I'm having roughly 150 guests at my wedding, I've always wanted a big wedding. I really want a sit down meal, how much do you think I should budget per head? What are your thoughts on a buffet? I think 150 people trying to eat a buffet would be chaos. Any ideas/opinions would be appreciated

We're paying £35 per head for sit down and £10 per head for evening buffet. the £35 is 4 courses and drinks for toast and 2 glasses of wine with meal. our place ranges from £35 to £50 per head for sit down i think that's fairly average

We have 170 for the day, and like you I was worried about people queuing up for a buffet! So we came up with a 9 canape, 3 mini-mains and 6 dessert menu for 27 per head which will be brought out on trays by staff to the guest tables, so it's like the buffet comes to them. Don't forget to add on 20% VAT too, so our 27 actually becomes 32.40. Wedding breakfast sit down meals we found started at 35 per head plus VAT up to 50 - and for this our caterer doesn't include welcome drinks, wine or toasting drinks, once we worked this out for our menu it comes to £35.50 per head, with VAT £42.60 - and this was after a lot of haggling and getting things in for free - e.g. jugs of tap water on the tables, free soft drinks for welcome drinks, free tea and coffee etc. We actually think we've done really well as it's cheaper than the suggested sit down meals and we think we're getting a wider range of food options.

Doesn't sound a lot but when you multiply it by the number of guests it definitely mounts up - and as for assuming you won't have a full turn out, don't bank on it! We've sent out out invites and have only had 4 say no so far!

Another idea if you're getting a caterer is to have a lazy susan buffet style, which is a rotating mini table on each table, where they can have the buffet selections brought to the table and they help themselves - Americans call this 'family style' I think :-)

£65.50 per head. This includes, canapes, welcome drinks, 3 course meal with free flowing drink, champagne for toast and either a hog roast or buffet. x

We're paying £48.50 pp for a 3 course meal; the starter and desserts are being served to the table and we're choosing them (gone with simple crowd pleasers that everyone should like), and we're having a buffet main course. The reasons we're having a buffet main course are that in doing so, we can offer our guests a choice (we have 2 vegetarian dishes, a chicken dish, pan-fried salmon, and steak, plus a selection of salads and vegetable sides), and we're only having 50. For more than 50, we'd do a sit-down dinner, as I think it can be come chaotic; we had a buffet (Indian) at my parents anniversary party, and it took a while for all 90 guests to be served.

What we're paying is probably about average for our area (Berkshire); when I was looking, prices seemed to average around £50-60 for a 3-course meal, and around £15-20 for the evening buffet (I looked at venues in Berks, Bucks, London, Surrey, and Hertfordshire). One thing I'd be aware of is that a lot of venues do 'all inclusive' packages, and we found these averaged about £120-160 p at the venues we looked at; these packages usually include a drinks reception and canapes, 3 course meal with wine and champagne for the toast, and the evening buffet, as well as venue hire, and sometimes extras (like chair covers and sashes, DJ, sometimes even flowers, etc). We found that not many venues did an 'a la carte' option; so something to bear in mind as £100+ could really add up quickly with 150 guests.

were having 21 days guests and paying £20per head for a 4 course dinner, we are going abroad so get quite a discount. were supplying some toasting drinksabout £100 worth but anything after that guest will have to get themselves. back in the uk were having pork and stuffing batches with chips and veggie option for 170 people at £7.5 per head.

We are paying £75 per head but this includes everything from arrival drinks and canapés four course dinner with wine and evening nibbles.x

ours is £100 a head, but this includes the wedding ceremony itself,room hire for ceremony and reception the table decorations/ centrepieces, chair covers and sashes, flowers for room, canapes, drinks, 3 course and coffee wedding breakfast and then a hogroast for the evening. we thought it was an amazing price! we r planning for around 60 day and this allows 100 for the evening within the price.
im sure if you shop around and haggle prices you can find excactly what you want for the number fo guests that come. good luck xx

I am afriad theres no set rule as there is such a large variety. We are paying 120-130 (depending on what we go for) and this is for everything. This is for canapes, drinks package (pimms on arrival, 2 glasses wine, 1 sparkling wine), 3 course meal, 6-7 item buffet. #
I think it all depends on your venue choice.

You're right Suzky - some of the venues we looked at were absolutely amazing but the food prices were prohibitive so just had to rule them out completely.

Hey as long as it's nice looking and you like it and the food's good that's all that matters!

Yup, they're a castle so they stick an extra £20pp on before you even start probably...!!

Ours is £43 per head including 5 course meal, welcome drinks, wine with meal and sparkling wine for toasts, and evening buffet. I think it's a fantastic deal. I could upgrade but i don't see the point really.