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Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
marissaskisses
member
Popcorn Bar instead of hot appetizer
So since our wedding is fairly early and dinner will be served by 5:30 serving a full hot appetizer seemed wasteful and excessive. We opted to do a popcorn bar and ordered 125 cups of popcorn from a seller on Etsy in a wide range of flavors and colors (our wedding color pallet). Has anyone done a popcorn bar? How did the guests react? Did you use bags or something else for them to put the popcorn in? I originally bought a stack of plastic bowls because they were budget friendly and the appetizer wasn't a fully developed plan at that time haha. Now that the popcorn is a definite I'm just wondering if bags make more sense and if it would be worth it to spend the money when I already have bowls?
Thanks
Thanks
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Re: Popcorn Bar instead of hot appetizer
I think bowls are fine. You would only need bags if you are expecting left overs and would like to allow guests to take it home. You can get small paper bags from the dollar store.
We aren't doing a full bar either, so I have no doubt that the popcorn will be plenty. Many bars and breweries serve popcorn as a filler to avoid drunkenness when they don't serve food.
Fortunately having a small wedding allows me the certainty of knowing all of my guests eat popcorn. And no, budget wise I can't afford to double it to try to make sure everyone has a secondary option.
I think we have pointed out different perspectives that should be considered. Doesn't mean you have to take our advice, but when a question is posted, posters can respond how they would like.
I didn't say it wasn't going to be enough (although that may be a valid point brought up by others), but I mentioned that popcorn wouldn't work for some individuals. If you are 100% sure about your crowd being able to eat and enjoy popcorn, go ahead. The reception is a thank you to your guests so hopefully this makes them happy. I do like the idea of popcorn in general, but I also appreciate other posters thoughts.
I like salted popcorn. I haven't seen it done, but my guess is that bowls would do the job just as well as bags since you have already purchased them. Seems like buying bags might be a waste of money.
If you are concerned about budget, you could have chosen to opt out of items not necessary in terms of proper hosting, such as caricaturists or photo booths. Guests will remember food and drink hosting above most everything else at a party.
Quick poll from my house! I love love salted popcorn! FI said he would find it 'cheap' and side eye it. Silly boy.
And fortunately, like I already said the wedding is small and I know for a fact everyone attending likes popcorn, so the need to please people who dislike popcorn isn't necessary.
My concern is you really don't know where this popcorn is coming from and the freshness factor - ETSY can be from anyone anywhere. So the food manager in me would be side-eyeing this choice from the start regardless of it being popcorn or gourmet bug pops for that matter. There's no quality control taking place. It'd be one thing if you were ordering from a legitimate business with proper licensure direct through their website locally and picking it up the day before. But random food from who knows where - I'd definitely cringe as a guest on the sourcing.
Next, while I'd opt for popcorn being put out after dinner, I'd rather have the hot app or a cheese/fruit/cracker tray before dinner. I'm a teetotaler, and still agree with the PP's... But, you've already purchased the popcorn from who knows where so regardless of what anyone says you've already made up your mind.
And to hot food, cheese, sandwiches. The cost of those would have been way out of budget unless everyone only got one tiny finger sandwich and small piece of fruit, which would have been less filling than 2 cups of popcorn per person and it would have actually looked cheaper lol.
Even looking at Costco the prices just didn't make sense. Popcorn was the only way people could get
a decent portion of food without costing more than we could afford.
Your guests will come to your wedding hungry, as you are feeding them a meal at the reception, and when drinking on an empty stomach, it is good hosting to make sure hungry guests have something to fill the gap between your wedding and that meal. When I go to a bar, I don't expect to be properly fed. When I go to a wedding, I do.
You said that serving an appetizer other than popcorn seemed "wasteful and excessive". You said nothing about cost. You say that serving popcorn is "the only way people could get a decent portion of food without costing more than you could afford, but are offering gourmet popcorn because you don't want to look cheap. You said there is "nothing cheap about this popcorn". You said of all the weddings you have been to, you remember "ZERO" about the food, but were quick to cite the candy bar cocktail hour when it served your argument. You also seem to be intimately familiar with every guest at the weddings you attend, as you state that NO ONE got sick or drunk from the candy bar cocktail hour and NO ONE will have an issue with your popcorn bar.
You asked for reactions to your idea, and yet are ignoring the majority consensus that popcorn as the SOLE offering for cocktail hour is not enough.
I'm still very curious as to what you meant by "not doing a full bar".
I really don't know a single person that would skip lunch because a dinner is being served later. So saying people go to weddings hungry because they are expecting to be fed is the dumbest plan anyone can do. Again you are a grown up, I shouldn't and won't make special plans because someone MAY not be responsible enough to eat lunch at some point before the event even starts. If a normal person eats lunch you are not starving by 5pm.
As to the candy bar, I remember there was one, not the details of it. So nothing about remembering it and saying I don't remember the food itself is contradictory.
I know nobody got sick because I was there shocker lol. I don't understand how you can be in such a bubble that you wouldn't know the environment around you.
The not a full bar means a signature cocktail, a couple beer options and wine.
In my experience, everyone I have spoken to at weddings has not been hungry at cocktail hour and sat there and munched because of nothing going on ie boredom, this included table mates at weddings, friends at weddings, and friends who have been to weddings I was not at. So from my experience the appetizer serves as a small item for people to snack on while they wait. I did that without it looking cheap by providing a few fun popcorn varieties instead of a plate with cheese and crackers then upped the entertainment.
I battled my mom over appetizers for a solid week as I had zero intention on even serving one at all. The popcorn bar was the cheapest per person I could afford while also ensuring everyone actually gets to eat something. My concern was if I get 2 cheese and cracker plates someone is bound to eat 3 slices and then the 2 cheese plates wouldn't be enough. We spent an entire week doing the math on every available option. The popcorn allows everyone 2.5 cups before I run out... Verses one tacky slice of cheese on a cracker and a piece of fruit for the same cost.
I have people coming with nut allergies, and have zero intention on adding nuts... With my luck someone accidentally drops a nut into the popcorn containers then we send someone to the hospital all because someone on tk felt they wouldn't like just popcorn.
Like I said, I know our guests. Only sending out 30 invites pretty much guarantees you can make sure details like this are suited for everyone. If there was even one person I thought did not like popcorn yes I would add something else, but that's not the case here. I tried explaining that but you don't seem to understand the concept of actually knowing your friends and family.
I know my friends and family pretty well too. I don't know a single one that wouldn't be hungry at a cocktail hour. And believe it or not, all of them are adults. When one is going to eat dinner, one does not arrive full. That's basic common sense. It would not occur to me to eat a later lunch because my host will be a poor one.
Good luck. To answer your original question...2.5 cups of popcorn out of a bowl or 2.5 cups of popcorn out of a bag makes no difference.
ETA: Grammar
And as I said, if that's your pattern that you are hungry by 4:30 you would have some popcorn and the maturity to know not to guzzle 4 drinks in an hour.
I find it curious that you continue to refer to PP's maturity and level of responsibility to counter your arguments and justify your lack of complete hosting. In reference to a posters drink options, you said yourself in another thread that, "The beer choices are definitely lacking. I would not touch a single option and probably get way too drunk on the crazy liquor variety instead." You told that poster that her quantity of hard liquor choices seemed excessive.
Perhaps you should consider a maturity and reality check and understand that your sole food offering for a cocktail hour seems lacking.
As to the other post, me and all of my friends like craft beer of which she was having zero, so yes I personally find her beer choice to be lacking and there was an extreme on the liquor side. If she has more friends who like liquor then that works for her. I wasn't badgering her that my way was right, merely giving her insight.
To the bolded: I'm plenty mature, thanks. Of course I know my limits, and would simply not have a drink at the cocktail hour. But I'd definitely be side eyeing the host that didn't consider the fact that people would show up hungry and expecting to be fed as part of a hosted cocktail hour.
Also, I'm curious what's to stop me from taking more than my share of popcorn any more than taking extra cheese?
ETA: I'm also baffled that you know what time all these different people eat lunch.