It is difficult for any self-respecting gourmet to admit, but few culinary sights set the heart aflutter quite like a buffet. I still remember the ecstasy of my first trip to the Pizza Hut lunch buffet, where you could eat until you had to be rolled out of the premises. I also recall the shame, decades later, of finding myself at a hotel buffet during the pandemic, forced to ask a sanitized waiter to assemble my eccentric plate. “Yes, I would like some sausage next to my yogurt, which is next to my waffles…”

These complex feelings are perhaps why buffets have had an up-and-down reputation as wedding food. In many countries, no couple would consider anything else. In the UK and America, however, they have swung in and out of fashion, often eschewed in favor of a more traditional style of dining. A good buffet is a thing of joy; a bad one, in which heaps of mismatched food slowly congeal as the party goes on, can linger in the memory for the wrong reasons.

But in 2026, buffets are sloughing off their cheap and cheerful reputation and returning to chic weddings. Elite wedding planner Liz Linkleter says they are emphatically back in fashion, with one crucial difference: they aren’t called buffets. “For some reason, that word has these awful connotations,” she says, “so they have been rebranded to be a ‘food station’ or a ‘food installation’. We are currently planning a wedding and putting almost as much thought into the food presentation as into the floral arrangements and table decorations. It’s as if having something really interesting and cool food-wise says more about who you are and your taste than anything else.”

She says the trend is partly driven by social media, with two approaches standing out. “One is this very sort of conceptual food display, which is quite contemporary, almost like artwork. Laila Gohar [the food stylist] did one recently that was just an enormous dish filled with amazing olive oil, unnecessarily big, with all this stuff around the sides. It’s interactive, but beautiful and modern. The other way of approaching it is very abundant, almost like a Renaissance painting, with fruit and flowers.”

There are practical benefits to the buffet too. Modern couples don’t want to sit down for hours, being served three courses in a rigid placement. “I don’t want a trad wedding with all the fake bamboo chairs and candelabras,” says Chloë Hamilton, editor of The Good Food Guide, who is planning her wedding later this year. “I would rather spend more money on good booze and good food and have everyone be able to come. It also negates the need for a second meal because people can keep going back to the buffet as required.”

This way of eating is also perfect for ever-more fussy guests. Today, serving a traditional three-course menu inevitably means catering for any number of vegans, vegetarians, gluten-dodgers, and more-or-less legitimate allergy claims. Much simpler to offer a spread and let your guests pick their own path through it. The groundswell of interest is more than mere nostalgia. Buffets are perfect for couples who want the food at their wedding to be beautiful, generous, and flexible. Just don’t call it a buffet.