Choosing Between Plated or Buffet With Wooden Horse Catering
You’ve planned the perfect ceremony, written your vows, and chosen the florals, but don’t forget about dinner! This is where you’ll have your toasts, your tears, and of course, the food you’ve been looking forward to all day long. But where do you start? Take it from Stefen Huskinson from Wooden Horse Catering, the first thing to figure out is your wedding dinner style, and then you can build the wedding menu of your dreams.
“At Wooden Horse Catering, what we’ve found is a lot of people are geared towards either buffet or plated meals, and that’s because couples are either looking for a really simple option where they still want to feed their guests a full meal, but they don’t want all of the extras that go along with a plated meal; or, with a plated meal, they’re looking for a more wait-staff service dinner option.”
The great news? Wooden Horse Catering does both (and does it very well, we might add). And they have their own staff to provide their services.
Benefits of Buffet Style Wedding Dinners
So what are the benefits of choosing a buffet? For starters, it’s much more flexible.
“The nice thing about buffets is that you can start at a certain time, but it can be more of a free-flowing event as opposed to a plated one, where you have to be in your seat to get your food… If you’re not in your seat, you won’t get food. But with a buffet, people can come and go as they please. It’s a lot more relaxed, and people can come back and get seconds if they want.”
Or they can opt not to take something they don’t want!
“With buffets, guests can take as much as they like, and they can pick their different options. So if they say, ‘I don’t like chicken,’ or ‘I don’t like potatoes,’ they don’t have to take any.”
Plated Dinner Perks
But maybe you like the look of a plated meal, or even the vibes a plated dinner brings to a wedding. It’s the Instagram and Pinterest wedding dinner.
“For plated dinners, the nice thing about it is the aesthetic. It’s very picturesque; your photographer can come in and take beautiful photos of the nice tablescapes and all that stuff, which you can sometimes do with a buffet as well, but if you’re looking for the rows of salads and goblets to be nice and pretty, you’re going to get that with plated.”
Another great aspect of plated meals is the wait-staff your guests will be interacting with.
“With plated dinners, you’re going to have wait staff. At Wooden Horse Catering, we make sure we have individual staff members for each table, so guests get a personal experience, and it’s not just one server for 50 people.”
“You get a more personalized touch with plated events. It’s a lot more beneficial for not just the bridal party, but also each and every guest; they feel like they’re being taken care of, and it’s a more catered approach to the guest, as opposed to a buffet, where a lot of times you have one staff person for every 25, 30 people.”
Here’s another Wooden Horse perk: they have all their own in-house china and dinnerware options! For a caterer that prides themselves on from-scratch cooking and the ability to give every single wedding a personal touch, it’s no surprise that their service is just as good as their food.
How to Choose Between Plated Dinner and Buffet
So which one would you prefer? Is your priority flexibility, or a more personalized approach for every single guest?
When he’s helping his couples decide between the two catering options, Stefen will ask three questions: what’s your timeline, what’s your budget, and what’s your aesthetic?
Timeline
Your timeline for your dinner and reception, or the timeline you’d like to have, is going to be one of the main contributors to deciding whether or not to choose a buffet for your wedding dinner or a full-service plated dinner.
Stefen says, “With plated, it does take longer, because if you want everyone to sit down, especially if you’re serving by course, it’s going to take time to serve every guest.”
For some couples who opt for a plated dinner, Wooden Horse Catering will start with pre-plating all the salads and desserts on the table, for example, so it looks photogenic (and just as good as it tastes) as guests walk in. But if you want to serve everything course by course after everyone is seated, it’s simply going to take more time.
“All at once, everyone is served the salads, and then you wait. And then everyone is served the entrees, and then you wait. And then everyone is served the desserts, and then you wait. It can be very time-consuming; but if you’re looking for more of a speedy service, then buffet would be your preferred method.”
If you only have a few hours to get everyone served and onto the next event of the day, you’ll have less time to wait for every course!
“Having a two-hour plated service doesn’t really make sense for such a short amount of time. As opposed to a buffet, where you can serve, say, 150 people in less than an hour. You can do that with plated, but you’re going to be rushing people.”
If you want to have a dinner that takes its time, and allows you and your guests to enjoy the experience of having a full-service wait staff and a meal served by course, then a plated dinner is a great option. This is for the couples and their guests who really love to yap over a great meal.
But if you want the timeline to move along, go with a buffet! If you’re ready to get right to that dance floor as soon as possible, there’s nothing wrong with a shorter dinner.
Budget
This one may be the most obvious, but your budget will be a big factor in choosing between a buffet and a plated dinner. But what you may not realize is that many caterers will price based on cost per person, meaning that a buffet could be anywhere from $25 to $35 per person, and a plated dinner could be anywhere from $45 to $75 per person, of course varying by what kind of food options you select.
“It usually depends on the entrees, if you’re doing steak and lobster, or if you’re doing a chicken. It really varies depending on the dish. With a buffet, it’s usually a general overarching price, and that’s what you get for all-inclusive. Most plated events for most caterers will price it by the entree that you pick, just like a restaurant.”
The biggest thing to consider when you’re budgeting for catering is how big a priority your wedding food is for you. If you want to make sure everyone gets amazing food, or you yourself are a big foodie, don’t forget to make room for a great caterer!
Aesthetic
We love a great detail photo of a delicate dessert that makes our mouth water. If you want your dinner to be as Insta-worthy and as pretty as possible, a plated meal is going to be that Pinterest performer. But that won’t be every couple’s priority!
“Some couples say, ‘I just want to have food for my guests,’ and that’s all it needs to be.”
A Thank You to Your Guests
For Stefen and his couples, a great meal is a perfect way to thank your guests for coming to celebrate with you.
“Some guests could be coming from out of state or something, and a nice hot meal is a way for couples to say, ‘Hey, thank you for coming. I appreciate you; here’s some food.’ At the end of the day, that’s really all you can do. When people travel for your wedding, and because they’re going to be giving you gifts, this is a way you can give them something too.”
Customizing The Perfect Menu
And what better way to thank them than by building a great dinner menu? Whether you choose buffet or plated based on your timeline, budget, and aesthetic, it all comes down to a delicious meal. These photos are gorgeous, but they taste even better if you can believe it!
“For Wooden Horse Catering, I try to give as many options to guests as possible, and make it as custom as possible.”
Some caterers will have pre-planned meals based on the protein you select, but Stefen wants his couples to have everything as customizable as possible. You can select any number of proteins, starches, sides, or desserts from their menu and combine them with anything you want.
“The likelihood that someone is going to pick the exact same combination is very low. So you can go from one event to the next from Wooden Horse Catering, and it’s going to be completely different. I have tried to make our menu that way so that people feel like they’re getting something special from us every time.”
We may be a little biased, but we feel like every single bite from Wooden Horse Catering is special.
And for Stefen, it all comes down to the couple!
“It’s the whole reason why people are gathering; it’s for the couple. That’s why we try to make our options as various as possible, but also on our end, make sure the quality will be there and everyone is happy with what they’re receiving, whatever it is.”
If you gain anything from this article, let it be this: give Stefen a call! Not only is his advice for choosing the perfect wedding dinner amazing, but his food is even better, and his service goes above and beyond expectations. Whether you opt for a delicious buffet or a beautiful plated meal from Wooden Horse Catering, your guests (and your taste buds) will thank you!
Read this article in your copy of the 2026 magazine on page 70!
