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I had my reception at a tapas restaurant. We selected a few different tapas (we had calamari, champinones/mushrooms, and a potato dish) to be served family style at each table along with cuban bread to dip in olive oil. Salads were served as second course and these were also served family style. Then we had spanish themed menu (like paella, hangar steak, and pork) served individually. We also offered white sangria, red sangria, wines, sodas, and southern iced tea.
Well, I don't know if you'd call it tapas, but we're having a buffet with foods that can be served in small portions. My caterer calls it Heavy Hors D' Oeuvres - maybe your caterer would be familar with that term. Basically tapas just means you get smaller meals so you can have more of them, whether it's Spanish or otherwise, rather than a large piece of chicken or fish or beef. We're having Flatbreads, Deviled Eggs w/ Roasted Garlic, Red Pepper Tapenade, Caesar Salad, Thai Style Salad, Chicken Sausage w/ Fresh Squashes & Tomatoes & Gmelli Pasta, Curried Quinoa in Roma Tomato Cups, Spanokapitas, Asian Stye Beef & Peppers Satae. I assume each item could be served to each table, as tapas usually are when you go to a restaurant.
We are doing I think the same thing. Our venue calls it a social reception. They are doing salads in martini glasses, passed hors d' oeuvres like bruschetta, chicken yakitori, and oysters rockafeller, small plates of beef short ribs and lamb lolliepops. There will be a ton of food but it's going to be served in smaller portions. And instead of having everyone sit at tables we are just having cafe tables and couches and chairs for people to sit on. That way they can mingle and move and aren't restricted to a table of only a few people. And I don't have to do a seating chart:)
My sister had a cocktail style hors d'oeuvres reception. It started with noodle boxes and then there were passed platters for the rest of the night. It worked really well - plenty of food! If your caterer hasn't done it this way before I'd be slightly worried as I've heard bad stories of weddings without enough food and you'd want someone with enough experience to know how much they need to make. But I think it can work really well with the right caterer.
We're having a tapas buffet. There will be hot and cold tapas laid out and then little nibbles on the tables.
We did this just about two weeks ago! This is how it was organized:
- we had a small central buffet that had two types of salads, a cheese display, and soup shots, which were three types of soups in shot glasses
- the wait staff brought around warm tapas to everyone in a variety of styles
- towards the end, the wait staff brought small plates that had a slider and fancy mac and cheese
- we had a variety of seating (8 tops, 4 tops, standing cocktail tables, and picnic tables outside)
It was really well received.
Thanks for all the comments everyone, and it's great to hear all the different menus. I think I just need to work with her on the menus to get it the way I want it. The idea was to get everyone up and moving around, more social.
I'm thinking passed hors d' oevres during the cocktail and then two stations of buffet with various small plates type items like empanadas and mini beef wellingtons.
I'm just wondering if this could work out more expensive than a traditional buffet.
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Has anyone done one of these before? Or if you have been to a wedding where this was how the food was served I would love to hear about it.
I've heard about it and like the idea but my caterer doesn't seem to understand what I'm asking for. I feel like I need a sample to show her.