A wedding today is an event with many factors to juggle, such as the venue (indoors or outdoors), the number of guests and how to arrange their seating for the reception, the visual theme, the food to be catered, the florist, photographer, wedding band, and more. Many of these factors are a combination of practicality and aesthetics, and the tone and style of a wedding can be dictated by the venue and what materials are used, ranging from the ceremony’s decorations and the bridesmaids’ dresses all the way to what kind of silverware, plates, and glasses are used for the reception lunch or dinner. Wedding plates, dinner napkins, wedding cutlery, and more are not just a way for guests to eat; they also set the tone of the wedding, and in some cases, wedding plates and glasses may be the disposable kind for convenience, and in certain themes and levels of formality, plastic serveware and party supplies will seem like a natural part of the reception. In other cases, such as an elegant ballroom wedding, bridal plates, glasses, and cutlery will probably be more permanent types, and plastic bowls or paper plates would stick out. How can a bride and groom decide what wedding plates, napkins, and forks are best?

Wedding Costs and Meals

Even smaller and more casual weddings involve a lot of investment, and this will certainly include the meal itself. On average, weddings will have 136 guests, and some may be much larger or smaller than that, but even the smallest weddings involve making sure that everyone can eat during the reception. What is more, it has been determined that the average amount spent on an American wedding is $35,329, and this may vary based on location, number of guests, and much more. A lot of items and services will be hired or rented for a wedding, and for the meal in particular, the planners will have some numbers to go over. For example, a starting point is to have 100 napkins available for every 25 guests, and this may be a staple number of any type of party, and that can certainly include a wedding reception. What is more, Better Homes and Gardens suggests that party planners should expect guests to consume two non-alcoholic beverages during an event’s first hour, then one for each hour of the party beyond that. And in warm weather, guests might drink even more, especially for a warm, outdoor wedding reception on a beach, for example. And given how the summer months (June-September) are the most popular times for weddings, wedding planners are best advised to have a liberal estimate on drinking supplies.

What type of glasses, wedding plates, napkins, and cutlery to offer? The venue itself, and the one, may strongly suggest what to choose between inexpensive and disposable items versus more permanent and elegant ones. Wedding plates can in fact be paper plates, alongside plastic cutlery and plastic wine glasses (they are inexpensive but still look great), and napkins can be paper for less formal events. An outdoor wedding at the beach, for example, will more likely be a casual event, and elegant cloth napkins and crystal wine glasses may look out of place and clunky. Here, less formal, and more disposable cutlery and wedding plates may be the best option (as long as they don’t get blown away), and disposable items are a solid way to keep overall costs down if that is an issue, especially for weddings with a lot of guests. Buying the china needed for 200 guests can cost a lot, but getting the plastic forks, paper plates and napkins, and plastic wine glasses for that many guests will cost just a tiny fraction of that expense.

Conversely, a much more formal indoor wedding, such as one with a ballroom theme in Manhattan, will be an odd place for paper wedding plates or plastic cutlery, so proper china may be the best option here. If the guest list is fairly short, this china will not be too expensive to buy or rent, but a larger guest list may mean more expenses, so wedding planners should be ready for that.