Tapas reception? Does anyone have experience with this?

rashaa13

Hello fellow knotties,

My fiance and I have a limited budget and we were looking to have a small reception ,around 60 people, we are both foodies and really wanted to enjoy the food at our wedding without blowing all our savings. I was at first thinking of a cocktail reception but we really were looking to emphasize the food more than the drinks so I thought of a Tapas reception! I know people have done this in the past and tapas is becoming pretty popular. I personally have never experienced tapas at a wedding and I'm not sure exactly how one would set that up
 buffet style? passed? Brought to your table?
I just have no idea how to go about this but the idea itself is very appealing to me.

If anyone has any experience with this or tips please let me know!

Thank you so much!

MrsGandthebeag

I went to a wedding like this at dinner time.  There was not enough to constitute a meal.  Had I not eaten first (I had a feeling there wouldn't be enough) I would have been pissed.  So, lesson here is have enough to fill up your guests.  This will probably cost you the same as having a regular meal. 

NOLAbridealmost

Tapas are great but they won't be a budget friendly thing if you have enough of the to fill everyone up. It's way easier for a caterer to make large trays of food than to serve up tons of small plates.

Ella and Pedro

We are serving a tapas style meal at our reception.  We're structuring it thus:

7-8 PM - Cocktail Hour:

Butler-Passed Appetizers -

Demitasse of Cream of Asparagus Soup
Deviled Eggs
Caprese Salad Skewers
Rosemary-Lemon Chickpea Fritters with Blood Orange-Thai Chili Glaze
Asian Spoons of Mac-n-Cheese Ribboned with White Truffle Oil

Displayed/Stationery Appetizers-

Trio of American Artisan Cheeses, Seedless Grapes, Dried Figs, Crackers
Freshly Baked Breads, Olive Oil Dipping Sauce with Herbs & Garlic, Olive Assortment
Vegetable Trio with Boursin Dipping Sauce Cups
Sliced Pit Fruits (apricot, plum, nectarine, peaches) Kiwi, and Berries

Martini Bar Signature Cocktails-
Blood Orange-Mango
Triple Olive Double Dirty Classic
White Chocolate-Peppermint
Vanilla, Honey, Lavender

Dinner 8-9 PM

Three Stations, Chef-Prepared/Plated Tapas

1. Chicken, Duck, Pasta
Duck Wellington
Chicken and Black Bean Eggrolls with Tomato, Avacado, Roasted Corn Salad
Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Cilantro-Lime Sauce
Chicken Piccata in Ramekins
Tea-Smoked Chicken & Minced Ginger Lettuce Wraps
Freshly Made Tri-Color Cheese Tortellini with Pesto-Alfredo Sauce and Cracked Black Pepper

2. Beef, Pork, Lamb
Spicy Lamb Meatballs with Greek Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce
Steak Au Poive Crustini with Horseradish Mousse
Chorizo Sausage, Baby Peas, and Potato Empandas with Tomatillo Jam
Ham, Arugula, Greyeure, Honeycrisp Apple Flatbread White Pizza

3. Fish & Shellfish
Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple Rum Dipping Sauce
Salmon en Crute with Chive, Dijon, Lavender, and Honey Marinate
Cheseapeake Bay Style Crab Cakes with Remoulade
Bacon-Wrapped Fresh Diver Scallop with Lemon Buerre Blanc

Dessert 9-10 PM

Ice Cream Sundae Bar (4 flavors of ice cream) (10 toppings, including 4 sauce choices)

6 Types of Wedding Cake:
Lemon
Coconut
Old-Fashioned Chocolate/Chocolate Mousse
Hazelnut/Meriangue
Raspberry-Vanilla

Champagne or Moscato for the toast

Beer and Wine Beer or Full Open Bar till 11 PM (in addition to the Martini Bar)*

---

* My fiance's family are deciding what they wish to do. Probably buy the hard liquor and augment a B & W Bar provided by the caterer. They are hosting the alcohol, so my Fiance and I are not sure yet, and we have 10 months to go, so we'll see how this pans out. Not concerned, as I know everyone will have a great evening regardless of alcoholic choices available. But, because they are hosting this, I can't give you an exact per person cost. 

When we priced this event out with the beer and wine, but no champagne and no hard liquor except for the martini bar liquor, it was pricing at about $165-175 pp. This is for downtown Baltimore, and does not include an optional linen upgrade or the cake decor (candies, topper) we are providing. This DOES include the cake, the tables, the chairs, the service, the placesettings, the food, the clean-up, and taxes/fees.

Obviously, we had the luxury of a budget that allowed us to choose high-end ingredients like salmon steak, lamb, crab, shrimp, asparagus, fresh berries in March etc. 

I think you should assume a tapas menu that really ensures everyone is well-fed, and everyone finds items they want to eat is going to run more than a typical buffet or plated meal.