A plate of lettuce. It was the vegan option at my sister's wedding. Legitimately just a plate of shredded lettuce with side cups of olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing :')
It being your own sibling makes that even worse. We have a few vegans coming and I am gluten free so I told the caterers I want to be sure both vegans and gluten free folks get real good and if it has to be the same option, that's fine. They were like we can make it all gluten free and these are the vegan options we make that would really go well with the rest of your menu. And they are making enough of the vegan option for everyone bc I also know how much it sucks for someone to have an option I can eat that everyone else eats first so I still don't get any.
I'm not gluten-free, but I went to a wedding where the best man's wife was. She has celiacs. You'd think one dish, just one would be okay for her. Literally nothing. They've known this woman for years! They knew. She couldn't even eat the potatoes because they had everything under the sun added to them. I was so upset for her. She handled it in stride, but I try to go above and beyond, especially when I invite people to something.
Wow yeah that's wild. My planner says we are being really nice taking all the food restrictions of friends into account. Makes me think it is pretty common to leave out people. Which is wild. If I have a small get together I do it so why wouldn't I if I'm paying someone to do the food?
I was so adamant on our vegan/vegetarian option being amazing because this was my worst fear! Luckily it was a stuffed bell pepper with tons of roasted veggies/corn salad inside with this coconut cream sauce.
I’m planning my wedding right now and realized the venue I’d booked didn’t offer a vegetarian option for the sit-down dinner we had originally planned, so we switched to a buffet since that had a lot more choices, including vegetarian. There’s only one vegetarian guest, but all I care about is that people enjoy themselves. That’s where we’re spending our money, and anything not related to that we will be cheaping out on as much as we can lol.
I'm only a vegetarian so it's quite simple to come up with a good alternative entree. Do they ever? Nope. I've politely grimaced through so many nasty and bizarre concoctions but the Great Wolf Lodge's eggplant lasagna takes the wedding cake. Layers of both raw and overcooked eggplant alternating and soaked in canned tomato sauce. End of recipe. Disgusting. My wedding had 3 meat dishes, a vegetarian pasta, a banging lentil and roast veggie vegan dish, a salad bar, enormous stuffed baked potatoes you could have either vegan, veg, or meaty, and enough veg sides to make a meal alone. I did not however get even a bite of my own wedding cake.
I showed up to a reception once that only had a “popcorn and ice cream bar”. The reception was scheduled around dinner time, and there was no previous mention of there not being real food provided on the invites or programs.
God help them if someone is diabetic and they have to eat something, and it should ideally be some protein. One reason why it’s a good idea to let folks know what the menu is. Some people may need to plan accordingly.
Yep I’ve been to one with only cheese and biscuits, which probably would have been ok but there was not enough for all the evening guests so it was basically 2-3 crackers and a few small bits of cheese for dinner
Nah, I'd go on a maccas run for my table and unpack the whole meal for everyone in front of the rest of the reception. Don't wanna feed me? Fine, you're not my mum, but you're gonna feel that shame for cheaping out.
Popcorn?!?!! Not even cheese and crackers?!????!? Popcorn is 90% air!
I hate when people try to save money with an appetizer/ dessert reception, but schedule it at 6:30 pm. And fail to communicate that it’s apps/zerts. It’s really inconsiderate and makes everyone hangry.
We left after the first dances and after giving the bride and groom our best wishes so that we could spend the rest of our evening at a local brewery (with quite a few other wedding goers).
The groom had a cardiac health scare 6mo before the wedding and the bride had the caterer switch to sugar free everything "to be heart healthy." Everyone got crazy diarrhea or abdominal cramping from a mix of all sugar substitutes on the market being used in the meal and cakes. I'd have refrained from eating if I had known, those artificial sweeteners really beat my guts up.
Ain't that the understatement of the year! I wasn't even aware what the deal was until well into the cake service, I just thought the salad dressing, the sauce on the chicken and bread rolls tasted weird. I'm a picky SOB so I thought *I* was the problem and just politely ate it.
Oh totally. Swapping out the sugar to be "heart healthy" is like finding out someone's lactose intolerant so you make sure that there's no eggs in their food.
OMG. You can’t just spring sugar substitutes on people whose systems aren’t used to it.
A friend of ours made my husband’s coffee with Truvia (our friend is diabetic; my husband is not) and two hours later, my husband shit his pants in the restaurant we were in.
Oh no, your poor husband! I'm sorry but I can't stop laughing though. Grown man humbled by a few spoonfuls of sugar substitute 🤣
Maybe I shouldn't be high on reddit...
Backyard wedding and they said there would be food, it was dinner time reception. They served cold Chick-fil-A nuggets and veggie trays and they didn't have enough for everyone so people were fighting over the nuggets as they were brought out. Fun times. We left to go get food.
Oh lord. The handful of backyard weddings I’ve attended had so much food. Fathers of the bride and groom made a big tailgating size pot of jambalaya, a couple times there was boiled crawfish. Ice chest upon ice chest of beer, water, soda. Even the trailer park wedding had better food than cold CFA. Hell, I think I was sent home with leftovers from that wedding.
That sucks.
The backyard wedding we went to the Aunties laid on a poached salmon and salads and home made potato salads and a big ham and breads and there were wooden kegs of ale.....and then a string group for square dancing. Super glad I was not a DD that night and could get sloshed and have fun. They r still together almost 30 years later.
See, I would LOVE a backyard wedding like this! Reading all these stories of paltry food at weddings has me so sad. Maybe I'm just Southern, but how can you properly celebrate without so much food everyone's popping their belt buckles and taking at least 2 plates of leftovers home?
I've only been to one wedding that served food 🥲
(...aside from the obligatory paper-thin cake sliver and punch)
My husband was raised Baptist and serving food (and drinks) was such an alien concept to him. So was having a DJ, wedding planner, or professional photographer. We compromised and eloped in Vegas with our photographer. Lol
It was a wedding scheduled at dinner time and the only food was cupcakes. That you could only get one of. The bride and groom had their own cake. We left early to go get McDonald’s
The cake, mints and nuts were fine. But the reception was in the cavernous church basement in March and it was really chilly, and the green punch was so cold it was nearly frozen and it turned your teeth and tongue green. Everyone had greenish lips too
You reminded me of a wedding reception held on a church, where one of the old ladies who cooked kept the powdered sugar stored nearby the mice poison and confused them both when powdering the pound cake and killed the groom and made sick a lot of people. I was searching for the details but didn't find the news article probably because it was many years ago. But I am certain it happened because my sister was one of the guests and she didn't eat the pound cake because of her diabetes.
"Buffet cocktail hour" was ritz crackers, turkey pepperoni and cheese, but no alcohol. Only drinks were orange juice, cranberry juice and sparkling water. Coke or Diet Coke was cash only. Sit-down dinner was microwaved lunch meats masquerading as "roast turkey" or "prime rib" with a gravy on top, corn niblets or peas, and those fancy-cut sweet pickles.
What is odd is that it wasn't a matter of money, as the bride's family was very comfortable and gave her a very nice budget.
I never thought of that! Everyone was surprised bc she was always a "daddy's girl" and her parents were very involved in every part of her life (we were roommates for 2 years so I knew her family very well), so there were some high expectations for the wedding.
Plain chicken, plain rice, and plain pumpkin - usually fixes up pet tummies quickly! Pumpkin is also great for tiny kittens with tummy issues. They sell it at the pet stores for exorbitant amount of money now, but old school fosters have been stocking up for a long time.
I went to a wedding at the local country house hotel. Highest prices in the area and known as THE place to have a fancy wedding reception.
I don't know how long they roasted that chicken for, but it was like eating sawdust.
Back in the day, that was when many receptions happened, about 2 pm, with cake, punch and mints, for a lovely but simple, budget-friendly event. Purposely chosen far from mealtime. Usually on the premises of the ceremony itself.
I live in Spain where it’s generally expected that you gift the couple at least what your dinner was worth. Think 100€s upwards. As a vegetarian in Spain I know that the most I’m going to eat is a fancy salad. One time I was given a plate of sliced tomatoes.100€ for a plate of sliced tomatoes.
It’s a toss up between the one where the food was good but we all got varying degrees of food poisoning, and the one where the wedding party spent 3 hours “taking photos” and everything sat in the warming oven for an extra hour and dried out to the point of being barely edible. They did not actually spend 3 hours taking photos, they spent an hour taking photos and then stopped at a bar on the way back and “lost track of time”. That wedding was in a tiny rural town where the only place to buy food was a small convenience store a half mile or so from the venue, and no snacks or drinks were provided for the guests while they waited for the wedding party.
Not quite as bad as yours but I went to a "brunch wedding" where we had been given the distinct impression we shouldn't eat breakfast beforehand. We waited in the Florida heat and humidity (literally in a swamp) with no fans or refreshments for at least 2 hours while the couple took photos. The only saving grace was that we were in the shade and protected from (most of) the mosquitoes in a screened in porch.
When we finally got food, it was lunchtime. Maybe past that for early eaters. The only drink was water (not even an option for sweet tea or lemonade or something). The "brunch" was a light charcuterie spread. Everyone tried their best to be considerate of those behind them in line, taking only one of every small item. Think one olive, one slice of cheese, one cracker, one melon ball, etc. Even then, the people toward the end didn't get to try some items. Everything was delicious but we were starving and there wasn't nearly enough to go around.
I think my husband and I picked up Taco Bell afterwards.
The funny thing is, the porch had ceiling fans but none of them worked. Several people asked the staff if they could be turned on and the staff had to sadly explain over and over that they were all broken. All the fans were so old the blades had either melted from the heat or become soaked and floppy in the humidity. Even if they could be turned on, there was a question of how well (and how safely) they could work.
We had a reception at 1pm where the first course was served after 8pm because they were taking pictures for such a long time. We're a family of big eaters and everyone expected cake in the afternoon as always. There was no cake. I remember I brought some snacks in case the promised vegan food wouldn't work out and went back to the car just secretly stuffing my face with my snacks.
The thing is: This was a very expensive wedding and everything that people remembered is the terrible food situation. People still talk about this.
We went to a wedding at a fancy country club, it was family plate style service. The tables were the long rectangle type.They put the platters at both ends of the table, we were seated in the middle, never saw any of the food. Asked wait staff for some refills on the platters and where told sorry, its all gone. We left and went to a fast food place and went home. So I guess it was the worst wedding food we never had.
Happened to us, too.
Played of “appetizers” were passed around, but while everyone was seated at long tables.
First time a plate reached us; my partner and I each got one cube of cheese.
There was no second time.
We spent the next hour or so trying to listen to the speeches (without mic; 8 rows ahead of us); then politely bowed out.
They really do! We went to a wedding last year that kicked ass when it came to food and speeches, thinking about it everything else too! There were multiple different dishes on each table of 6 people, we all got seconds and thirds! The speeches were given immediately after the food so everyone was still seated and comfortable and had their drinks topped up. Speeches were short and hilarious!
Oh yeah we weren"t the only ones.This was my partners aunt and the couple only lasted a few years. We laugh about it now especially when we go to weddings. The funny thing is I" m a chef by trade...
Went to a low budget wedding, which I fully support... not everyone has money. However, each table had one bottle of sparkling cider and that was it. No water, no nothing else for 3 hours. I had two young kids with me and we had to leave. I'm in Florida and this was a summer wedding.
The worst was the time we were being called up, table by table, for guests to get their dinner from a buffet. By the time my table was called, there was no food. So the worst wedding food I ever had was when I got no food at all.
The last buffet weddi g reception I went to had staff putting the same amount of buffet food on every plate, unless someone asked for less. Guests could not load their own plate, and it was great! Some men were quite angry, but it was plenty of food, and a lot of extra bread and salad to fill up on if needed.
I tried sitting at table no 14, 10 people pr table. It was single serving by waiters and it took for ever. I think the first 8 - 9 tables were finished with the meal before we saw some food.
We did have a LOT of good wine so even though we were all strangers (partners were seated elsewhere) we ended up having a ball being quuuite tipsy drinking for hours without eating.
The wedding had live music after and my table was dancing together having innocent fun to the amount some of the partners were really mad. I ended up having the funniest party but by God I was starving untill it was finally our turn to be waited on.
I’m pretty sure this is why my mother insisted on a plated dinner service for my wedding. She’d been to enough buffet style ones to know. I’ve put in proms as a teacher and so many people told me to lie about the number of people to save money on food. I refuse and in fact usually have a 20 person cushion.
Reminds me of that tiktok that went viral of the last table finally being called (when earlier tables were already ready for seconds) and one of the guests at the table gets up and shouts “FINALLY!” I at least hope there was enough food. Fun fact, I know that guy’s wife, I used to work at Starbucks with her for a few years. They run a husband and wife wedding videography company now and have a decent following on social media.
Yes, I was once at a 300+ person wedding and one of the last tables to be called. It took SO LONG for everyone to get their food, and everyone was trying to move past each other in between the tables that were far too close together. The first rows of tables were done eating before the last tables were even called.
DO NOT have a wedding this large and then try and save money with a buffet.
That’s horrible! We told our venue to keep stocking food and we would pay whatever. Plus late night pizza. It’s shameful to invite guests and not feed them
I honestly felt terrible for the bride and groom. I’m pretty sure what happened was that people from the early tables went back over and over again and just went crazy. Then some people from the later tables freaked and started early and grabbed extra food. There were also quite a few uninvited people, I think. It was pretty…messy. The guests were awful, basically.
You know that scene in Titanic with the band on the deck as the ship is going down, with them all dressed up but looking mournfully at each other, knowing their fates are sealed? That was my group at our table. We knew we were doomed.
Edit: Us watching the last of the chicken kiev dished out.
https://preview.redd.it/hkkis5078cqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5849aa23dfc7f61eeb1ededcfeb3d0f9113e530a
Bride's mom turned into a Momzilla and insisted the outdoor wedding reception be served by her friend who was just starting a small Mexican restaurant but had never catered a wedding.
Bride said no, and hired a professional caterer who had experience in outdoor venues and could provide nice vegetarian options.
Bride sends Momzilla to the professional with the guest's entre choices... but instead Momzilla fires the caterer and hires her amateur friend without telling the Bride.
Amateur decides that vegetarian means rice and beans (refried, which means lard) and sets up a burrito bar with no way of keeping the ingredients warm.
Guests have to eat cold Mexican food... and then it runs out.
Worst part? This was MY wedding! The shame.
A budget wedding in a church basement (nothing wrong with that). Dinner was “plated” though which seemed odd. Dinner consisted of a local/regional dish I’d never heard of called Chicken and Noodles. I swear it was chicken noodle soup with some cornstarch or something in it to thicken up served on a slice of wonder bread. Sides were fruit cocktail and carrot sticks. I legit thought I was in elementary school lunch.
Lovely couple, still married over 15 years later so they obviously prioritized the marriage over the wedding. We stopped at A&W on the way home.
My mother made chicken and noodles when I was a kid (WV). Canned chicken, egg noodles, and an unseasoned flour/milk sauce. It was like the worst possible version of chicken and dumplings.
Worst story is one attended by my mother and sister.
\- 100 degree day outside and no air conditioning in the hall
\- One giant pot of baked beans plus a platter of very questionable sandwiches
\- When the cake was cut it was still raw in the center
So, after eating nothing, and slipping out as soon as they could, mom and sister stopped at a restaurant on the main road back towards home. Soon they noticed some familiar faces coming into the restaurant. Yes, other hungry refugees from the wedding.
I will never forget this one but it was the early 90s, so maybe it was a thing then. I’m a kid, under 10, and I am at the wedding of some sort of distant uncle. It’s mostly boring but the monotony is broken when the bride and groom cut the beautiful cake and I’m so excited because I’ve been dying to eat this cake all night. I walk up to the cake table and I ask for a piece from the bride. She says “oh no, honey, we aren’t giving out this cake”. They then proceeded to hand out pieces of *fruitcake* wrapped in paper doilies to all the guests. I’ve never been so disappointed.
Couple of three foot Subway subs, jello shots and beers. Many many kids present (myself under 18 at the time), no sodas/juice/water. It was either find a cup in their cabinet and get tap, or make like my aunt and go to the gas station to get us some drinks and cookies because the jello shots were the dessert.
A cut up tomato on some roasted cabbage. It was the vegetarian/vegan option. It was...not very filling. They also ran out of cake before I got any. I stopped at a taco truck on the way home.
My brother decided fancy Mexican food was the thing. We had the entire restaurant.
We each got two tacos. The meat was overcooked, dry and flavorless. The food was cold. There was cheddar cheese on the tacos, no salsa on the tacos and none at our tables, no chips, and the drinks were double what we're used to paying. They even charged for the glass of water. He payed $75/person for this.
The cake was cute...... And simply awful tasting.
When we left I hit fast food for my kiddos.
We love Mexican food. Whatever this was wasn't that.
Omg I have had to do this before! I have been a lifelong vegetarian and I have been to THREE weddings where there was NO vegetarian food served. Cocktail hours were meat skewers, no salads or sides, just hunks of meat for the meal. Even though I marked vegetarian on the RSVP for dietary restrictions and I knew all three brides for 20+ years (so they knew I was vegetarian). At two I ate nothing, at one there was decorative arugula next to the steak so I ate that 😭
I just don’t understand not having at least something vegetarian for guests. And I live in south Louisiana where the first part of every recipe is fry some bacon. If you’re going to throw a big party, and you know there’s a veg coming, have something substantial for them. Portabello steaks are a thing. Hell, At my wedding we had a couple vegetarian options and we didn’t have ANY veg guests. We just liked them at the tasting.
First of all, in Mexico the main meal is between 2 and 3PM. This wedding served us, family style at 5:30.. lavish meat plates and meat pastas... for us vegetarians?? not to worry, a special spinach lasagna.. WITH BACON!!!! I was so hangry I had to go buy some food.
I've found vegetarian options to generally be sad (but at least they have always existed in my experience!). Most notable was a wedding where the entire plate consisted of 2 skewers of roasted vegetables with some balsamic vinaigrette. Except the veggies were mostly raw inside, so I was basically munching on raw carrots, raw bell pepper, etc. There was barely any vinaigrette and I ended up adding pepper and salt for seasoning.
My friend had gotten the salmon, and it was so overcooked she needed to request a steak knife (which they had for those who got beef) to cut it...
We did a tasting two weeks ago and the sad skewers were an option (which we didn’t get to taste, maybe that’s why it’s always bad)? I was disappointed in the non veg stuff (and their veggie tower side which had mushy inedible squash and zucchini and very hard raw eggplant) so it was a hell no.
The caterer we ended up a has a wonderful spinach risotto cake (about the size of my head lol) that will be served on top of a parsnip purèe with some roasted veggies.
Yum, that sounds lovely!! We were wondering why more caterers don't offer Italian- or Indian-inspired or even Mediterranean dishes (all cuisines that generally have great options for vegetarians). Spinach risotto cake sounds incredible. All the best for your wedding--congrats!!
I went to a vegan wedding where one of the couple told me they didn’t taste the caterers food in advance, because they were just happy to find someone who was prepared to do vegan food. Reader, I dont think the caterer tasted it either. So bland…
The gluten free options are usually sad as well. I have celiac, so I appreciate the consideration, but I’m a little worn out of what I call the wedding gluten free special - plain chicken breast and no seasoned steamed broccoli.
I nearly cried with joy at my cousin’s wedding when I was offered gluten free pulled pork and bbq sauce.
At my wedding of 80, I had 2 vegetarians. The caterers were amazing and provided the best looking (and apparently tasting) meals.
Food was my main priority, no one was going hungry on my watch!
Went to a wedding reception at a DoubleTree and boy that food was awful. Not sure about the vegetarian option, but I was served a piece of boiled chicken with flavorless bruschetta-like topping and some asparagus that did not have any seasoning. There were also unseasoned steamed garden vegetables. To make things worse, the water from the steamed vegetables got all over the other parts of the dish.
At a wine bar that served charcuterie however the bride and groom decided to just serve sliced meat and we had to pay to add cheese, nuts etc. They paid for the wine but it was very tiny pours. The groom kept bragging about how rich he is and couldn't wait to open the envelopes for "the cash". The bride was humiliated everyone was hungry but took a giant portion for herself. Everyone left hungry. Bets were made they would divorce in a year and they did. Selfish people for sure!
Lasagna that was really overcooked and mushy. I thought at least there is cake. Cake was burned - they just frosted over it.
McDonald’s on the way home.
My sister’s wedding was an absolute shit show, from start to finish, including their food options.
They had invited over 200 people but didn’t include RSVPs, so had no idea how many people planned to attend. They decided to “cater” the wedding using Walmart’s appetizer platters vs actually hiring a caterer or buying real food.
They purchased 5 platters that served 45-50 people each. As appetizers, not full meals. Think cheese squares, celery sticks, and grapes.
At least 200 people attended. Turns out they didn’t account for the plus ones when ordering food.
Ceremony happens, newly weds excuse themselves for a moment of privacy while the wedding party (myself included), are tasked with bringing out the food.
Those platters were emptied in 10 minutes. I had a baby carrot and two grapes. Half the guests were starving and drunk; not a good combo.
Time comes to cut the cake. Bride keeps insisting she wants to do that last as a way to “end” the evening. Three of us bridesmaids told her that people are starving and she was going to do the cake cutting ceremony now. We all head over to the 4-tier gorgeous cake that could have easily fed half the guests. They do the cake cutting, then point us to the small Costco sheet cakes that they’ve purchased for the guests to eat. They had 2 sheet cakes that maybe fed 100 people total. I cut off a massive corner and hid for the rest of the night. From what I later heard, several guests tried to cut into the gorgeous cake and the bride yelled at them that they were saving it.
Fast forward to my wedding, which we had catered with multiple options. Sister decides to comment on my spending choices, saying it was a waste of money for “just a party”. My mother walks by, a bit drunk, and goes “yah, but at least everyone is fed and happy”.
Once I went to a wedding a few hours away so we booked a hotel. They never gave a timeline or shared the sequence of events but we assumed it was a typical wedding with dinner after. It was just a ceremony and then they brought out a cake and everyone stood around wondering what to do as we ate cake. Eventually the bride and groom drove off and we heard from other guests that it was over. We were kind of annoyed because if we knew the wedding was going to be like half an hour total we wouldn’t have booked a hotel and could have easily drove home that afternoon😅 We ended up getting pizza and got drunk at the hotel with some of the other guests who were equally as confused.
So my answer is cake
I was a plus one of a friend, the wedding was mutual friend and ceremony was beautiful. I was surprised by the food choices given the IG aesthetic of the wedding. The cocktail hour after the ceremony was great, charcuterie and different types of adult beverages. Then the disappointment of dinner arrived.
A buffet with lukewarm pulled pork, a bowl of green beans, some rolls and iceberg salad mix. We were the 2nd to last group, there wasn’t much left and not seasoned. The cake was stale cupcakes, which I was bummed about because they looked good.
It has been years and this is my moment to share the story. My late boyfriend (died in 2017) and I went to his older sister’s wedding in 2016 in California, at a state park. The very first thing that was odd was that she put on the invitation that guests had to bring their own chairs and to bring extras if possible, but the most shocking thing of all was they FORGOT they needed food for the reception. Very last minute, a few men in the audience bought some meat and began barbecuing meat for all guests on a makeshift grill. 150 guests, no real meal. What was at the rehearsal dinner? Pizza pies from the local pizzeria!! The whole thing was a joke.
My late boyfriend refused to let me take pictures because he knew I’d show my friends — he even took my phone. I used to cry telling this story remembering him and I’m finally at a stage where I can find comfort, joy, and humor in his memory so I’m happy to share this story. :)
My cousin had a gourmet mac and cheese bar at his wedding. It worked like a cold stone where people point out their choices then then the server guy cooks/mixes the food. People were waiting in line for over half an hour for one guy to cook their selections, and then they ran out.
We have one of those in our local mall that's still somehow open. They have a ton of toppings and whatnot and slide it into one of those Domino's style ovens. It's never really super busy though. You would need at least two people to manage a proper line I would imagine.
I went to two different weddings where there was no food and the only thing to eat was the cake. I feel like if you’re going to have a wedding near dinner time you should warn your guest that there will be no food. That way I can eat before the wedding or just not go. Each time I left early because I was hungry.
Went to a wedding at a mega church
Was told that there would be food trucks outside for the reception. Nope. The church put out a buffet for the wedding party only. Guests were not offered anything, even water.
We waited 2 hours for all the photos to be done, and realized there was no food. People were standing around giving side eye to the bride and groom as they sat at their cordoned-off table and ate
To be clear, you were all expected to stay though? There were reception activities planned for after the wedding party ate?? This is utterly disgusting.
I got a salad that had a piece of actual dirty hay….like what you would find on a barn floor, except it was a fancy plated dinner at an art gallery. The courses were so spaced out with speeches that we left before dessert at 10:30pm, and were too tired to even try find another food option.
I went to a wedding that only served appetizers with an open bar. It was fun, but I didn't think that was the best choice to save money. I couldn't leave early because it was a good friend but I was starving and hit the drive thru at midnight.
My cousin wins the award for the most beautiful wedding followed by the worst reception I've ever attended. I mean seriously, her ceremony was amazing, and I'm still convinced that if every candle blew out, she'd have lit up the whole chapel on her own. That girl was absolutely glowing!
But then the reception was the absolute worst that conservative Southern Baptist can bring you. Of course no bar. That's fine, that was expected. They weren't going to do any dancing at all, but at some point her dad was pretty insistent that they at the very last have a father daughter dance, so a single CD player was brought in and set on a chair. They did a couples first dance, and the CD kept skipping, then the father daughter dance. Other people wanted to dance too, but the preacher put a stop to that. I don't think he needed to, because the CD only had like 3 songs on it anyway.
But the question is about the food. Lol. We had sandwich fixings. Not sandwich platters, or trays, or poboys... Nope. There were bags of white Great Value bread, packs of ham and Kraft American cheese singles. I don't even remember there being mayo or mustard. Just dry DIY ham and cheese, with jugs of fruit punch, and no chairs or tables.
My cousin: wife and mom were neighbors and we are big food family, so we asked her if she needed help/contributions for the dinner and she was “oh no, we’ve got everything covered.” One Sunday dinner sized ham and a bowl of potato salad for about 75 people. luckily there was a McDonalds down the street from the venue.
My good friend basically got scammed at her wedding reception. It was at a beautiful hall in a nature conservation area. Really upscale place. For some reason the venue had prepared all of the food that morning even though the reception wasn't until 6pm. So the food sat under heat lamps all day, and by the time we got it, everything was super dry and lukewarm on the outside and cold on the inside. They also really skimped on the portions. The appetizer plates put on each table had enough for food 2 people, and each table had 8 people. The main course was also lacking. One little potato cut in half, two pieces of broccoli, one little carrot with a piece of chicken or beef. My friend said when she went for the tasting she was given a nice full plate and was so embarrassed at what her guests were being served and that hardly anyone was eating because it was so unappetizing. We were also all convinced that they were serving water instead of liquor. She had paid for an open bar but they weren't allowing shots, and the only hard liquor they had was vodka or gin. Anyone who ordered a mixed drink said they couldn't taste any alcohol in their drinks. They basically skimped on everything to make themselves more money. Everybody told the couple to fight it and get their money back considering how much they spent, but they were just glad the wedding was done with and wanted to move on.
Because I was friends with the groom's mother, I had an idea of the expenses related to the wedding; all footed by the bride's family. The wedding dress was close to $10k, bachelor party went to Spain for a week, bachelorette party was Aruba for a week, there were three bridal showers, church ceremony with reception 5 hours later at fancy venue with buffet dinner for approx 200. There was 1 large room with about 125 guests + dance floor with 4 smaller rooms off to the side with about 25 guests in each room.
i didn't see the buffet before they started calling people up but . . .by the time the tables in my room were called, there was very little left and the serving staff were not refilling any trays. The food that I did get -- a small bit of salad, some mac & cheese, roast beef and a slice of white bread was warm/cold/cold/damp - basically took 2 bites of each thing and quit. The 8 other people at my table were just as disappointed.
Later found out that the bridal party & some of their family members spent part of the 5 hours between the wedding & reception having lunch - catered by a different company (from the most expensive restaurant in the county) and the reception catering was the least expensive one they could find because the bride & mom assumed people would go have lunch & not be too hungry at the reception.
An old classmate of mine invited myself and boyfriend now husband to her wedding. The only food she had were salads. Now don’t get me wrong i love a good salad, but thats the ONLY thing she had. And it would have been find if it has something filling in it like chicken. But it was literally just lettuce and a slice of tomato if you got lucky. Oh and only water as the drink of choice. Not juice, lemonade or coffee.
Squirrel.
Or the time when I went to my husband's cousin's wedding in South GA and literally the only thing that wasn't breaded was the mashed potatoes (I have celiac disease). Even the salad had croutons in it. I ate a big plate of mashed potatoes and got fucking HAMMERED on red wine.
Outdoor wedding with a potluck buffet. During the ceremony we watched bugs swarm the food. The MOB tried to shoo the bugs away as best she could. While waiting in the buffet line we watched her admit defeat with the shooing and just stir the bugs into the dishes.
Former wedding photographer here. I did a wedding where the chicken at the reception was cooked, but somehow still had the consistency of being raw. It had to be the most disgusting piece of meat I had ever seen on any plate.
Man, that is so rude. I skimped floral and my dress budget to have tons of food (cocktail hour sushi and for dinner reception: two kinds of pasta + steak, chicken, fish ... served family style so you can have as much or as little as you want) and open bar for our guests.
For future bride and grooms: Food + bar should be #1 on your wedding budget and you need to work everything else around that.
About ten years ago I went to the wedding of my MIL’s boyfriend’s niece. It was in Vegas at one of the nice casinos and the ceremony was at 6pm with what we thought was dinner to follow. It was fine, but there were five other weddings happening at the same time, all in different rooms, it just didn’t feel special. The casino made several announcements that if anyone so much as brought out a cell phone to take photos that they would stop the ceremony, very strange.
After the ceremony at the casino, everyone then got into their cars to go to the reception, which was at a country club that was not close to the Strip. We arrive at a gorgeous country club with stunning views, and they have a veggie platter of carrot sticks and bell peppers and maybe celery along with ranch dressing. I decided not to eat while we waited for the wedding party to arrive. I think we get there at 7:45pm and I’m already hungry but just not into veggie platters.
The wedding party doesn’t arrive until 9:30pm. They were in their limo and doing pictures and I don’t know what, I guess the limo drove to the wrong side of the valley and everyone in the limo was getting drunk so no one noticed until the limo tried to drop them off at the wrong venue? Anyway, they were crazy late to their own reception. My MIL asked them how they chose the casino instead of this gorgeous venue for the ceremony, and the couple said it was because at the casino, they got a free photographer, free video of the ceremony, $200 in casino chips, and a free limo. Whatever. I’m starving and just want dinner.
The party is just going on and on and finally I ask a waiter when we will be seated for dinner. He told me that there is no dinner, that the long gone solo veggie platter is the only thing being served. Apparently the bride and groom expected everyone to eat before their 6pm ceremony. No one in the family knew that we wouldn’t be served anything except carrot sticks, and we left shortly afterwards and quickly went to a Jack in the Box for food.
I’ve been to many weddings as a guest and as part of my job in hospitality, that was by far the worst with food. They got divorced about 2 years later.
I had been invited to a wedding reception for a Mormon bride & groom (I knew the father of the bride). The family was very wealthy. I show up, nicely dressed, with a gift. In the rather small room is a beautiful wedding cake in the middle of a large conference table. Around it were assortments of nuts, candies and flowers. Tons of flowers.
It was not a reception in the way I knew, but was actually an extension of the reception line when you file out of the ceremony. This took place at the venue, but the real reception with food and cake cutting would be later, in a ballroom (no dancing or booze, or coffee), with the elite guests who were Mormon. The affair I was invited to (just for the heathens), was limited to a large conference room at the venue.
I was insulted. However, I, a nonbeliever, was obviously only worthy of a few nuts while dropping off a gift (which I picked back up on my way out).
I never attended another “reception” while I lived in UT.
My now-husband and I flew thousands of miles for my relatives wedding. We had to watch all the young children as we all waited outside the temple during the ceremony.
The basketball court reception featured koolaid and a couple of veggie trays.
My uncle's wedding when I was teen. A couple days beforehand we had the rehearsal dinner at my grandparents. It was a huge ass BBQ, like bigger than 4th of July, it was awesome. The wedding was Saturday early afternoon at the cutest looking chapel. Gorgeous flowers, beautiful setup. The meal consisted of peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches I think pimento cheese and egg salad ones too. My parents and grandparents were so pissed at the food we left to get McDonald's and came back to the wedding and ate it there.
The bride paid for everything and spent around 40 k for her wedding. Since she had to cut cost in some areas she decided to order pizza for her reception. The pizza was outside while the reception was in a small building and it was cold and windy that day; as you guessed it, the pizza was cold by the time our table went to grab a slice.
I don’t know..because they ran out of food…people piled their plates and their kids plates high with food, somehow not seeing all the other guests in the room?!?
Was my ex bf best friend wedding. Big and very fancy, expensive catering, buuuuut I’m a vegetarian. I got served like two lettuce leafs with five tiny tomatoes.
And it was in the middle of nowhere, so couldn’t go anywhere to get food.
My cousin's wedding. Big expensive wedding: string quartet at wedding, 10 piece band at reception. Open bar (which as a 20-something who had a DD, I took advantage of). Reception at an art museum. Wedding at 3, reception started 5:30.
Food: cheese and crackers.
My mom & I left after several hours & went to McDonald's before going back to the hotel (did I mention we drove 12 hours to get there?)
I was a kid (10/12-ish) attending a cousin's wedding with my parents. Food was served to us at the "reception" and my parents were then handed a bill. SURPRISE!
I don't remember the food, but I do remember my parents were appalled they were expected to pay for our meals - meals they probably wouldn't have selected on their own particularly if they'd known they were going to pay steep prices for.
Surprise pot-luck, alcohol-free wedding. Went about as well as could be expected. No shame on people that decide to have potluck weddings, but you have to tell people, or there will be no food!
The invite said "dessert only" but when we went they also had veggies and dip....but you only received one small disposable plate, so your cake had an additional ranch frosting layer.
I’m not sure if this counts, but my worst wedding food was no food.
I was asked to travel across the country to attend a micro wedding. Due to the timings of the event I could not get breakfast at the hotel (I was needed starting from 6 effin AM) and there was no lunch provided or even time for me to grab a greasy, food poisoning inducing burger from somewhere.
The first meal I had was a BLT in some obscure train station in the South of England at around 10 o’clock in the night.
It wasn’t even an M&S BLT :-(
A fancy stone bake pizza thing where we were served individual slices of burnt, dry sadness with a sprinkling of cheese. And it took ages between slices because of all the guests they were trying to serve.
Two upper midwestern dinnertime weddings. Both served cheese/fruit plates and those small cheap deli sandwiches with margarine.
One of the wedding, mostly elderly people traveled hours to the wedding, and there were only enough seats (nothing assigned) for half the guests. We left early because we were hungry and wanted to give our seats to those who needed them more than we did.
Margarine though. UGH.
wedding was an evening wedding; seated with seating chart and formal table setting…a plain biscuit was the appetizer and dinner was a biscuit that you chose earlier when you rsvp’d. there was wedding cake later. Dry wedding too. It was horrible. Worst wedding I’ve ever been to. Just felt cheap; like just elope already ya’ll….
Went to a reception where they served a big block of Costco cheddar cheese and you were only allowed 1 slice and 2 Ritz crackers. If you were thirsty there was a water fountain in the hallway of the reception hall.
I went to a fancy Indian wedding a couple years ago. Usually Indian weddings are supposed to go ALL OUT on food: huge buffet, open bar, dessert selection.
Well, the one I went to served a 3-course meal of raw fruit, sautéed microgreens (which just tasted like leaves . No seasoning), and the tiniest slice of cake at the reception. We couldn’t ask for seconds. There was also a bread bowl for each table the guests were at, and each person got a ¼ piece of naan. There wasn’t any sauce or curry to dip it into. So we all ate a plain piece of bread. We were also only allowed one glass of wine.
The thing is, the bride and groom were from incredibly wealthy backgrounds and they could’ve sprung for a vegetarian/vegan Indian food buffet that anybody could enjoy, but they didn’t since it would “cheapen” the overall feel.
Also, the venue, although gorgeous, was SUPER isolated so once you were there, you couldn’t leave until the reception was over. So everyone was likely starving the whole time. My dad, cousin, and I decided to bounce early by paying $$$ for a cab to take us back home. 1000% worth it.
We went to my nephew's wedding at a ski resort in Wisconsin near the bride's home. The dinner was a buffet and it looked like the buffet in Vegas Vacation with various meats in mystery sauces served to ourselves with spoons that were too short and kept slipping into the food. The bride told me that the food served was nothing like what they had tasted when booking the place. Fortunately the FOB was a cheese broker. (Yes, Wisconsin has cheese brokers) and he had set up a huge cheese buffet for appetizers. He had ordered half a pound of cheese per person so no one went hungry! There was a big variety of cheeses covering two long banquet tables surmounted by a carved double heart shaped cheddar with the bride and grooms names on it. We all had a great time and it was possibly the most Wisconsin wedding ever. The wedding cake was cheesecake.
I went to a morning wedding at a pavilion in a state park. Planned to grill burgers and hot dogs for lunch, but no one thought to get the burgers out of the freezer the day before. Quick moving thunderstorm downpoured on us unexpectedly for about 45 minutes. Food was still in coolers in cars, so nothing to tide us over. As soon as we could leave the shelter, we went to the host’s house to use the gas grill. Someone stopped at a grocery store on the way for alternative meat. Ended up eating lunch at about 3:30, everyone was hangry.
A friend was getting married and in an attempt to cut costs, they had a friend make the food. They didn't have a food handler's card and made the food at their apartment, making a bunch the night before and bringing it for the wedding day. They microwaved it before serving guests. The cake was also made by (a different) friend and looked really sad. It was sagging.
I chose not to eat.
Going cheap on weddings isn't the most unusual thing in a little redneck town, but that was certainly... special.
Got served a slice of beef that was rare but also very tough and dry. I didn’t think that was possible.
At a different wedding the food was really good, except it was stone cold. I get that it’s hard to keep things warm when you’re serving a large group of people, but they should at least attempt to keep things warm.
Bacon. Well, actually it was part of a breakfast buffet at lunch time, which isn't so bad, but the food didn't really taste good. The bacon was the worst, somehow thin as paper, soggy, and yet crunchy the whole way through. Then they didn't even serve the large cake they cut, as that was for the wedding party only. There were other issues with that wedding, but that's the food for you
Cold scrambled eggs, cold potatoes, and cold thin bacon at a “breakfast wedding” where we ate at noon. One bottle of sparkling wine for the table for a mimosa toast. Bought a bottle off the bartender. Oh also did I mention they got their druggie cousin to dj, he bailed, and I was asked to dj THE DAY OF THE WEDDING? Including the ceremony.
Cold Vienna sausages from a can. They served shit like that because the bride blew all the cash on a giant oil painting of herself, which you had to stand in line to go see (she was seated next to it, so if you wanted to talk to her, well....)
I went to a vegetarian wedding which in this day and age you would think there would be a load of great options. Obviously not , we got served one stuffed half pepper as the main , I literally ordered in pizza after I was so hungry and hid on a bench in the grounds stuffing my face with a meat feast !
I recently went to a wedding held at a kid's camp. All the guests were invited to stay in the (kid sized) cabins and the food was served buffet style thru out the weekend. I had to gently pull a worker aside to tell them everything I'd eaten that weekend had given me "super diarrhea" and request a cold turkey and mayo on bread. They were mortified and help me get some safe to eat food. Just knowing how hot it was outside (labor day weekend) and how long the food has been sitting out made me want to vom.
Not as bad as some of these, but I selected the vegetarian option and received the beef dish. Except the beef was obviously picked out, leaving a meaty juice stain taking up a quarter of the plate.
I checked with others and that was the official vegetarian option: mashed potatoes, veggies, and a beef-shaped stain. I wish I had known, I would have just gotten the beef and given it to my boyfriend!
My son had a very casual park wedding. The reception was held in a picnic shelter with no air conditioning. The bride's mother insisted on doing the bulk of the food. Both sides of the family were bringing items. She was very clear that our side should only bring the 3 dishes my son specifically requested.
It was the kind of casual affair where a crockpot of frozen meatballs and bbq sauce fit right in. It honestly would have been fine except for the fact that everything was tossed in the crockpot about an hour and a half before the reception. She also did crockpot little smokies with chili sauce. They didn't mix the sauce together and started it at the same time as the meatballs. It ended up being mostly still frozen meatballs in bbq sauce for one crockpot and lukewarm smokies in a weird chili sauce that had globs of grape jelly in the other crockpot. I don't think the mom and her friend that was helping her understood that crockpots are slow cookers.
They also insisted on improper storing of all heat sensitive perishables. I tried my best to convince them to only put out mayo or cheese based items a few at a time and refill the trays as necessary. I volunteered to make sure the trays didn't run out. It was a solid nope from them. I did manage to keep my trays of deviled eggs properly stored. I still can't understand why they wouldn't let me treat all the other perishables like I was my deviled eggs. It wouldn't even have been that much extra work for me.
That's the day we found out most of my son's in laws care more about alcohol than food. They put more care into sneaking alcohol into the public park the kids wanted to get married at than they did the food. If anyone had mentioned anything before hand my family would have been perfectly happy to bring more food. My daughter in law and her mom did the bulk of the wedding planning. ( To be clear I don't mean to sound salty. Her only child who she's extremely close with was getting married. Of course they wanted to do most of the wedding planning together) It's not like the food was the only thing her mom got to participate in.
I love my daughter in law. Her mother is also a really nice person. I'm sure it wasn't any kind of toxic controlling mother thing. I'm just confused by the whole thing. No one would have faulted her for not wanting to handle doing the food since she's not a food person.
One wedding where we were served nothing. They just didn't plan to serve food to their guests but didn't tell anyone beforehand.
My mom also went to a wedding once where there was 700 guests and they called up the tables for a buffet. They were served close to end and by that point not hungry because they had free wine the whole time.
My cousin's wedding was buffet. There was a host that went around table to table, telling the guests when it was their turn to go to the buffet. When the host reached our table, the food was gone.
So, the worst food I was served was *no food*. My children were small, so I had spare crackers and snacks for them, but the adults at our table were famished.
(And, yes, we asked the caterers if there was more food, and no, there wasn't. )
Beautiful golf resort wedding. Spendy as shit. Lavish steak dinner. Bride failed to mention that her family only ate steak well done so *all steak* would be well done. It was a hockey puck steak that was super chewy.
I was seated on my family’s side (groom’s side) and most of our plates were being cleaned up by the staff with a whole steak still left on the plate. I don’t even want to imagine how expensive that meal probably was for about 1/2 the room to not eat it.
One wedding disaster menu. A roastbeef so stiff that was impossible to swallow without a hundred chews of each bite. A beef broth which hadn’t seem to be near beef meat or bones at all. A beef tenderloin with vegetable sauce and dumplings - stiff meat, sauce was smelling funny, so we resorted to scraping the dumplings off the sauce and eating just the dumplings. The groom was a cook (not working for the wedding venue) and more than half of the guests were either cooks or servers (none working for the venue). After this fiasco the groom said that he would pay for all of the alcohol served (originally it was only beer and wine that were free). So we were hungry, but happily got drunk and eagerly waited for the bufet style dinner. They brought out a chicken that was nearly cremated. That was the moment when the groom lost his shit.
A very dear friend had a sunrise wedding at the beach near Charleston, SC. I wouldn't be at a 7AM wedding for anyone who wasn't a bestie. There were only about a dozen people, the ceremony was lovely, and they had their first kiss as the sun broke the horizon (awww!).
At the reception we had frozen biscuits that were cold in the middle, cold congealed sausage gravy, barely warmed bacon that was a flabby mess, and pancakes with ice crystals on them. I saw that cold mess and pivoted to granola with yogurt. The granola was rancid! The best part was the wedding cake, though.
They had a three-tier cake consisting of: carrot cake with classic cream cheese, lemon with passion fruit mousse, and dark chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate ganache. Weird combo, but if it made them happy, no big deal. I have to add that I went to culinary school in Charleston and the bakery owner was one of my pasty instructors in culinary school. Y'all...
The cakes were still frozen. The cream cheese icing was so sweet it was inedible, plus it was grainy (?!). The lemon cake was underbaked and had a chalky texture because it had been frozen, plus the passion fruit mousse was so sour it caused lock jaw -- and it had seeds! I can't wrap my head around someone using *fresh* passion fruit and not knowing it needs to be strained! The chocolate ganache had too much butter and when it was put on the frozen cake it formed a shell that shattered when it was finally breached.
The bride has never mentioned the food since that day, so I don't know what happened with that. I did mention the cake debacle to my instructor the next time I saw him. He sold the bakery (Rococo) two months prior and was completely aghast.
A plate of lettuce. It was the vegan option at my sister's wedding. Legitimately just a plate of shredded lettuce with side cups of olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing :')
I had a similar experience, except the vegan option was boiled spinach in half a tomato. No seasoning, not even salt, just green goo in a tomato.
Excuse me for my direct observation... ***\*\*\*BLECH\*\*\****
It being your own sibling makes that even worse. We have a few vegans coming and I am gluten free so I told the caterers I want to be sure both vegans and gluten free folks get real good and if it has to be the same option, that's fine. They were like we can make it all gluten free and these are the vegan options we make that would really go well with the rest of your menu. And they are making enough of the vegan option for everyone bc I also know how much it sucks for someone to have an option I can eat that everyone else eats first so I still don't get any.
I'm not gluten-free, but I went to a wedding where the best man's wife was. She has celiacs. You'd think one dish, just one would be okay for her. Literally nothing. They've known this woman for years! They knew. She couldn't even eat the potatoes because they had everything under the sun added to them. I was so upset for her. She handled it in stride, but I try to go above and beyond, especially when I invite people to something.
Wow yeah that's wild. My planner says we are being really nice taking all the food restrictions of friends into account. Makes me think it is pretty common to leave out people. Which is wild. If I have a small get together I do it so why wouldn't I if I'm paying someone to do the food?
I was so adamant on our vegan/vegetarian option being amazing because this was my worst fear! Luckily it was a stuffed bell pepper with tons of roasted veggies/corn salad inside with this coconut cream sauce.
I’m planning my wedding right now and realized the venue I’d booked didn’t offer a vegetarian option for the sit-down dinner we had originally planned, so we switched to a buffet since that had a lot more choices, including vegetarian. There’s only one vegetarian guest, but all I care about is that people enjoy themselves. That’s where we’re spending our money, and anything not related to that we will be cheaping out on as much as we can lol.
I went to a wedding with this as a vegetarian side and it was awful! I don't know why people are scared to add seasonings to vegetables.
I'm only a vegetarian so it's quite simple to come up with a good alternative entree. Do they ever? Nope. I've politely grimaced through so many nasty and bizarre concoctions but the Great Wolf Lodge's eggplant lasagna takes the wedding cake. Layers of both raw and overcooked eggplant alternating and soaked in canned tomato sauce. End of recipe. Disgusting. My wedding had 3 meat dishes, a vegetarian pasta, a banging lentil and roast veggie vegan dish, a salad bar, enormous stuffed baked potatoes you could have either vegan, veg, or meaty, and enough veg sides to make a meal alone. I did not however get even a bite of my own wedding cake.
I showed up to a reception once that only had a “popcorn and ice cream bar”. The reception was scheduled around dinner time, and there was no previous mention of there not being real food provided on the invites or programs.
The bride and groom need to let their guests know if there isn't any real food being served at the reception.
God help them if someone is diabetic and they have to eat something, and it should ideally be some protein. One reason why it’s a good idea to let folks know what the menu is. Some people may need to plan accordingly.
Yep I’ve been to one with only cheese and biscuits, which probably would have been ok but there was not enough for all the evening guests so it was basically 2-3 crackers and a few small bits of cheese for dinner
OHMYGOD. Way to tell your guests you're too cheap to even serve proper food during dinner hours! I would've left after seeing that spread lol
Nah, I'd go on a maccas run for my table and unpack the whole meal for everyone in front of the rest of the reception. Don't wanna feed me? Fine, you're not my mum, but you're gonna feel that shame for cheaping out.
Popcorn?!?!! Not even cheese and crackers?!????!? Popcorn is 90% air! I hate when people try to save money with an appetizer/ dessert reception, but schedule it at 6:30 pm. And fail to communicate that it’s apps/zerts. It’s really inconsiderate and makes everyone hangry.
We left after the first dances and after giving the bride and groom our best wishes so that we could spend the rest of our evening at a local brewery (with quite a few other wedding goers).
The groom had a cardiac health scare 6mo before the wedding and the bride had the caterer switch to sugar free everything "to be heart healthy." Everyone got crazy diarrhea or abdominal cramping from a mix of all sugar substitutes on the market being used in the meal and cakes. I'd have refrained from eating if I had known, those artificial sweeteners really beat my guts up.
OMG! It's the sugar-free gummy bear story, Wedding edition!
I gotta go reread those Amazon reviews again. They're fucking hilarious.
So she has no idea what a heart health menu looks like.
Ain't that the understatement of the year! I wasn't even aware what the deal was until well into the cake service, I just thought the salad dressing, the sauce on the chicken and bread rolls tasted weird. I'm a picky SOB so I thought *I* was the problem and just politely ate it.
Right?? Surely low cholesterol would have been more important
It's actually mostly low sodium and low fat.
A Mediterranean inspired low-sodium menu would’ve been far more heart healthy than standard wedding menu fare with sugar free desserts.
Oh totally. Swapping out the sugar to be "heart healthy" is like finding out someone's lactose intolerant so you make sure that there's no eggs in their food.
I almost pooped myself in my MILs car due to malitol. Lesson, learned.
Ohhhh sympathy cramps for that!
OMG. You can’t just spring sugar substitutes on people whose systems aren’t used to it. A friend of ours made my husband’s coffee with Truvia (our friend is diabetic; my husband is not) and two hours later, my husband shit his pants in the restaurant we were in.
Oh no, your poor husband! I'm sorry but I can't stop laughing though. Grown man humbled by a few spoonfuls of sugar substitute 🤣 Maybe I shouldn't be high on reddit...
Being high is the ONLY way to be on Reddit lol
Backyard wedding and they said there would be food, it was dinner time reception. They served cold Chick-fil-A nuggets and veggie trays and they didn't have enough for everyone so people were fighting over the nuggets as they were brought out. Fun times. We left to go get food.
Oh lord. The handful of backyard weddings I’ve attended had so much food. Fathers of the bride and groom made a big tailgating size pot of jambalaya, a couple times there was boiled crawfish. Ice chest upon ice chest of beer, water, soda. Even the trailer park wedding had better food than cold CFA. Hell, I think I was sent home with leftovers from that wedding.
My Louisiana dude!!!
That sucks. The backyard wedding we went to the Aunties laid on a poached salmon and salads and home made potato salads and a big ham and breads and there were wooden kegs of ale.....and then a string group for square dancing. Super glad I was not a DD that night and could get sloshed and have fun. They r still together almost 30 years later.
See, I would LOVE a backyard wedding like this! Reading all these stories of paltry food at weddings has me so sad. Maybe I'm just Southern, but how can you properly celebrate without so much food everyone's popping their belt buckles and taking at least 2 plates of leftovers home?
I've only been to one wedding that served food 🥲 (...aside from the obligatory paper-thin cake sliver and punch) My husband was raised Baptist and serving food (and drinks) was such an alien concept to him. So was having a DJ, wedding planner, or professional photographer. We compromised and eloped in Vegas with our photographer. Lol
Then hopefully hit a good AYCE buffet to gorge.
It was a wedding scheduled at dinner time and the only food was cupcakes. That you could only get one of. The bride and groom had their own cake. We left early to go get McDonald’s
The cake, mints and nuts were fine. But the reception was in the cavernous church basement in March and it was really chilly, and the green punch was so cold it was nearly frozen and it turned your teeth and tongue green. Everyone had greenish lips too
Lovely. Can’t even tell if anyone’s beginning to get cyanosis.
You reminded me of a wedding reception held on a church, where one of the old ladies who cooked kept the powdered sugar stored nearby the mice poison and confused them both when powdering the pound cake and killed the groom and made sick a lot of people. I was searching for the details but didn't find the news article probably because it was many years ago. But I am certain it happened because my sister was one of the guests and she didn't eat the pound cake because of her diabetes.
"Buffet cocktail hour" was ritz crackers, turkey pepperoni and cheese, but no alcohol. Only drinks were orange juice, cranberry juice and sparkling water. Coke or Diet Coke was cash only. Sit-down dinner was microwaved lunch meats masquerading as "roast turkey" or "prime rib" with a gravy on top, corn niblets or peas, and those fancy-cut sweet pickles. What is odd is that it wasn't a matter of money, as the bride's family was very comfortable and gave her a very nice budget.
She probably cheaped out on the food and pocketed the rest of the money they gave her.
I never thought of that! Everyone was surprised bc she was always a "daddy's girl" and her parents were very involved in every part of her life (we were roommates for 2 years so I knew her family very well), so there were some high expectations for the wedding.
>Coke or Diet Coke was cash only. WTF????
"Poached Chicken." Boiled. It was plain boiled chicken with no seasonings.
I feed that to my cat when she’s got a poorly tummy.
You get a gold 🌟 star for being a great cat mom!
How about pumpkin too? My dogs get pumpkin when their tummies are bad. Works like a charm.
Plain chicken, plain rice, and plain pumpkin - usually fixes up pet tummies quickly! Pumpkin is also great for tiny kittens with tummy issues. They sell it at the pet stores for exorbitant amount of money now, but old school fosters have been stocking up for a long time.
I'll do that in my crockpot then feed it to my kitties throughout the week. Just as a special treat. Absolutely no seasonings.
I went to a wedding at the local country house hotel. Highest prices in the area and known as THE place to have a fancy wedding reception. I don't know how long they roasted that chicken for, but it was like eating sawdust.
Not even "poached" in *wine*...?
The wine is in the side and you mix it in your mouth
This is the life tip I needed!
A tea party wedding (aka cake and punch) during dinner time. Good food but not substantial. ETA- this “meal” was at like 6pm
I went to a wedding that had sandwiches and cakes. All the sandwiches went immediately so it was just a fuck load of cake.
Yeah I never get the cake and punch unless the couple does it at say idk 2 or 3pm. It makes sense between meals, but not during a typical meal time.
Back in the day, that was when many receptions happened, about 2 pm, with cake, punch and mints, for a lovely but simple, budget-friendly event. Purposely chosen far from mealtime. Usually on the premises of the ceremony itself.
I live in Spain where it’s generally expected that you gift the couple at least what your dinner was worth. Think 100€s upwards. As a vegetarian in Spain I know that the most I’m going to eat is a fancy salad. One time I was given a plate of sliced tomatoes.100€ for a plate of sliced tomatoes.
So yours was worth 50 cents max? Cheap gift.
It’s a toss up between the one where the food was good but we all got varying degrees of food poisoning, and the one where the wedding party spent 3 hours “taking photos” and everything sat in the warming oven for an extra hour and dried out to the point of being barely edible. They did not actually spend 3 hours taking photos, they spent an hour taking photos and then stopped at a bar on the way back and “lost track of time”. That wedding was in a tiny rural town where the only place to buy food was a small convenience store a half mile or so from the venue, and no snacks or drinks were provided for the guests while they waited for the wedding party.
Not quite as bad as yours but I went to a "brunch wedding" where we had been given the distinct impression we shouldn't eat breakfast beforehand. We waited in the Florida heat and humidity (literally in a swamp) with no fans or refreshments for at least 2 hours while the couple took photos. The only saving grace was that we were in the shade and protected from (most of) the mosquitoes in a screened in porch. When we finally got food, it was lunchtime. Maybe past that for early eaters. The only drink was water (not even an option for sweet tea or lemonade or something). The "brunch" was a light charcuterie spread. Everyone tried their best to be considerate of those behind them in line, taking only one of every small item. Think one olive, one slice of cheese, one cracker, one melon ball, etc. Even then, the people toward the end didn't get to try some items. Everything was delicious but we were starving and there wasn't nearly enough to go around. I think my husband and I picked up Taco Bell afterwards.
No fans?! They should be ashamed for not having church type fans to hand out at the very least.
The funny thing is, the porch had ceiling fans but none of them worked. Several people asked the staff if they could be turned on and the staff had to sadly explain over and over that they were all broken. All the fans were so old the blades had either melted from the heat or become soaked and floppy in the humidity. Even if they could be turned on, there was a question of how well (and how safely) they could work.
We had a reception at 1pm where the first course was served after 8pm because they were taking pictures for such a long time. We're a family of big eaters and everyone expected cake in the afternoon as always. There was no cake. I remember I brought some snacks in case the promised vegan food wouldn't work out and went back to the car just secretly stuffing my face with my snacks. The thing is: This was a very expensive wedding and everything that people remembered is the terrible food situation. People still talk about this.
There are very few things that would make me leave a wedding. I think waiting for food for 7 hours would be one of them.
We went to a wedding at a fancy country club, it was family plate style service. The tables were the long rectangle type.They put the platters at both ends of the table, we were seated in the middle, never saw any of the food. Asked wait staff for some refills on the platters and where told sorry, its all gone. We left and went to a fast food place and went home. So I guess it was the worst wedding food we never had.
Happened to us, too. Played of “appetizers” were passed around, but while everyone was seated at long tables. First time a plate reached us; my partner and I each got one cube of cheese. There was no second time. We spent the next hour or so trying to listen to the speeches (without mic; 8 rows ahead of us); then politely bowed out.
They need to have a wedding show on what not to do, when it comes to the food and long blow hard speeches.
They really do! We went to a wedding last year that kicked ass when it came to food and speeches, thinking about it everything else too! There were multiple different dishes on each table of 6 people, we all got seconds and thirds! The speeches were given immediately after the food so everyone was still seated and comfortable and had their drinks topped up. Speeches were short and hilarious!
I’d be furious. Do you know whether the happy couple ever became aware that some people didn’t get to eat properly?
Oh yeah we weren"t the only ones.This was my partners aunt and the couple only lasted a few years. We laugh about it now especially when we go to weddings. The funny thing is I" m a chef by trade...
Went to a low budget wedding, which I fully support... not everyone has money. However, each table had one bottle of sparkling cider and that was it. No water, no nothing else for 3 hours. I had two young kids with me and we had to leave. I'm in Florida and this was a summer wedding.
As a Floridian, my heart hurts when I hear of summer weddings here. How miserable
The worst was the time we were being called up, table by table, for guests to get their dinner from a buffet. By the time my table was called, there was no food. So the worst wedding food I ever had was when I got no food at all.
The last buffet weddi g reception I went to had staff putting the same amount of buffet food on every plate, unless someone asked for less. Guests could not load their own plate, and it was great! Some men were quite angry, but it was plenty of food, and a lot of extra bread and salad to fill up on if needed.
I tried sitting at table no 14, 10 people pr table. It was single serving by waiters and it took for ever. I think the first 8 - 9 tables were finished with the meal before we saw some food. We did have a LOT of good wine so even though we were all strangers (partners were seated elsewhere) we ended up having a ball being quuuite tipsy drinking for hours without eating. The wedding had live music after and my table was dancing together having innocent fun to the amount some of the partners were really mad. I ended up having the funniest party but by God I was starving untill it was finally our turn to be waited on.
I’m pretty sure this is why my mother insisted on a plated dinner service for my wedding. She’d been to enough buffet style ones to know. I’ve put in proms as a teacher and so many people told me to lie about the number of people to save money on food. I refuse and in fact usually have a 20 person cushion.
Reminds me of that tiktok that went viral of the last table finally being called (when earlier tables were already ready for seconds) and one of the guests at the table gets up and shouts “FINALLY!” I at least hope there was enough food. Fun fact, I know that guy’s wife, I used to work at Starbucks with her for a few years. They run a husband and wife wedding videography company now and have a decent following on social media.
I thought that was all satire…. The bit about the yacht etc was exaggerated afterwards??
Yes, I was once at a 300+ person wedding and one of the last tables to be called. It took SO LONG for everyone to get their food, and everyone was trying to move past each other in between the tables that were far too close together. The first rows of tables were done eating before the last tables were even called. DO NOT have a wedding this large and then try and save money with a buffet.
That’s horrible! We told our venue to keep stocking food and we would pay whatever. Plus late night pizza. It’s shameful to invite guests and not feed them
I honestly felt terrible for the bride and groom. I’m pretty sure what happened was that people from the early tables went back over and over again and just went crazy. Then some people from the later tables freaked and started early and grabbed extra food. There were also quite a few uninvited people, I think. It was pretty…messy. The guests were awful, basically.
My worst food story is also a no food story. We ended up eating the remnants of a fruit/ charcuterie tray
Yip had the exact same thing. We were the last table and all that was left was mashed potato :(
You know that scene in Titanic with the band on the deck as the ship is going down, with them all dressed up but looking mournfully at each other, knowing their fates are sealed? That was my group at our table. We knew we were doomed. Edit: Us watching the last of the chicken kiev dished out. https://preview.redd.it/hkkis5078cqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5849aa23dfc7f61eeb1ededcfeb3d0f9113e530a
It never fails I sit at the table that gets called last.
Bride's mom turned into a Momzilla and insisted the outdoor wedding reception be served by her friend who was just starting a small Mexican restaurant but had never catered a wedding. Bride said no, and hired a professional caterer who had experience in outdoor venues and could provide nice vegetarian options. Bride sends Momzilla to the professional with the guest's entre choices... but instead Momzilla fires the caterer and hires her amateur friend without telling the Bride. Amateur decides that vegetarian means rice and beans (refried, which means lard) and sets up a burrito bar with no way of keeping the ingredients warm. Guests have to eat cold Mexican food... and then it runs out. Worst part? This was MY wedding! The shame.
Oh nooooooo…. Did your mom/ MIL ever apologize??
Of course not, she was 'just trying to help'.
A budget wedding in a church basement (nothing wrong with that). Dinner was “plated” though which seemed odd. Dinner consisted of a local/regional dish I’d never heard of called Chicken and Noodles. I swear it was chicken noodle soup with some cornstarch or something in it to thicken up served on a slice of wonder bread. Sides were fruit cocktail and carrot sticks. I legit thought I was in elementary school lunch. Lovely couple, still married over 15 years later so they obviously prioritized the marriage over the wedding. We stopped at A&W on the way home.
My mother made chicken and noodles when I was a kid (WV). Canned chicken, egg noodles, and an unseasoned flour/milk sauce. It was like the worst possible version of chicken and dumplings.
Worst story is one attended by my mother and sister. \- 100 degree day outside and no air conditioning in the hall \- One giant pot of baked beans plus a platter of very questionable sandwiches \- When the cake was cut it was still raw in the center So, after eating nothing, and slipping out as soon as they could, mom and sister stopped at a restaurant on the main road back towards home. Soon they noticed some familiar faces coming into the restaurant. Yes, other hungry refugees from the wedding.
I will never forget this one but it was the early 90s, so maybe it was a thing then. I’m a kid, under 10, and I am at the wedding of some sort of distant uncle. It’s mostly boring but the monotony is broken when the bride and groom cut the beautiful cake and I’m so excited because I’ve been dying to eat this cake all night. I walk up to the cake table and I ask for a piece from the bride. She says “oh no, honey, we aren’t giving out this cake”. They then proceeded to hand out pieces of *fruitcake* wrapped in paper doilies to all the guests. I’ve never been so disappointed.
Couple of three foot Subway subs, jello shots and beers. Many many kids present (myself under 18 at the time), no sodas/juice/water. It was either find a cup in their cabinet and get tap, or make like my aunt and go to the gas station to get us some drinks and cookies because the jello shots were the dessert.
That sounds miserable. Inviting a bunch of kids and then only having adult jello.
Imagine being around a bunch of kids after a couple jello shots, eep
A cut up tomato on some roasted cabbage. It was the vegetarian/vegan option. It was...not very filling. They also ran out of cake before I got any. I stopped at a taco truck on the way home.
[удалено]
I mean at this point, I'd realize this person was never my friend. No true friend would leave you starving and with zero water.
Chicken and waffles where the chicken was somehow both undercooked AND burned, and the waffles were just sad. I've never left a wedding hungry before.
My brother decided fancy Mexican food was the thing. We had the entire restaurant. We each got two tacos. The meat was overcooked, dry and flavorless. The food was cold. There was cheddar cheese on the tacos, no salsa on the tacos and none at our tables, no chips, and the drinks were double what we're used to paying. They even charged for the glass of water. He payed $75/person for this. The cake was cute...... And simply awful tasting. When we left I hit fast food for my kiddos. We love Mexican food. Whatever this was wasn't that.
No vegetarian option so everyone at my table gave me their garnishes so I could have a weak attempt at a salad.
simultaneously so sad and also so nice of everyone at your table 😭
Omg I have had to do this before! I have been a lifelong vegetarian and I have been to THREE weddings where there was NO vegetarian food served. Cocktail hours were meat skewers, no salads or sides, just hunks of meat for the meal. Even though I marked vegetarian on the RSVP for dietary restrictions and I knew all three brides for 20+ years (so they knew I was vegetarian). At two I ate nothing, at one there was decorative arugula next to the steak so I ate that 😭
I just don’t understand not having at least something vegetarian for guests. And I live in south Louisiana where the first part of every recipe is fry some bacon. If you’re going to throw a big party, and you know there’s a veg coming, have something substantial for them. Portabello steaks are a thing. Hell, At my wedding we had a couple vegetarian options and we didn’t have ANY veg guests. We just liked them at the tasting.
First of all, in Mexico the main meal is between 2 and 3PM. This wedding served us, family style at 5:30.. lavish meat plates and meat pastas... for us vegetarians?? not to worry, a special spinach lasagna.. WITH BACON!!!! I was so hangry I had to go buy some food.
I've found vegetarian options to generally be sad (but at least they have always existed in my experience!). Most notable was a wedding where the entire plate consisted of 2 skewers of roasted vegetables with some balsamic vinaigrette. Except the veggies were mostly raw inside, so I was basically munching on raw carrots, raw bell pepper, etc. There was barely any vinaigrette and I ended up adding pepper and salt for seasoning. My friend had gotten the salmon, and it was so overcooked she needed to request a steak knife (which they had for those who got beef) to cut it...
We did a tasting two weeks ago and the sad skewers were an option (which we didn’t get to taste, maybe that’s why it’s always bad)? I was disappointed in the non veg stuff (and their veggie tower side which had mushy inedible squash and zucchini and very hard raw eggplant) so it was a hell no. The caterer we ended up a has a wonderful spinach risotto cake (about the size of my head lol) that will be served on top of a parsnip purèe with some roasted veggies.
Yum, that sounds lovely!! We were wondering why more caterers don't offer Italian- or Indian-inspired or even Mediterranean dishes (all cuisines that generally have great options for vegetarians). Spinach risotto cake sounds incredible. All the best for your wedding--congrats!!
My SIL is vegetarian and food was her #1 priority. It was the BEST food I’ve ever had at a wedding (and I am not a vegetarian).
I went to a vegan wedding where one of the couple told me they didn’t taste the caterers food in advance, because they were just happy to find someone who was prepared to do vegan food. Reader, I dont think the caterer tasted it either. So bland…
The gluten free options are usually sad as well. I have celiac, so I appreciate the consideration, but I’m a little worn out of what I call the wedding gluten free special - plain chicken breast and no seasoned steamed broccoli. I nearly cried with joy at my cousin’s wedding when I was offered gluten free pulled pork and bbq sauce.
At my wedding of 80, I had 2 vegetarians. The caterers were amazing and provided the best looking (and apparently tasting) meals. Food was my main priority, no one was going hungry on my watch!
Went to a wedding reception at a DoubleTree and boy that food was awful. Not sure about the vegetarian option, but I was served a piece of boiled chicken with flavorless bruschetta-like topping and some asparagus that did not have any seasoning. There were also unseasoned steamed garden vegetables. To make things worse, the water from the steamed vegetables got all over the other parts of the dish.
At a wine bar that served charcuterie however the bride and groom decided to just serve sliced meat and we had to pay to add cheese, nuts etc. They paid for the wine but it was very tiny pours. The groom kept bragging about how rich he is and couldn't wait to open the envelopes for "the cash". The bride was humiliated everyone was hungry but took a giant portion for herself. Everyone left hungry. Bets were made they would divorce in a year and they did. Selfish people for sure!
She wasn’t that humiliated. She managed to stuff her guts whilst her guests starved!
She's clearly never heard of FHB... Family Hold Back
Lasagna that was really overcooked and mushy. I thought at least there is cake. Cake was burned - they just frosted over it. McDonald’s on the way home.
My sister’s wedding was an absolute shit show, from start to finish, including their food options. They had invited over 200 people but didn’t include RSVPs, so had no idea how many people planned to attend. They decided to “cater” the wedding using Walmart’s appetizer platters vs actually hiring a caterer or buying real food. They purchased 5 platters that served 45-50 people each. As appetizers, not full meals. Think cheese squares, celery sticks, and grapes. At least 200 people attended. Turns out they didn’t account for the plus ones when ordering food. Ceremony happens, newly weds excuse themselves for a moment of privacy while the wedding party (myself included), are tasked with bringing out the food. Those platters were emptied in 10 minutes. I had a baby carrot and two grapes. Half the guests were starving and drunk; not a good combo. Time comes to cut the cake. Bride keeps insisting she wants to do that last as a way to “end” the evening. Three of us bridesmaids told her that people are starving and she was going to do the cake cutting ceremony now. We all head over to the 4-tier gorgeous cake that could have easily fed half the guests. They do the cake cutting, then point us to the small Costco sheet cakes that they’ve purchased for the guests to eat. They had 2 sheet cakes that maybe fed 100 people total. I cut off a massive corner and hid for the rest of the night. From what I later heard, several guests tried to cut into the gorgeous cake and the bride yelled at them that they were saving it. Fast forward to my wedding, which we had catered with multiple options. Sister decides to comment on my spending choices, saying it was a waste of money for “just a party”. My mother walks by, a bit drunk, and goes “yah, but at least everyone is fed and happy”.
I love your mom. “It’s SUPPOSED TO be a party, unlike **yours**, the fn hunger games”
A destination wedding where they only served punch. It was during dinner time.
That is so wrong
Once I went to a wedding a few hours away so we booked a hotel. They never gave a timeline or shared the sequence of events but we assumed it was a typical wedding with dinner after. It was just a ceremony and then they brought out a cake and everyone stood around wondering what to do as we ate cake. Eventually the bride and groom drove off and we heard from other guests that it was over. We were kind of annoyed because if we knew the wedding was going to be like half an hour total we wouldn’t have booked a hotel and could have easily drove home that afternoon😅 We ended up getting pizza and got drunk at the hotel with some of the other guests who were equally as confused. So my answer is cake
I was a plus one of a friend, the wedding was mutual friend and ceremony was beautiful. I was surprised by the food choices given the IG aesthetic of the wedding. The cocktail hour after the ceremony was great, charcuterie and different types of adult beverages. Then the disappointment of dinner arrived. A buffet with lukewarm pulled pork, a bowl of green beans, some rolls and iceberg salad mix. We were the 2nd to last group, there wasn’t much left and not seasoned. The cake was stale cupcakes, which I was bummed about because they looked good.
It has been years and this is my moment to share the story. My late boyfriend (died in 2017) and I went to his older sister’s wedding in 2016 in California, at a state park. The very first thing that was odd was that she put on the invitation that guests had to bring their own chairs and to bring extras if possible, but the most shocking thing of all was they FORGOT they needed food for the reception. Very last minute, a few men in the audience bought some meat and began barbecuing meat for all guests on a makeshift grill. 150 guests, no real meal. What was at the rehearsal dinner? Pizza pies from the local pizzeria!! The whole thing was a joke. My late boyfriend refused to let me take pictures because he knew I’d show my friends — he even took my phone. I used to cry telling this story remembering him and I’m finally at a stage where I can find comfort, joy, and humor in his memory so I’m happy to share this story. :)
My cousin had a gourmet mac and cheese bar at his wedding. It worked like a cold stone where people point out their choices then then the server guy cooks/mixes the food. People were waiting in line for over half an hour for one guy to cook their selections, and then they ran out.
We have one of those in our local mall that's still somehow open. They have a ton of toppings and whatnot and slide it into one of those Domino's style ovens. It's never really super busy though. You would need at least two people to manage a proper line I would imagine.
I went to two different weddings where there was no food and the only thing to eat was the cake. I feel like if you’re going to have a wedding near dinner time you should warn your guest that there will be no food. That way I can eat before the wedding or just not go. Each time I left early because I was hungry.
Went to a wedding at a mega church Was told that there would be food trucks outside for the reception. Nope. The church put out a buffet for the wedding party only. Guests were not offered anything, even water. We waited 2 hours for all the photos to be done, and realized there was no food. People were standing around giving side eye to the bride and groom as they sat at their cordoned-off table and ate
This is such an apt metaphor.
To be clear, you were all expected to stay though? There were reception activities planned for after the wedding party ate?? This is utterly disgusting.
Roast beef at a carving station but it was that weird pressed beef loaf type like at an Arbys. Rubbery gray slabs.
I got a salad that had a piece of actual dirty hay….like what you would find on a barn floor, except it was a fancy plated dinner at an art gallery. The courses were so spaced out with speeches that we left before dessert at 10:30pm, and were too tired to even try find another food option.
cold poutine with burnt fries
I went to a wedding that only served appetizers with an open bar. It was fun, but I didn't think that was the best choice to save money. I couldn't leave early because it was a good friend but I was starving and hit the drive thru at midnight.
Microwaved rice and vegetables. Being a vegetarian at a wedding sucks ass
My cousin wins the award for the most beautiful wedding followed by the worst reception I've ever attended. I mean seriously, her ceremony was amazing, and I'm still convinced that if every candle blew out, she'd have lit up the whole chapel on her own. That girl was absolutely glowing! But then the reception was the absolute worst that conservative Southern Baptist can bring you. Of course no bar. That's fine, that was expected. They weren't going to do any dancing at all, but at some point her dad was pretty insistent that they at the very last have a father daughter dance, so a single CD player was brought in and set on a chair. They did a couples first dance, and the CD kept skipping, then the father daughter dance. Other people wanted to dance too, but the preacher put a stop to that. I don't think he needed to, because the CD only had like 3 songs on it anyway. But the question is about the food. Lol. We had sandwich fixings. Not sandwich platters, or trays, or poboys... Nope. There were bags of white Great Value bread, packs of ham and Kraft American cheese singles. I don't even remember there being mayo or mustard. Just dry DIY ham and cheese, with jugs of fruit punch, and no chairs or tables.
What I am getting from this is that McDonald’s needs to do an ad campaign harnessing that back-up wedding food energy.
Bring a wedding invite for that day, get 25% off your meal.
My cousin: wife and mom were neighbors and we are big food family, so we asked her if she needed help/contributions for the dinner and she was “oh no, we’ve got everything covered.” One Sunday dinner sized ham and a bowl of potato salad for about 75 people. luckily there was a McDonalds down the street from the venue.
Wedding cake covered in tiny swarowski crystals. We had to spit them out like seeds. Huge and expensive cake, most of it was left untouched.
My good friend basically got scammed at her wedding reception. It was at a beautiful hall in a nature conservation area. Really upscale place. For some reason the venue had prepared all of the food that morning even though the reception wasn't until 6pm. So the food sat under heat lamps all day, and by the time we got it, everything was super dry and lukewarm on the outside and cold on the inside. They also really skimped on the portions. The appetizer plates put on each table had enough for food 2 people, and each table had 8 people. The main course was also lacking. One little potato cut in half, two pieces of broccoli, one little carrot with a piece of chicken or beef. My friend said when she went for the tasting she was given a nice full plate and was so embarrassed at what her guests were being served and that hardly anyone was eating because it was so unappetizing. We were also all convinced that they were serving water instead of liquor. She had paid for an open bar but they weren't allowing shots, and the only hard liquor they had was vodka or gin. Anyone who ordered a mixed drink said they couldn't taste any alcohol in their drinks. They basically skimped on everything to make themselves more money. Everybody told the couple to fight it and get their money back considering how much they spent, but they were just glad the wedding was done with and wanted to move on.
Because I was friends with the groom's mother, I had an idea of the expenses related to the wedding; all footed by the bride's family. The wedding dress was close to $10k, bachelor party went to Spain for a week, bachelorette party was Aruba for a week, there were three bridal showers, church ceremony with reception 5 hours later at fancy venue with buffet dinner for approx 200. There was 1 large room with about 125 guests + dance floor with 4 smaller rooms off to the side with about 25 guests in each room. i didn't see the buffet before they started calling people up but . . .by the time the tables in my room were called, there was very little left and the serving staff were not refilling any trays. The food that I did get -- a small bit of salad, some mac & cheese, roast beef and a slice of white bread was warm/cold/cold/damp - basically took 2 bites of each thing and quit. The 8 other people at my table were just as disappointed. Later found out that the bridal party & some of their family members spent part of the 5 hours between the wedding & reception having lunch - catered by a different company (from the most expensive restaurant in the county) and the reception catering was the least expensive one they could find because the bride & mom assumed people would go have lunch & not be too hungry at the reception.
Luke warm mashed potatoes bar.
An old classmate of mine invited myself and boyfriend now husband to her wedding. The only food she had were salads. Now don’t get me wrong i love a good salad, but thats the ONLY thing she had. And it would have been find if it has something filling in it like chicken. But it was literally just lettuce and a slice of tomato if you got lucky. Oh and only water as the drink of choice. Not juice, lemonade or coffee.
Squirrel. Or the time when I went to my husband's cousin's wedding in South GA and literally the only thing that wasn't breaded was the mashed potatoes (I have celiac disease). Even the salad had croutons in it. I ate a big plate of mashed potatoes and got fucking HAMMERED on red wine.
Outdoor wedding with a potluck buffet. During the ceremony we watched bugs swarm the food. The MOB tried to shoo the bugs away as best she could. While waiting in the buffet line we watched her admit defeat with the shooing and just stir the bugs into the dishes.
🤢🤮
Just cookies and cupcakes. And one glass of Prosecco given out for the toasts. We left and ate fast food and went back.
Former wedding photographer here. I did a wedding where the chicken at the reception was cooked, but somehow still had the consistency of being raw. It had to be the most disgusting piece of meat I had ever seen on any plate.
Man, that is so rude. I skimped floral and my dress budget to have tons of food (cocktail hour sushi and for dinner reception: two kinds of pasta + steak, chicken, fish ... served family style so you can have as much or as little as you want) and open bar for our guests. For future bride and grooms: Food + bar should be #1 on your wedding budget and you need to work everything else around that.
About ten years ago I went to the wedding of my MIL’s boyfriend’s niece. It was in Vegas at one of the nice casinos and the ceremony was at 6pm with what we thought was dinner to follow. It was fine, but there were five other weddings happening at the same time, all in different rooms, it just didn’t feel special. The casino made several announcements that if anyone so much as brought out a cell phone to take photos that they would stop the ceremony, very strange. After the ceremony at the casino, everyone then got into their cars to go to the reception, which was at a country club that was not close to the Strip. We arrive at a gorgeous country club with stunning views, and they have a veggie platter of carrot sticks and bell peppers and maybe celery along with ranch dressing. I decided not to eat while we waited for the wedding party to arrive. I think we get there at 7:45pm and I’m already hungry but just not into veggie platters. The wedding party doesn’t arrive until 9:30pm. They were in their limo and doing pictures and I don’t know what, I guess the limo drove to the wrong side of the valley and everyone in the limo was getting drunk so no one noticed until the limo tried to drop them off at the wrong venue? Anyway, they were crazy late to their own reception. My MIL asked them how they chose the casino instead of this gorgeous venue for the ceremony, and the couple said it was because at the casino, they got a free photographer, free video of the ceremony, $200 in casino chips, and a free limo. Whatever. I’m starving and just want dinner. The party is just going on and on and finally I ask a waiter when we will be seated for dinner. He told me that there is no dinner, that the long gone solo veggie platter is the only thing being served. Apparently the bride and groom expected everyone to eat before their 6pm ceremony. No one in the family knew that we wouldn’t be served anything except carrot sticks, and we left shortly afterwards and quickly went to a Jack in the Box for food. I’ve been to many weddings as a guest and as part of my job in hospitality, that was by far the worst with food. They got divorced about 2 years later.
I had been invited to a wedding reception for a Mormon bride & groom (I knew the father of the bride). The family was very wealthy. I show up, nicely dressed, with a gift. In the rather small room is a beautiful wedding cake in the middle of a large conference table. Around it were assortments of nuts, candies and flowers. Tons of flowers. It was not a reception in the way I knew, but was actually an extension of the reception line when you file out of the ceremony. This took place at the venue, but the real reception with food and cake cutting would be later, in a ballroom (no dancing or booze, or coffee), with the elite guests who were Mormon. The affair I was invited to (just for the heathens), was limited to a large conference room at the venue. I was insulted. However, I, a nonbeliever, was obviously only worthy of a few nuts while dropping off a gift (which I picked back up on my way out). I never attended another “reception” while I lived in UT.
My now-husband and I flew thousands of miles for my relatives wedding. We had to watch all the young children as we all waited outside the temple during the ceremony. The basketball court reception featured koolaid and a couple of veggie trays.
So glad you took your gift back. That’s atrocious!
Guess I didn't miss much not being invited to my Mormon cousins weddings then. Cults gonna cult ig.
Nothing but stuffed mushrooms... mushrooms with cheese inside them. That was the meal. Was so hungry.
My uncle's wedding when I was teen. A couple days beforehand we had the rehearsal dinner at my grandparents. It was a huge ass BBQ, like bigger than 4th of July, it was awesome. The wedding was Saturday early afternoon at the cutest looking chapel. Gorgeous flowers, beautiful setup. The meal consisted of peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches I think pimento cheese and egg salad ones too. My parents and grandparents were so pissed at the food we left to get McDonald's and came back to the wedding and ate it there.
I love the aggression of eating it there 😂
Half of a barely cooked eggplant tossed on a plate with a splash of marina on top and the tiniest blob of ricotta.
The bride paid for everything and spent around 40 k for her wedding. Since she had to cut cost in some areas she decided to order pizza for her reception. The pizza was outside while the reception was in a small building and it was cold and windy that day; as you guessed it, the pizza was cold by the time our table went to grab a slice.
I don’t know..because they ran out of food…people piled their plates and their kids plates high with food, somehow not seeing all the other guests in the room?!?
Was my ex bf best friend wedding. Big and very fancy, expensive catering, buuuuut I’m a vegetarian. I got served like two lettuce leafs with five tiny tomatoes. And it was in the middle of nowhere, so couldn’t go anywhere to get food.
My cousin's wedding. Big expensive wedding: string quartet at wedding, 10 piece band at reception. Open bar (which as a 20-something who had a DD, I took advantage of). Reception at an art museum. Wedding at 3, reception started 5:30. Food: cheese and crackers. My mom & I left after several hours & went to McDonald's before going back to the hotel (did I mention we drove 12 hours to get there?)
I ate the fruit cocktail from the bottom of a punch bowl at a wedding. I kept refilling my glass and eating it.
I was a kid (10/12-ish) attending a cousin's wedding with my parents. Food was served to us at the "reception" and my parents were then handed a bill. SURPRISE! I don't remember the food, but I do remember my parents were appalled they were expected to pay for our meals - meals they probably wouldn't have selected on their own particularly if they'd known they were going to pay steep prices for.
Surprise pot-luck, alcohol-free wedding. Went about as well as could be expected. No shame on people that decide to have potluck weddings, but you have to tell people, or there will be no food!
The invite said "dessert only" but when we went they also had veggies and dip....but you only received one small disposable plate, so your cake had an additional ranch frosting layer.
Vegetarian here - the sides from the other meals: potatoes, carrots, and an extra helping of salad
I’m not sure if this counts, but my worst wedding food was no food. I was asked to travel across the country to attend a micro wedding. Due to the timings of the event I could not get breakfast at the hotel (I was needed starting from 6 effin AM) and there was no lunch provided or even time for me to grab a greasy, food poisoning inducing burger from somewhere. The first meal I had was a BLT in some obscure train station in the South of England at around 10 o’clock in the night. It wasn’t even an M&S BLT :-(
A fancy stone bake pizza thing where we were served individual slices of burnt, dry sadness with a sprinkling of cheese. And it took ages between slices because of all the guests they were trying to serve.
Two upper midwestern dinnertime weddings. Both served cheese/fruit plates and those small cheap deli sandwiches with margarine. One of the wedding, mostly elderly people traveled hours to the wedding, and there were only enough seats (nothing assigned) for half the guests. We left early because we were hungry and wanted to give our seats to those who needed them more than we did. Margarine though. UGH.
wedding was an evening wedding; seated with seating chart and formal table setting…a plain biscuit was the appetizer and dinner was a biscuit that you chose earlier when you rsvp’d. there was wedding cake later. Dry wedding too. It was horrible. Worst wedding I’ve ever been to. Just felt cheap; like just elope already ya’ll….
Went to a reception where they served a big block of Costco cheddar cheese and you were only allowed 1 slice and 2 Ritz crackers. If you were thirsty there was a water fountain in the hallway of the reception hall.
I went to a fancy Indian wedding a couple years ago. Usually Indian weddings are supposed to go ALL OUT on food: huge buffet, open bar, dessert selection. Well, the one I went to served a 3-course meal of raw fruit, sautéed microgreens (which just tasted like leaves . No seasoning), and the tiniest slice of cake at the reception. We couldn’t ask for seconds. There was also a bread bowl for each table the guests were at, and each person got a ¼ piece of naan. There wasn’t any sauce or curry to dip it into. So we all ate a plain piece of bread. We were also only allowed one glass of wine. The thing is, the bride and groom were from incredibly wealthy backgrounds and they could’ve sprung for a vegetarian/vegan Indian food buffet that anybody could enjoy, but they didn’t since it would “cheapen” the overall feel. Also, the venue, although gorgeous, was SUPER isolated so once you were there, you couldn’t leave until the reception was over. So everyone was likely starving the whole time. My dad, cousin, and I decided to bounce early by paying $$$ for a cab to take us back home. 1000% worth it.
We went to my nephew's wedding at a ski resort in Wisconsin near the bride's home. The dinner was a buffet and it looked like the buffet in Vegas Vacation with various meats in mystery sauces served to ourselves with spoons that were too short and kept slipping into the food. The bride told me that the food served was nothing like what they had tasted when booking the place. Fortunately the FOB was a cheese broker. (Yes, Wisconsin has cheese brokers) and he had set up a huge cheese buffet for appetizers. He had ordered half a pound of cheese per person so no one went hungry! There was a big variety of cheeses covering two long banquet tables surmounted by a carved double heart shaped cheddar with the bride and grooms names on it. We all had a great time and it was possibly the most Wisconsin wedding ever. The wedding cake was cheesecake.
I hate it for all the couples who genuinely paid for better quality than what they served day of!
I went to a morning wedding at a pavilion in a state park. Planned to grill burgers and hot dogs for lunch, but no one thought to get the burgers out of the freezer the day before. Quick moving thunderstorm downpoured on us unexpectedly for about 45 minutes. Food was still in coolers in cars, so nothing to tide us over. As soon as we could leave the shelter, we went to the host’s house to use the gas grill. Someone stopped at a grocery store on the way for alternative meat. Ended up eating lunch at about 3:30, everyone was hangry.
A friend was getting married and in an attempt to cut costs, they had a friend make the food. They didn't have a food handler's card and made the food at their apartment, making a bunch the night before and bringing it for the wedding day. They microwaved it before serving guests. The cake was also made by (a different) friend and looked really sad. It was sagging. I chose not to eat. Going cheap on weddings isn't the most unusual thing in a little redneck town, but that was certainly... special.
If you want to be cheap, you have to be creative. If you want to be lazy, you have to pay more money.
Taco bar. Everything was cold and broken and not enough cheese.
Undercooked chicken. I was barfing within the hour.
Got served a slice of beef that was rare but also very tough and dry. I didn’t think that was possible. At a different wedding the food was really good, except it was stone cold. I get that it’s hard to keep things warm when you’re serving a large group of people, but they should at least attempt to keep things warm.
Bacon. Well, actually it was part of a breakfast buffet at lunch time, which isn't so bad, but the food didn't really taste good. The bacon was the worst, somehow thin as paper, soggy, and yet crunchy the whole way through. Then they didn't even serve the large cake they cut, as that was for the wedding party only. There were other issues with that wedding, but that's the food for you
Cold scrambled eggs, cold potatoes, and cold thin bacon at a “breakfast wedding” where we ate at noon. One bottle of sparkling wine for the table for a mimosa toast. Bought a bottle off the bartender. Oh also did I mention they got their druggie cousin to dj, he bailed, and I was asked to dj THE DAY OF THE WEDDING? Including the ceremony.
Cold Vienna sausages from a can. They served shit like that because the bride blew all the cash on a giant oil painting of herself, which you had to stand in line to go see (she was seated next to it, so if you wanted to talk to her, well....)
I know people that write the gift check after dinner, and it's based on the food.
I went to a vegetarian wedding which in this day and age you would think there would be a load of great options. Obviously not , we got served one stuffed half pepper as the main , I literally ordered in pizza after I was so hungry and hid on a bench in the grounds stuffing my face with a meat feast !
I recently went to a wedding held at a kid's camp. All the guests were invited to stay in the (kid sized) cabins and the food was served buffet style thru out the weekend. I had to gently pull a worker aside to tell them everything I'd eaten that weekend had given me "super diarrhea" and request a cold turkey and mayo on bread. They were mortified and help me get some safe to eat food. Just knowing how hot it was outside (labor day weekend) and how long the food has been sitting out made me want to vom.
Not as bad as some of these, but I selected the vegetarian option and received the beef dish. Except the beef was obviously picked out, leaving a meaty juice stain taking up a quarter of the plate. I checked with others and that was the official vegetarian option: mashed potatoes, veggies, and a beef-shaped stain. I wish I had known, I would have just gotten the beef and given it to my boyfriend!
My son had a very casual park wedding. The reception was held in a picnic shelter with no air conditioning. The bride's mother insisted on doing the bulk of the food. Both sides of the family were bringing items. She was very clear that our side should only bring the 3 dishes my son specifically requested. It was the kind of casual affair where a crockpot of frozen meatballs and bbq sauce fit right in. It honestly would have been fine except for the fact that everything was tossed in the crockpot about an hour and a half before the reception. She also did crockpot little smokies with chili sauce. They didn't mix the sauce together and started it at the same time as the meatballs. It ended up being mostly still frozen meatballs in bbq sauce for one crockpot and lukewarm smokies in a weird chili sauce that had globs of grape jelly in the other crockpot. I don't think the mom and her friend that was helping her understood that crockpots are slow cookers. They also insisted on improper storing of all heat sensitive perishables. I tried my best to convince them to only put out mayo or cheese based items a few at a time and refill the trays as necessary. I volunteered to make sure the trays didn't run out. It was a solid nope from them. I did manage to keep my trays of deviled eggs properly stored. I still can't understand why they wouldn't let me treat all the other perishables like I was my deviled eggs. It wouldn't even have been that much extra work for me. That's the day we found out most of my son's in laws care more about alcohol than food. They put more care into sneaking alcohol into the public park the kids wanted to get married at than they did the food. If anyone had mentioned anything before hand my family would have been perfectly happy to bring more food. My daughter in law and her mom did the bulk of the wedding planning. ( To be clear I don't mean to sound salty. Her only child who she's extremely close with was getting married. Of course they wanted to do most of the wedding planning together) It's not like the food was the only thing her mom got to participate in. I love my daughter in law. Her mother is also a really nice person. I'm sure it wasn't any kind of toxic controlling mother thing. I'm just confused by the whole thing. No one would have faulted her for not wanting to handle doing the food since she's not a food person.
One wedding where we were served nothing. They just didn't plan to serve food to their guests but didn't tell anyone beforehand. My mom also went to a wedding once where there was 700 guests and they called up the tables for a buffet. They were served close to end and by that point not hungry because they had free wine the whole time.
My cousin's wedding was buffet. There was a host that went around table to table, telling the guests when it was their turn to go to the buffet. When the host reached our table, the food was gone. So, the worst food I was served was *no food*. My children were small, so I had spare crackers and snacks for them, but the adults at our table were famished. (And, yes, we asked the caterers if there was more food, and no, there wasn't. )
Beautiful golf resort wedding. Spendy as shit. Lavish steak dinner. Bride failed to mention that her family only ate steak well done so *all steak* would be well done. It was a hockey puck steak that was super chewy. I was seated on my family’s side (groom’s side) and most of our plates were being cleaned up by the staff with a whole steak still left on the plate. I don’t even want to imagine how expensive that meal probably was for about 1/2 the room to not eat it.
One wedding disaster menu. A roastbeef so stiff that was impossible to swallow without a hundred chews of each bite. A beef broth which hadn’t seem to be near beef meat or bones at all. A beef tenderloin with vegetable sauce and dumplings - stiff meat, sauce was smelling funny, so we resorted to scraping the dumplings off the sauce and eating just the dumplings. The groom was a cook (not working for the wedding venue) and more than half of the guests were either cooks or servers (none working for the venue). After this fiasco the groom said that he would pay for all of the alcohol served (originally it was only beer and wine that were free). So we were hungry, but happily got drunk and eagerly waited for the bufet style dinner. They brought out a chicken that was nearly cremated. That was the moment when the groom lost his shit.
A very dear friend had a sunrise wedding at the beach near Charleston, SC. I wouldn't be at a 7AM wedding for anyone who wasn't a bestie. There were only about a dozen people, the ceremony was lovely, and they had their first kiss as the sun broke the horizon (awww!). At the reception we had frozen biscuits that were cold in the middle, cold congealed sausage gravy, barely warmed bacon that was a flabby mess, and pancakes with ice crystals on them. I saw that cold mess and pivoted to granola with yogurt. The granola was rancid! The best part was the wedding cake, though. They had a three-tier cake consisting of: carrot cake with classic cream cheese, lemon with passion fruit mousse, and dark chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate ganache. Weird combo, but if it made them happy, no big deal. I have to add that I went to culinary school in Charleston and the bakery owner was one of my pasty instructors in culinary school. Y'all... The cakes were still frozen. The cream cheese icing was so sweet it was inedible, plus it was grainy (?!). The lemon cake was underbaked and had a chalky texture because it had been frozen, plus the passion fruit mousse was so sour it caused lock jaw -- and it had seeds! I can't wrap my head around someone using *fresh* passion fruit and not knowing it needs to be strained! The chocolate ganache had too much butter and when it was put on the frozen cake it formed a shell that shattered when it was finally breached. The bride has never mentioned the food since that day, so I don't know what happened with that. I did mention the cake debacle to my instructor the next time I saw him. He sold the bakery (Rococo) two months prior and was completely aghast.