Footing the food and drinks bill is one of the biggest budget hits when organising a wedding, but according to new research it may well be a waste of money.
A new study from Sainsbury's suggests that a tenth of all wedding food ends up in the bin - an average £488 worth of wasted food.
Their research found that an average of £3,245 is spent on wedding food and drink, £717 on the cake, £365 on edible favours and £558 on drinks.
It seems that with guests prioritising drinks and dancing over food, many meals just don't get finished. They found that 15% of people wouldn't eat all three of their courses, and 19% wouldn't consider seconds.
However it is the wedding cake that causes the biggest waste problem. According to ancient tradition, the top tier of a wedding cake (a classic fruit cake recipe) should be kept for the first child's christening. But with this custom rarely kept, 15% of newlyweds threw the remains of their cake away. And edible wedding favours are probably not worth your money or time considering 37% of guests don't eat them.
In order to reduce wasting food (and cash), Paul Crewe, project lead for Waste Less, Save More at Sainsbury’s encouraged couples to get creative when planning their wedding.
'Individual homemade favours could be made part of the dessert, catered to your exact numbers, or perhaps add a personal touch and give everyone a doggy bag as a favour so guests can take any leftovers home with them,' Crewe suggested.
The research from Sainsbury's is the first of its kind to look into the food waste caused by weddings, and their results reflect a much larger issue we have nationwide both in restaurants and our homes. The average UK family throws away £700 worth of food every year, The Guardian reported.
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