food questions

andecat

I'm having problem w/ my food. We want "Cocktail Party" food, hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, meat & cheese board, and veggie and olive bars, plus a dessert bar w candy. My mom says its not enough and we should do a buffet. Any input or help is welcome. Thank you.

NOLAbridealmost

You'll get different opinions. 

100% of us agree that at the very least you must have enough hors d'oeuvres and cheese/etc. to constitute a full meal if you're having a dinner time reception.

Some will also say that it's simply unacceptable to not do a full meal at dinner hours. 

I come from a city where 90% of receptions are station/heavy appetizers.  The food is available the whole time, there's no assigned seating, and there is absolutely enough food to be a meal.   It works here.  I am not sure how things work in Tahoe. 

If you go with the hors d'oeuvres reception you need about 12 passed pieces per person. I'd strongly recommend supplementing the passed stuff with a cheese/veggie display like you said and a meat carving station.  That rounds it out to full meal status usually. 

DeadUtopia

Like pp said, I think there's lots of differing opinions on this and nothing is technically 'right' or 'wrong' as long as you have enough food for the time of day. And I agree that as long as you have enough to be as heavy as a meal at a dinnertime reception then it is enough food and you wouldn't have to upgrade to a full on buffet. A buffet might actually be more budget friendly than heavy apps sometimes, but you sacrifice a multitude of selections for a larger portion of more meal appropriate food.