Ask around about how much food 120 guests need and the advice gets wild pretty fast. One aunt swears you should double everything. A friend who ran short on chicken at her baby shower three years ago will tell you to triple it, and she means it. Then there’s the website that says a pound per person and stops there, which doesn’t help much when you’re looking at a menu with five courses on it.
The short version, the way we’d explain it at a planning session: for a full dinner, plated or buffet, figure about a pound to a pound and a half of food per adult across all the courses. Protein’s the biggest chunk at roughly 6 ounces cooked. Two sides land around 4 ounces each. Salad, bread and dessert take care of the rest.
Appetizers depend on whether dinner follows. One hour of cocktails before a meal, 5 to 7 pieces a head. A party that’s only appetizers: 10 to 15. Kids under 10 eat about half.
Catering for Weddings and Parties
Run that against 120 adults with one entrée and you’re at roughly 45 pounds of cooked protein and somewhere between 600 and 840 cocktail-hour bites. Numbers like that are why nobody should be eyeballing it.
The quick portion chart
These numbers are where we start, and they move once your menu is set. A heavy pasta course, a carving station, or a big dessert table can all shift them a little.
| What you’re serving | Per adult guest |
| Appetizers, 1-hour cocktail hour | 5 to 7 pieces |
| Appetizers, no dinner after | 10 to 15 pieces |
| One main protein | About 6 oz cooked |
| Two main proteins | 4 to 5 oz of each |
| Pasta, rice or potatoes | About 4 oz |
| Vegetables | 3 to 4 oz |
| Salad | About a cup |
| Bread or rolls | 1 or 2 |
| Wedding cake | A slice |
| Dessert table | 2 or 3 small pieces |
| Kids under 10 | Roughly half |
How many appetizers?
Depends on what’s coming next.
If dinner’s an hour away, 5 to 7 pieces each is enough. Guests are hungry, sure, but they know the main event is on its way. Now picture a 3-hour engagement party where nothing else is coming. Those same people will eat appetizers as dinner, so you’re looking at 10 to 15.
And don’t just think count. Think spread. For a wedding cocktail hour, we usually suggest 8 to 10 different items, passed or on stations, and we make extra of the crowd favorites. Shrimp cocktail disappears. Beef bites disappear. The crudité platter? Often still sitting there at the end. We get into all of that in Cocktail Hour Food Ideas: What NYC Wedding Guests Actually Eat.
Oh, and check the bar menu. Guests drinking cocktails want something more filling than guests sipping wine.
How much of the main course?
Roughly 6 ounces of cooked protein per adult, if there’s only one entrée. That’s about one chicken breast. Or a piece of short rib, or a salmon fillet.
Two entrées is different. Most people grab a bit of each, so 4 to 5 ounces of both covers it. Starches help you here too. Pasta, rice, potatoes, they all stretch a meal, and if a pasta course goes out first, a lot of guests are half full before the meat even shows up.
Buffet or plated: does it change the order?
It does. Plated is predictable. One plate per guest, so the count is basically exact. A buffet is a different animal. People serve themselves, they take a little more of what they love, and some go back for seconds. Order a bit extra.
Your guest count pushes the decision too. At NYC venues, we recommend plated for weddings under 75 guests. Between 75 and 150, a buffet works if the room has space. Over 150, set up two or three identical lines. Otherwise? One line for 200 people can mean a 30 to 45 minute wait to eat. That’s a long time to stand there holding an empty plate. Plated vs Buffet Wedding Service: Which Works for NYC Venues has the full comparison.
Food on a buffet is also on a timer. FoodSafety.gov says perishable food shouldn’t sit out at room temperature longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour when it’s over 90°F, and hot food needs to stay at 140°F or above. Part of why we bring hot trays out in rounds.
What makes people eat more, or less?
Who’s in the room, mostly. Your college friends at a Saturday night wedding? Not the same eaters as a Sunday baby shower brunch crowd.
Time of day plays in. Dinner receptions eat more than afternoon parties, and brunch runs lightest. So does how long it lasts. Five hours of dancing burns through food, which is exactly why late-night snacks have gotten so popular. Some ideas are in Late-Night Wedding Food Ideas: Keep NYC Guests Dancing & Fed.
Then ages. Teenagers? Count them as adults. Maybe more than adults, honestly. We wrote a whole post on feeding them: Graduation Catering Menu For Hungry Teens. Little kids, about half.
Last thing. Count your vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free guests on their own. Their food should be made in real amounts, not one small tray tucked at the end of the line.
From RSVPs to a final number
Work from who actually said yes. Not the invite list.
Say 140 people said yes. Maybe 112 are adults, 10 are teenagers and 18 are kids under 10. Teens count as adults, so that’s 122 full portions. The 18 kids at half portions add 9 more, which puts you at 131 servings, not 140.
Then go back through the list and flag the allergies and the vegetarians. The gluten-free cousin, the uncle who doesn’t eat shellfish. Their meals should get made on purpose. Feeding your photographer and DJ? They go on the list too. Get the number to your caterer before their cutoff, and ask what happens if two people drop out the week of the wedding.
We’d push for a tasting, too. A portion on paper is hard to judge. Six ounces of short rib on the plate in front of you is not. If you’re a year or more out, Wedding Catering Timeline: When NJ Couples Should Book Early lays out when to make each call.
Frequently asked questions
How much food do I need per person for a wedding?
For a full meal, plan 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per adult guest. With 100 adults, that’s 100 to 150 pounds of food in total, and about 6 ounces of it per person is protein.
How many appetizers per person for a cocktail hour?
With dinner coming an hour later, 5 to 7 pieces per guest does it. Without a dinner, guests will make a meal out of them, so plan on 10 to 15.
Do buffets need more food than plated dinners?
In most cases, a buffet takes a bit more, since guests fill their own plates, take extra of what they like and some come back for seconds.
How much food do kids eat at a party?
A child under 10 eats roughly half of what an adult does. Teenagers are a different story, so count them as adults.
Planning a wedding or party, whether it’s 20 guests or 2,000? Alfonso’s Catering is family-owned and has been feeding events across New Jersey and New York City since 2014. Call 732-540-8742, take a look at our Wedding Catering and Special Events services, or contact us to set up a planning session.
