Wedding?
Welcome to our wedding Q+A series. From wedding etiquette and vendor needs to guest experience and design advice, we’re here to teach you more about the wedding planning process and inform you of best practices.
Q: “What time do vendors eat during a wedding?”
A: There is a lot of controversy around this question, but we think the best time for vendors to eat is during the dinner service. And, we firmly believe that vendors should be served right after the couple, head table/wedding party, and immediate family.
Your vendors have been on-site longer than any guests have, and we’ve been working hard, running around with you all day! We need to stay energized and fueled to keep serving you as best we can. Beyond simply being a human and getting hungry like humans do, feeding your vendor team earlier in the dinner service means we are aligned with the couple’s schedule. This is the true reason your vendors should eat before guests. Read on to learn why this is the best scenario for your wedding day!
A dinner table set with rental decor from Linen Effects // Eric Vest Photography
Vendors simply have less to do when the couple is sitting and enjoying their meal.
You don’t really want pictures taken while loading a forkful of food into your mouth, do you? Or video coverage of guests going through the buffet line? Your wedding planner will still be up and about to ensure everything is flowing smoothly, but this beginning-of-dinner-service time is slower for us than the post-dinner rush of speeches, cake-cutting, and first dances.
Serving vendors last, after guests, basically means you’re serving us “after dinner” — which is when we kick off speeches and cake-cutting. Serving vendors last means we don’t have an opportunity to eat before our services are needed; your photo/video team is away from the table capturing all of those post-dinner moments, your wedding planner is ensuring the timeline is being followed and catering is ready with desserts, and your DJ or emcee is managing the mics and music. Serving vendors last means our food sits cold on our plates for 30-45+ minutes before we can even take a bite.
Ultimately, eating at the same time as the couple means we finish eating when you do. This ensures we have enough time to eat before jumping back into action when it’s time for the cake-cutting, speeches, sunset/golden hour photos, and first dances.
What if vendors eat first and catering runs out of meals for our guests?
We understand this concern, but this should NEVER happen. If you’ve communicated the correct number of guests and vendors to the catering team, they will have the right number of meals prepared. Of course, this requires you to share an accurate meal count in the first place! That means knowing your final guest count and how many vendors will be on-site requiring a meal.
As the couple, it is your job to track guest RSVPs (and meal selections, if you’re offering a plated meal). If you work with HappiLily Events, you receive a sophisticated Guest + RSVP Tracker to use which will ~automagically~ calculate the number of attending guests, vendors requiring a meal, and everyone’s meal choices (for a plated meal). It can even sort guests and meal counts by table! Another benefit of working with a wedding planner is that we will always double-check and re-confirm guest and meal counts, including the number of vendor meals.
PRO-TIP: If you are collecting RSVPs online, once your RSVP deadline passes, we recommend disabling/shutting off the RSVP function on your website. Then, if late guests do try to respond, they need to contact you directly. If any new guests are added after you’ve shared the final meal count with catering, let your planner and caterer know IMMEDIATELY.
Minneapolis Golf Club Wedding Reception // Eric Vest Photography
Rest assured, most catering teams are prepared in case of this unlikely and unfortunate situation.
A lot of caterers have a policy to prepare an extra number of portions for buffets or to bring several extra meals ready to prepare just in case there are more guests than the pre-ordered meal count. But, don’t count on this!! If you have strong concerns that there will be unexpected guests on your wedding day, be sure to mention this to your wedding planner and catering company so that we can plan ahead for ordering extra meals.
Couldn’t vendors eat during cocktail hour?
Yes, this could be an option if you aren’t doing any formal wedding party or family photos and you don’t care much about candid photos of guests mingling and enjoying drinks. For your wedding planner, social hour is often quite busy as we’re coordinating pre-dinner details with vendors, ensuring the reception space is perfectly set, and helping direct guests.
It may be easiest for the DJ or musicians to eat at this time, as their role amps up during dinner service and, of course, dancing! Band members will otherwise eat during a scheduled break. However, serving your vendors a meal at a different time from guests isn’t always possible. This is doable for places with in-house catering (like many golf clubs), but for catering companies that are coming into a venue without a full kitchen space, it may be difficult for them to prep small portions of food before the full dinner service. This should be discussed with your wedding planner and catering team!
Ultimately, the best time for most vendors to eat is just after the wedding party/family is served (or goes through the buffet line) and before guests eat.
Eric Vest Photography
HappiLily Events plans crazy-fun weddings for couples in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We specialize in making each wedding day as unique as it is memorable with thoughtful details and personal touches.
Whether you dream of getting married in a modern downtown venue, a romantic barn, or celebrating in your backyard, HappiLily Events is here to support you through the entire planning process.
Why do I need to feed vendors at my wedding anyway?
Offering a meal to the folks bringing your day to life is courteous and generous, and standard in the wedding industry. We are working hard to ensure you have the best wedding day, which usually involves a lot of standing on our feet and running around for hours on end (usually 8-12 for your wedding planner and photographer!).
In case you missed it, our last Q+A on providing vendor meals is a must-read for learning which vendors receive a meal at your wedding.
