How to collect dietary requirements for your wedding caterer

Caterers can cope with almost anything, as long as they know in time. The problems happen when dietary needs arrive scribbled on the back of a reply card, buried in a WhatsApp thread, or not at all. Here’s how to collect them properly.

Ask everyone, individually

Ask about dietary needs for each person, not each household. “The Patels - one vegetarian” doesn’t tell your caterer which seat gets the vegetarian meal, and it makes seating plans harder later.

Separate allergies from preferences

A guest who doesn’t like mushrooms and a guest with a nut allergy need very different handling. Allergies affect how food is prepared, not just what’s on the plate. Make it easy for guests to tell you which is which: quick choices for the common ones, plus a free-text box for anything else.

Useful quick choices for UK weddings:

• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Gluten-free (coeliac or intolerance)
• Nut allergy
• Dairy-free
• Halal
• Kosher

Then a short free-text box: “Anything else? e.g. shellfish allergy, no pork”. That catches the rest without a long form.

Don’t forget the evening

Evening food (a buffet, hog roast, cheese tower or bacon rolls at 10pm) needs the same care. Ask evening guests about dietary needs too, and tell your caterer how many of the evening crowd need alternatives.

Children’s meals

Note which guests are children and their ages if your caterer offers a children’s menu. Children often have the same allergies to watch for, and parents will appreciate being asked.

When to collect it

Ask for dietary requirements with the RSVP, not separately: one reply, one moment. Most caterers want final numbers and dietary needs two to four weeks before the wedding, so set your RSVP deadline at least a week or two before that to leave time for chasing.

What to give your caterer

Your caterer needs one clear list, not a pile of messages. The most useful format is a table with:

• Each guest’s name (and table, once you’ve done your seating plan)
• Whether they’re at the meal or evening only
• Their choice for each course, if you’re offering choices
• Dietary requirements, with allergies clearly marked

Plus totals: how many of each main course, how many vegetarians, how many gluten-free and so on. Print it, and send a CSV too so they can import it.

A note on responsibility

Collecting dietary information is about passing it on accurately. The caterer is responsible for safe preparation, so always share allergy details with them directly and ask them to confirm how they’ll handle serious allergies on the day.