Wedding Catering Planner — Every Meal, Every Guest, Zero Chaos

"How many vegans did we have again?" — a question you shouldn't have to answer at midnight

A week before the wedding, your caterer calls and needs exact numbers: how many standard meals, how many vegetarian, how many kids menus, and — importantly — who has allergies? You open five different WhatsApp chats, three email threads, and a spreadsheet you last updated six weeks ago. Half the information is there, half isn't. You spend three hours piecing together a number that should have taken three minutes.

This is the catering problem every couple faces. Guest dietary information gets collected through invitation replies, WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and notes scribbled on physical invitations. It arrives in fragments, across different channels, over a period of months. By the time you actually need it in one place and in a useful format, it's scattered across your entire digital life.

The consequences range from annoying to genuinely stressful: a guest with a severe allergy gets the wrong meal, a vegan is served fish, or the caterer prepares 20 kids menus when you only have 8 children coming. Good catering coordination isn't a nice-to-have — it's part of making sure every guest feels thought of on your wedding day.

One dashboard for every meal preference and dietary need

Seatly's wedding catering planner is built directly into your guest list. Every guest record includes a meal preference field and a dietary notes section. As RSVPs come in — whether entered manually or submitted through Seatly's digital RSVP form — meal choices are captured automatically against each guest's name.

The catering summary dashboard shows you live totals: 42 standard meals, 12 vegetarian, 6 vegan, 3 kids menus, 8 gluten-free. When your caterer needs final numbers, you generate the export — a clean PDF or CSV that lists every guest by name with their meal choice and any allergy notes. No copy-pasting, no counting, no last-minute chaos.

• ✓ Per-guest meal preference — standard, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kids, or any custom category you define
• ✓ Dietary allergy notes per guest — free-text field for specific restrictions and severe allergies
• ✓ Live catering summary dashboard — totals by meal type, updated instantly as RSVPs arrive
• ✓ Exportable catering report — PDF or CSV ready to send to your caterer in one click
• ✓ Linked to your guest list — no duplicate data entry; meal info lives with the guest record
• ✓ Dietary tags on seating chart — your venue staff sees meal choices at every seat, in the right place

How to set up your wedding catering plan in Seatly

1. 1. Define your meal categories. Go to the catering settings and create the meal options your caterer is offering — typically Standard, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Kids Menu. You can add any custom category your specific menu includes, such as Halal or a themed dish name.
2. 2. Collect preferences through RSVP. If you're using Seatly's digital RSVP form, meal selection appears as a required step during the guest's RSVP response. When they confirm attendance, they choose their meal from your defined options. This data flows directly into their guest record with no manual work on your end.
3. 3. Enter or update preferences manually. For guests who RSVP by phone, post, or through a family member, you can update their meal preference directly in the guest list view. Each guest record has a dedicated meal field and a notes section for allergy information.
4. 4. Review the catering summary dashboard. At any point during your planning, the catering dashboard shows a live breakdown of totals by meal type, a count of guests with allergy notes, and a list of any guests who haven't yet specified a preference. You always know exactly where you stand.
5. 5. Export and send to your caterer. When you have your final numbers — ideally 5 to 7 days before the wedding — generate the catering report with one click. The PDF or CSV file includes a summary table by meal type plus a full per-guest breakdown with names, meal choices, and allergy notes. Forward it directly to your caterer.

Your catering dashboard at a glance

Seatly vs spreadsheets for catering management

Spreadsheets are flexible, but they put all the work on you. Every time an RSVP comes in, you manually update a cell. Every time you need the totals, you write a formula or count manually. Every time you share with your caterer, you copy, paste, and format. Seatly handles all of that automatically.