appetizer help

rebeccam92

I would really appreciate help with my appetizers. We are having an hour-hour and a half cocktail hour with 200 people. We are having Bruchetta with tomato, basil, and mozzarella, melon and prosciutto skewers, different types of cheeses and crackers, caprese salad, and watermelon skewers. We are doing it all ourselves and the problem is I am not sure how much of each to make to have enough. There will be about 150 adults and about 50 children ( I don't know if that really matters). Thanks

JaxInBlue

Our caterer recommened 6-8 pieces/servings per person for our pre-dinner cocktail hour, but I've seen recommendations for as low as 3-4.  We erred on the side of caution, though, which we were glad we did.  We had a 2:00 ceremony and people were apparently "saving up" for our reception.  We had stations for cheese and crackers, veggies, fruit, and meatballs, and passed beef and chicken skewers.

itzMS

Agreed with the 8 pieces per guest. If you can, do a "tasting panel" with samples (invite some friends/family over) before the wedding. Then, make sure to make extra of the most popular items for the reception.

Your appetizers sound delicious, but they also seem fairly "light" so people will no doubt eat even more!

Maggie0829

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_appetizer-help?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:23Discussion:e4e7f20c-921a-4835-bfbd-d3703be87dbdPost:b3323247-5883-47b7-b535-fc304f8c498a">Re: appetizer help</a>:
[QUOTE]Agreed with the 8 pieces per guest. If you can, do a "tasting panel" with samples (invite some friends/family over) before the wedding. Then, make sure to make extra of the most popular items for the reception. <strong>Your appetizers sound delicious, but they also seem fairly "light" so people will no doubt eat even more</strong>!
Posted by itzMS[/QUOTE]

I agree with this, especially the bolded part.

Is there anyway you can add something a bit heartier, such as a meat and/or chicken app, to your selection?

fallbride1109

We had six different appetizers and my venue recommended that we have enough that each person got two of each, so 12 pp total.

Peavy

I find www.ellenskitchen.com to be very helpful when trying to serve large crowds.

A couple of comments -- a lot of your appetizers are very labor intensive, especially those that will be on skewers.  I hope you have a lot of kitchen help, because you will be making literally a thousand appetizers or more to serve 200 people.  This will take hours and hours and hours.  If you are making them in advance, how will they be stored safely?  Will they still look and taste good the next day?  Who will set up the food?  The caprese salad and the bruschetta are very similar tastes, you might want to delete one of them and substitute with something else.

I also think that an hour and a half is too long for a cocktail hour.  It's just too long to keep people waiting for the main event.

NOLAbridealmost

My first thought was "bruschetta and caprese?  Isn't that basically the same?"  I mean, it basically is except one is on bread and one is not.   I'd cut the skewer and keep the bruschetta because the bread makes it a little heartier but they taste the same.   

Similarly, two melon ones?  Pick one, ditch the other.  

It's way better to have 4 very different options to please a wider variety of palates.  Plus, it's gotta be easier to make twice as many of 1 than it is to make 2 extremely similar but not quite the same options. 

I'd add something really filling but easy to prepare like crockpots or chaffing dishes filled with mini-meatballs and sauce, and get a huge platter of shrimp and serve it with either remoulade or cocktail sauce (or both). 

leogirl13

I agree that your apps are just too alike. I would pick 1 tomato based one and 1 melon based one and discard the other two. Since you seem to be going with an Italian feel I would add something like  meatballs, toasted ravioli, mini lasagnas, stuffed mushrooms, antipasto, stuffed olives, toasted cheese, shrimp, or fruit skewers.