Weddingbee

That seems like a lot of food considering you are ahving dinner afterward.
I think the 5 passed platters would be plenty.

Caould you do those and then maybe a fruit and cheese spread which is light?

I would worry that everyone would get too full before dinner started. They will probably be drinking too which can fill you up.

That does sound like a lot of food. I wouldn’t get rid of all of the platters though. As a guest at several weddings recently where the passed platters were few and far between and/or the dinner was much later than the last meal we had before the wedding, I think it’s better to err on the side of platters than to just do passed. Do you have to do one of each of the five listed platters or could you just do two each of the first two listed and pick two or three of the passed kind?

I would definately go on the lighter side. I had the same dilemma. I planned to have way too much food for the cocktail hour and you’d be surprised at just how fast that hour goes by. I would cut way back on the hors’d'oeuvres if I were you. You’re having a buffet, so you don’t need to pay all that extra money to fill your guests up BEFORE they get to the buffet! I would pick two, three of the selections at the most. You just want them to gnosh a bit while they’re drinking and mingling because again, that hour is going to go by fast!

Okay, I didn’t read all of the options and misunderstood…but that’s still A LOT of appetizers..Before I said two or three, but two or three of the set out platters and two of the passed should be plenty.

go light! we also had a buffet for 150 people and ended up getting 3 x 100 piece platters of chicken satay and one other item (i forget what). that averages 2 pieces per guest. our guests ended up lingering around the ceremony area for a bit before heading to the cocktail area so our cocktail “hour” ended up only being about 30-40 minutes.

I would say that is a TON of food. I might pick only 2 stationary trays (focusing on fruits and cheeses and meats and veggies) and have more passed snacks. There is something very elegant about having things passed around in a butlered service, plus it keeps people from having to hover near the stations. I would say 4-5 passed (and you probably don’t have to order enough for each person to have 1, but you could) and 2 stationary.

my opinion seems a lot different than everyone else, but I think that 1 platter and 2 passed items (or 2 platters and 1 passed item) is plenty! if you have lots of food during the cocktail hour your guests may think that dinner will be light, and will stock up on hors d’oeurves! plus, your wedding guests and mine may differ, but i’m expecting most of the them to be more concerned about the cocktail part of the cocktail hour and not the food!

I’m not an expert, but Martha Stewart seems to be and she says that you should have 6-7 appetizers per person for an hour of cocktails. I think it probably also depends on the time of day and the size of the appetizers. Will your guests likely be starving because you’re having a twilight wedding with a bunch of first dances and toasts before dinner? If so, or if the appetizers are one bite a piece, then maybe it’s not too extreme. I’d only cut a platter or two.

Waaay too much! An hour flies by and a lot of the time is spent talking to other guests and sipping cocktails. Plus people know theres dinner coming up so they will not go nuts at cocktail hour.

I would just go with 3-4 different passed items. Enough for each person to have around 4-5 nibbles.

Wait, you’re having all of that AND a buffet dinner?

Way too much food. If I saw those platters lying out on the table, I’d think that WAS the buffet, and would probably feel ill when faced with the concept of eating again within the hour (I know it’s only one platter per menu, but each one sounds like a lot).

The point of the cocktail hour is to chat to friends, have a glass or two of champagne/wine, and a couple of nibbles. I really don’t think anyone’s going to go hungry … it could only be a few minutes between when they have their last hors d-ouevre and when the dinner starts.

That is too much food in my opinion. My friend has a wedding of around 180, she is having 4 passed and 1 tray. People wait in line for cocktails, and mingle and take photos. An hour goes by fast. I’ve recently been to a wedding with 250 people, 3 passed, and 3 stationary appetizers 2 of those were fruit and cheese. Both of these weddings were not buffet either. I would cut them down girl, don’t feel pressured to get all those, you have a buffet for them to get their grub on!

I went with the Martha recomendation (~6 pieces per person per hour) for appetizers for both our RD and the reception. At both events, there was very little food left over.

It does depend, obviously, on the size of the portions, the time of day, and whether or not you are serving alcohol. For both our RD and our reception, the cocktail hour started at about 5:30, with a full hour before dinner was served. and dinner in multiple courses, so that the first course was salad. So people have been drinking for about 90 minutes before they get their entree. We were quite concerned that there be an appropriate amount of food considering the alcohol consumption (I would describe our guests as moderate drinkers, but it was a pretty warm day, so you know that the first cold drink can go down pretty quickly).

We limited our appetizers to 4 choices, of which we ordered essentially 1.5 servings per guest (so for 100 guests, 150 pieces). We did this because we figured it allows for the guests who take more than one serving while still giving everyone a reasonable chance of getting at least one of everything. It’s always annoying when half your guests are talking about how really great the crabcakes were - and half your guests didn’t get one. If you have too many choices, that’s how it ends up.

Based on that logic, IMO you have way too many choices. I would narrow it down to 4 - 5 selections total. With only ~80 people, you could easily have all passed appetizers and no stations. In fact, if you are passing appetizers, I would actually not have stations, as some guests won’t figure out they actually exist, or will figure that since some of the food is being passed, it will all eventually come around on a tray.

I think that would only be appropriate if you were having a cocktail hour reception instead of a full dinner. You really only need half of that. I would say, 3 of the passed hors d’oeuvres and 1 or 2 of the platters, max.

i’m with the majority. that’s a Whole Lot of food. i would pick one of those two options, both seems like alot of people won’t be eating dinner. maybe you can mix and match your favorites from each section?
about 5 pieces per person seems like plenty to eat in an hour. most people will eat 2 or 3 right away and then stand and around and chat and drink… maybe nibbling on another piece or two before dinner.

it all sounds delicious though!

Way too much food. People are going to fill up on appetizers or they won’t eat them because they are saving room for dinner. Seems like I’m with the majority on this one. Great choices, but I’d totally have either passed or platters - or less of each.

I would tell you that it all depends on your priorities. If having amazing food at your wedding is important to you, then I think you should go with all of those choices. It’s very much aligned with “industry suggested” servings for a cocktail hour, but I think 2 or 3 of those platters are the difference between need-to-have and nice-to-have. You don’t need all of that, but it’s not complete overkill. So spend according to what you want for your wedding.

2 or 3 options of each should be plentyyyy. Cocktail hour goes by fast anyway. By the time everyone gets a plate and a drink and mingles for 10 minutes, they’re being ushered into the reception area.

Ms. Milkshake I’m going to support your glutenous decisions! I went to a wedding recently with a tremendous cocktail hour with a three course dinner that followed, and honestly, it was AWESOME bc I was able to fill up on the food that I like rather than the three selections that were made by the bride and groom for appetizer/dinner options/dessert. GO BIG OR GO HOME!

and if you’re concerned its too much food - invite me - my love and I will help ya clean it all up

The items looked great and if that was the only food at the reception, it would be generous! As a cocktail hour “snack” it does seem a little excessive…

I would do maybe the antipasto platter, the seafood platter and maybe the goat cheese torte and then the passed chicken and mini burgers. Or, some sort of combination which covers the vegetarians, along with some seafood, chicken and red meat. Maybe 2-3 platters and 2-3 passed hors d’oeuvres that offer a nice variety but don’t over-stuff your guests before the main meal.

And, it’s very easy to overdo the aps in the cocktail hour — we did

Also keep in mind that this is a small pre dinner snack and you don’t want to choose anything too heavy. I feel the same way you do about appetizers, but remember you want them to eat the great dinner you paid for. When we chose our hor d’oervres we based it on the decision of 4-5 per person per hour. good luck!