Wedding Menus for Several Meals: Welcome Dinner, Breakfast and Evening Buffet

If your wedding has more than one meal, give each meal its own menu. A welcome dinner, a wedding breakfast and an evening buffet usually have different guests, different dishes and often different caterers, so each needs its own list of dishes, its own numbers and its own deadline. One combined menu hides those differences until it is too late to fix them.

This guide covers how to plan the menus, what each caterer needs from you, and how to count children, babies and suppliers so every number is right.

Why one menu is not enough

Weddings often feed different people at different times. Bridebook's UK Wedding Report 2026 gives an average of 74 guests at the ceremony and 21 additional guests in the evening, so the evening meal is often for a different, larger group than the meal at the table. (source)

Three things differ between meals:

• Who is coming. A welcome dinner may be for close family and the wedding breakfast for everyone invited to the ceremony.
• How it is served. A plated meal with a choice, a set menu with alternatives and a buffet all need different information from guests.
• Who cooks. Each caterer needs final numbers on their own date.

Choose a format for each meal

• A choice per course. Guests pick a starter, a main and a dessert. It gives the most say and takes the most counting.
• A set menu with alternatives. Everyone has the same meal, with one or two whole alternatives such as a vegetarian menu.
• A buffet. Nobody chooses in advance. You still need a headcount and every guest's dietary needs, and the caterer needs allergen information for each dish.

Allergens belong on every menu

In the UK, food businesses, wedding caterers included, must be able to tell customers when a dish contains any of 14 major allergens (Food Standards Agency guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Put the allergens on every menu you share with guests, and ask each guest who has an allergy to say so in their own words. (source)

Our guide to wedding dietary requirements and meal choices covers the wording and what a caterer needs.

Count everyone the caterer will feed

Three groups are easy to miscount.

• Children. Ask whether the caterer offers a children's menu or smaller portions, and how to mark the children's dishes so parents can find them.
• Babies. A baby or a child who will not eat a meal still needs a seat and may need a highchair. They are in your headcount but not in the plate count.
• Suppliers. Your photographer, band or planner may need a meal. These are not guests, so keep them on a separate line.

Set a deadline for each caterer

Ask each caterer when they need final numbers, then set your own deadline earlier. If one caterer needs numbers three weeks out and another needs them one week out, give each meal its own close date, and keep all of them on or before your RSVP deadline.

Doing this in Fizz

On Fizz you write each dish once, then put it on any menu you like. Edit a dish and every menu that uses it changes. Meal choices are on every plan.

• Give each meal its own menu, with its own caterer and a format: guests choose each course, guests choose a set menu, a buffet, or a menu that is shown with no choice. You also decide when guests choose.
• Tick "For children" on a dish for the children's menu, and add a children's menu note. Everyone sees the whole menu, and dishes for children are labelled "Children's".
• Mark a baby or a child who will not eat as "No meal needed", and tick "Needs a highchair" for a child who needs one. They keep their seat and count in the headcount. Your caterer sees No meal and Highchairs lines.
• Add a supplier meals number for your photographer and band. It has its own line in your totals and is never counted as a guest.
• Guests are only asked about a menu if they say yes to its event. Each menu has its own Meal choices close date, which must be on or before your RSVP deadline. A guest's allergy is a tick beside their dietary note.
• Your totals show one block for each menu, so each caterer gets its own numbers.

See the wedding menu builder for the screens, and the help centre's menus guide for the steps.

Your multi-meal menu checklist

• A menu for each meal, with its caterer.
• A format chosen for each: choice, set menu or buffet.
• Allergens on every dish.
• A children's menu decision for each meal.
• Babies marked as no meal needed, and highchairs told to the caterer.
• Supplier meals counted separately.
• A close date for each caterer, on or before your RSVP deadline.

Disclaimer

This article is general guidance for planning a wedding, not legal or medical advice. Allergen rules and caterer practice differ, so confirm details with your caterer. It was checked against Food Standards Agency guidance in October 2026.