The Bay Bride

So out of 188 guests that RSVP’d yes, we had 5 people not show up for various reasons.  This means we had to pay for 5 dinners even though the 5 plates of food were not served.  That is over $550 spent on empty seats.  I asked the banquet manager if they could wrap up the food and bring it up to our hotel rooms but they said for food safety/health reasons they didn’t allow this.  (Sadness because I could totally see myself happily pigging out the next day with these 5 plates of food…I heart leftovers!)

Anyway, I had a friend underestimate her final head count by 4-5 guests and little did she know 4 guests ended up not attending the wedding.  Her logic is that she could always ask the caterer to provide 5 additional meals if she did have 100% attendance and the caterer will have no problem adding the cost to the final bill, but if guests don’t show then caterers won’t deduct the cost of meals to the final bill.  Is this smart? or just plain risky?  This could have seriously saved us some serious cash.

Maybe discuss your options with your banquet/catering manager before finalizing the head count.  See if leftovers can be bagged up to go and I’m sure it’ll be enjoyed by either you or your hungover buddies the next morning.