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I think it can be a nice way to maximize mingling at cocktail hour. how about just having waiters walking around w/ little platters and serving it? that might be a nicer touch if your wedding is really fancy / formal.
I had a formal wedding, and on Long Island it's pretty common to have food stations during the coctail hour. My guests loved it. We did several stations, one that had hearty german food (his background), one spanish (my background), and Italian (our honeymoon location). It was great fun, and if your caterer's are professional I'm sure it will look polished and elegant.
I worked at a wedding with serving stations and it was wonderful! The couple named the stations after their favorite neighborhoods in the city and the guests had a good time going from station to station. The serving stations were dressed up and didn't look "cheap". It was a very elegant and formal wedding, I took a peak at their bill and it was ballpark $40K for catering alone.
Dude for cocktail hour I think it's great! Then the guests can eat as much/little as they want.
Personally i hate hand-passed trays. I'm always the one creeping after the waiter with the crabcakes....along with every.single.person.
It's not like the waiters will be in chicken suits. I'd say GO. =]
You can do a raw bar with oysters, crab legs, and shrimp. Then maybe a small prime rib carving station, and a cheese station. It's actually quite fancy. I am having my wedding at the Four Seasons and they offer the stations during cocktail hour. They are much more expensive than the passed hors d'oevres just to warn you.
We are actually having a Strolling Reception with mini-entree food stations during the reception. Ours is not a sit-down dinner, no escort cards. We want people to sit wherever they want. We're also making it a more lounge type of atmosphere in the reception. Different sized tables, some soft seating. So the mini-entree stations are perfect for us.
If you're talking cocktail hour, I'd go between a mix of butlered and stations. Remember, the more people you have working your wedding the more money since you have to pay them.
I actually think food stations, especially if they are really creative stations, are really fun and can be even more fun than a plated meal sometimes. But I also love walking around talking to people and hate sitting still so they work better for me haha.
We haven't decided if we want a plated meal or not but stations are definitely going to come into the discussion, even if just for the cocktail hour.
I love the stations idea!! It keeps everyone moving without making people "wait" for the person butlering the hor'dourves!!
I've only seen it at cocktail hours in real weddings. I think I saw one like that on Platinum Weddings a few months ago but I'm not sure how its timed- by table or what.
We are having a crudite spread and then a few passed hors... I think stationed during cocktail hour is fine. ejs is right - there are always people trailing behind the server when they come in with a fresh tray, then the people in the back never get any.
For the actual meal, I agree, a sit-down/plated meal would be more formal.
I've never seen it done but it sounds like a great idea. It allows your guests to choose what they want to eat and how much or little. That goes for the main meal or the cocktail hour. Isn't the cocktail hour supposed to be less formal? I don't see what the problem would be. Also, not everyone wants a formal dinner/reception because it doesn't fit them or their guests.
I was actually reading somewhere that in NY/NJ (correct me if I'm wrong), cocktail hours as a whole are basically food stations only in a very formal setting and they serve enough food that most people don't have room for the full dinner that is served afterward. But most venues there don't allow people to opt out of the dinner afterward even though not everyone has room for it.
If you want stations, then go for it. But make sure that there isn't so much food that people don't end up wasting the $$ meal you serve following, and that your guests are fully aware of what is going on so they don't gorge on the cocktail hour.
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We have, so far, planned an extremely formal wedding. We haven't even met with the chef, but we know we want our dinner passed.
When I think about food stations, it makes me excited ... like fancy little stations for guests to walk around and mingle and there could even be waiters serving it ... haven't thought that far.
I'm thinking of this for the cocktail hour. I told fiance and he said thats cool for a party ... not fancy/formal enough for our wedding.
I've never actually seen it and (if you haven't heard) I've only been to 2 weddings ever.
What do you think?