- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
This is typical of a reception down South and what we are going to do. Our wedding ceremony is at a Catholic church from 7-8 p.m. and our reception follows immediately at 8 p.m.
You can do small plates at "action stations", have stationary buffet set up with fillers (i.e. cheese, veggies, hummus, dips) and hot tapas in chafing dishes. To encourage a free flow, we have ours in four large round buffet style tables. We also have butlered hors d'oeurves at the same time and then "action stations spread out. We have a raw bar, barbecue station, carving station, gourmet macaroni and cheese bar, smashed potatoes and sweet potatoes bar, flambe station and crepe station.
It will be set up somewhat lounge style, with a mix of round tables, cocktail tables (no seating) and rental furniture like lounge couches. We are making sure to have enough seating for elderly folks and so that people won't have to balance their drink, plate, purse and wrap.
This is typical for charity events where I live too. Some people don't like it but I find it to be very lively and get the party started.
I would love to attend a tapas reception. What will you all be serving?
This sounds like such a fun new idea. I've never seen this done before but I would really like it, (as long as people truly get enough food). Even though tapas are small, they should be filling like a full meal. The way I would want to have this served is have plates of tapas served to each table for the people at the table to take. Just like if you went to a tapas restaraunt. You order for the table and everyone takes what they want.
I have been to a "tapas" style reception. The bride and groom still had assigned seating with 8 person round tables set up, but then several dishes were brought to each table, one at a time and passed. If I remember correctly two plates of each tapa were brought to each 8 person table. It worked out really well and we were definitely plenty full afterward. I do like the idea of the stations, especially if you are looking for something less formal and more social. Good Luck!
P.S. If you are thinking about traditional 'tapas', you might consider serving sangria instead of wine. The wedding we were at did that and it was a huge hit!
We are doing this for our wedding.
We haven't executed it quite yet. But it will very similar to what the ladies posted above.
We are doing family style because our venue isn't too well layed out for a successful stations. But from what I have gathered, family style seems o bring people together at the table.
We are serving (off the top of my head:) Jamon serrano con melon, varying cheeses... fruit... olives...
I assume you are having it catered? Does your caterer have ideas? You can Private message me and I would be lad to give you the name of my caterer so you can look at their menu online. My caterer was very familiar with spanish style food and tapas that you can see what options they provide.
I wanted to have a tapas wedding...but it just won't work out with our venue. sigh. I LOVE tapas!
I think you should do it!!
Oooh, great tips! We love small plates and are definitely considering doing something more along the lines of tapas than your standard 4-course meal.
Thanks for all the help! We are still working out what will be served, we want to make sure its hearty so people really do get fed.
To answer some Qs, since our wedding is this fall we were planning to serve things like pulled pork sliders, there is a cider braised short rib dish, though I wonder how we can serve that in a sort of self contained way so there is no scooping needed (scooping food makes me think of buffet!), squash rounds, and chicken strudel and green beans were on the menu proposal also, but we are still working things out! We are having a cheese station with nuts dried fruit and all those things, and then serving a few small appetizers as well. We're hoping the main small dishes are meaty enough that it will be filling for everyone.
We are sending off our first email response to our caterer and asking if she has some photos of the tapas menu she had done previously or at least describe the set up. We realized while it sounded like a great idea we had no real picture of how we'd actually do Tapas! I was hoping someone might have pictures of such a set up
I love the ideas of serving a tray to each table to pass round, and also the stations. I am going to discuss these ideas with the FI. Thanks girls!
100_2236.jpg (1840.4 KB, 363 downloads) 2 years old 100_0388.jpg (1471.5 KB, 159 downloads) 2 years old 
@MissFleurdeLis can I come to your wedding?! All that food sounds delicious!
We plan on doing tapas or other small foods for our wedding too, but we don't really know what we're serving yet. I've been looking through food magazines and websites like kraftfoods.com, foodnetwork.com, and martha's site for some inspiration.
My fiance went to a wedding last summer like this (unfortunately I was at another wedding on the same day!) and they had a mashed potato bar!! Everyone seemed to love it because whenever I ask his friends about the wedding I missed they say "you missed a mashed potato bar!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Just an idea, I think it was more of a buffet then on the table. I wish I could be more helpful.
I want to do tapas too and have been searching the internet for ideas..but am still stuck. One idea is to put a lazy susan in the middle of the table with a platter of that tapa while everyone serves themself, then the rest of the tapas come out in family style all placed on the lazy susan in "courses"......I'm not sure if I want to go with this or not, but please keep me updated if you hear of any other ideas and I'll continue to check ths post too! :)
Damask_Votive_Candle.jpg (2100.4 KB, 149 downloads) 2 years old Cake-Monogramsweb.gif (175.5 KB, 59 downloads) 2 years old Damask_Cake_Stand_1.jpg (1755.2 KB, 67 downloads) 2 years old Damask_Cake_Stand_2.jpg (666.2 KB, 54 downloads) 2 years old 
It sounds to me like you're describing food stations -- manned stationary or moving food set-ups (like one LOOOONG cocktail hour).
I think that's a great idea, especially if your reception space is conducive to it. One tip, though: make sure to print and display a menu somewhere, so people know what all the food options are, and can make sure they try a bit of everything! You don't want someone eating only one of the tapas because he/she didn't know another favorite dish was available elsewhere in the reception set-up!
I'm am so glad to see this post. I hope to do a tapas reception, too, but also had no idea how to pull it off. I think we're going to have a pasta station and possibly some kind of carving station, then a cheese, veggie and dip station. And then I think we'll have passed trays with enough food for each guest to get 10-15 pieces. (Does that seem like enough to everyone?) We'll do lots of vegetarian options, as well as fish and meat. I really want to create a party atmosphere rather than a stuff, sit-down meal. But I also want them to bring the groom and I a special tray with a sampling of all our favorites, so we can eat quickly and then make our way around to all our guests. After I talk to my caterer next week, I'll check back with any helpful update they have. Thanks for the great post!!
One thing that we are definitely doing is having a cheese platter at every table, or if we do long it will be every so-many people. We are debating how to do regular hors d'oeuvres - if we should do them, and then how to do the small plates. I still really like the passing platters around for the main small plates, and maybe we will have the hors d'oeuvres set up near the bar.. We are definitely printing menus with some sort of instructions so people can understand what there is to eat, but also what's going on! Sounds like we all like the idea, we just need someone to try it. Who's getting married first? 
If I find any relevant pictures I'll add them to the post.
I've been to two weddings that did this. I really like the idea, but have a word of warning: Make sure that you communicate to your caterer and guests how much food you anticipate per person (ie, heavy hor d'ouevres or dinner).
One of the weddings said on the invitation that there would be a "dinner" reception. The wedding was from 5-10 pm at a winery about 25 minutes from the nearest town. First issue: It took guests awhile to figure out that the tapas WERE dinner (many had passed thinking they were appetizers and were saving their appetite for a plated dinner). Second issue: There was not nearly enough food, and people were trapped, confused, and starving. It definitely deflated some of the celebratory mood. It broke my heart when I found out later that the bride and groom had expected (and paid for) more food and also expected enough for dinner.
The other wedding said "heavy hor d'ouevres" on the invite. It was a mid-afternoon wedding (~2-4 pm) and all the guests were prepared to eat beforehand or plan to eat afterwords. Ironically, it seemed like they had enough food for "dinner," but it's hard to say since the display was different. The first wedding had servers passing trays, the other served them buffet style in stations. Both systems worked. The passed trays are definitely more elegant, but stations are more convenient for getting what you want.
So definitely do tapas! It's a lot of fun! Just be clear on your invite and with your caterer.
mydress5.JPG (806.9 KB, 181 downloads) 2 years old 
i've hosted 2 holiday parties of atleast 50 people with tapas! It was great and people really enjoyed it. one i did in the evening and one in the early afternoon.
On the invitation I cleary said, "Enjoy a variety of delicious bite size eats and have a drink or two!" This kind of statement puts guests expectations in percpective. The pressure to produce more is gone, cause you've already told them what to look forward to at your wedding reception!
For the evening party, I had heavier style tapas, with more savory options, like garlic-pepper shrimp, 5 cheese mac and cheese balls, mushroom burger sliders, just to name a few. I hosted 8 bottles of wine for the entire group and that limited guests to about 2 glasses of wine, if that. And if they wanted anything other than or more than, they had to but it themselves.
The set-up went as is:
Also - a big reason why people didn't expect lunch or dinner, other than bitesized food, was the time of day i had it. the evening one was at 8pm so people were done with dinner or had a light enough dinner to fill up on the equalluy light bite size delites, and the afternoon party was at 2pm. So, again, state it clear on the invites and take your favorite dishes and just make em bite sized :)
have fun!!
OH, I was just researching this last night! I too am looking to do this but still havent figured out how to pull ito off.
Thank yo for posting this! We are hoping to do something like this as well!
We really REALLY want a latke bar... my FI is Jewish and we love latkes and all the various traditional and non-traditional toppings that can go on them. We are meeting with the caterer this month, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can have our latke bar!
Here is our progress for those who are interested. After a cheese/fruit/veggies starter, we are going to serve our small plates.. on.. well small 7" plates. I'm not sure how many types of dishes we will have on each table, but here is our inspiration for display - I realize the food pictured is not the same food as what we will be serving and the latter is a dessert display with no plates ... but we can use our imaginations right?
dishes_dessert_22.jpg (122.5 KB, 177 downloads) 3 years old dishes_1.jpg (88.4 KB, 150 downloads) 3 years old 
Ummm MissFleurdelis, can I come to your wedding? That all sounds fabulous!!! 
shoes2.jpg (7 KB, 59 downloads) 2 years old shoes.jpg (15.1 KB, 46 downloads) 2 years old
Aerika, I love the pics! Im thinking about ruling out the tapas.... I'm just not sure how much food to get everyone. I know that when my FI & I go out to eat tapas we usually order like 4 or 5 different ones and share each one, but I think this would be a turn off for guests for us to only have 4 tapas. How much are you planning on getting? And are you serving Spanish food? Or American food tapas style?
Hi AnnieAA! We are serving 6 different American style small plates that reflect the fall and our tastes, jumbo shrimp wrapped in proscuitto, short ribs, pork tenderloin, artichoke strudel, roasted butternut squash, wild mushroom risotto cakes, and bacon chedder corn bread. We are also doing a cheese course with dried fruit and stuff, and fresh veggie platter to start. We made sure to talk to the cater about how many servings each person gets so that everyone can stuff themselves, she said it would be like people loading up a regular plate twice (without the cheeses). We're hoping it keeps people up and mingling. Oh and then dessert of course! So people should get full. That's definitely a priority!
We are doing tapas as well - we both love the food and I lived in Europe for several months, so it's a small tribute to the travels as well. I'm going for a tasting this coming saturday, and the menu the caterer came up with includes: imported cheeses with crackers, fruits, hummus and pita triangles, salsa verde with chips, greek spanakopita triangles, greek farfalle pasta salad, stuffed mushrooms, mediterranean beef croquettes, mediterranean meatballs with a madeira wine sauce. We'll serve cupcakes for dessert to keep with the bite-size theme and sangria as the main drink for the night. Our goal was for everyone to have fun - what better way than to keep everyone up and about, talking and dancing? We still need to hammer out the details of serving - right now we're thinking buffet (possibly in two courses, cold then hot when the b&g arrive). I want the tables we do have to be decorated, but we also have these awesome bar height counters with stools underneath the balcony (its an old theatre) - perfect for setting up food and letting people hang out. Not sure if we'll do passed courses or not - I tend to lean towards the 'help yourself' idea. I'm trusting that my caterer will have a better idea of how much food to provide in terms of pieces per person. We don't want our guests to be so stuffed they turn down dessert, nor do we want them to go home hungry.
I saw these awesome cocktail plates that hold a wine glass so you can stand and talk, which might be useful for those who want a mingling type reception:
Cocktail%20trianglesm.jpg (15.1 KB, 125 downloads) 3 years old You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| ndreighton | 11 |
| rivierabridal | 6 |
| kate02121 | 4 |
| bonkeyball3 | 4 |
 turtles73 |
4 |
| jaguar | 3 |
| BMORE SEXI | 3 |
| texasbee | 3 |
| MrsOliveBird | 2 |
| fresitachulita | 2 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
Hello bees. We were hoping to do something a little different with our reception food service .. like serving small plates or tapas instead of doing a regular buffet. Has anyone been to a wedding with Tapas? We are having trouble picturing how to serve them - each one on a small plate to grab, or served as large portion appetizers on trays?? We dont want it to end up looking like a buffet since we are trying to do something a little different. Dos anyone have any pictures of how we could do a smalll plates dinner service? Does a Tapas dinner sound good to you- lots of small portioned things like pulled pork sliders, short ribs on rounds, squash rounds.. etc etc.. sort of self contained like large appetizers (?). We'd also have a cheese course and small appetizers to start. Any opinions and suggestions would be so helpful! Thanks Girls!