Family style or Buffet Style

Re: Family style or Buffet Style

• raangoli

  

  May 2011 edited December 2011

  We had a buffet wedding, but I have been to a few Indian weddings where it was family style. It's an option, but you have to make sure that there is attentive staff to make sure that if a dish needs to be refilled or if someone needs something, their request will be handled quickly.
  
  Then there is always the worry that the folks who get a particular dish first will leave nothing behind once it's passed, which brings me back to the point above.
  
  I don't think you can go wrong with either choice though.
  

  

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• rsmehta

  

  May 2011 edited December 2011

  Omg this is the most perfect question since I am dealing with this right now.  I really want family style and personally, don't prefer buffet style.  This is just my opinion but I don't like buffet because it seems very informal to me and it wastes 30 min of reception time for people to get their food.  However, I am realizing that family style is sometimes hard to organize in some venues (such as mine!)..
  
  First thing you have to make sure is that they have tables that are large enough to hold all the bowls, centerpiece and silverware without looking too congested.  This generally means a 72 inch table with 10 people per table.  Our venue only has 17 of these tables, which means we have to order 10 more tables from somewhere else- this has been a pain to arrange but we are doing it. 
  
  Next, you have to make sure the venue has enough bowls (usually like 7-8 per table) to serve the food in.  Again, our venue doesn't so we either have to rent/buy the bowls.  We are renting some for 0.80 cents per bowl (which is the cheapest I could find)...
  
  Then you have to make sure that there is enough food and the staff is attentive enough to refill...We were told this shouldn't be a problem..I hope it is not!
  
  So all in all, it is really personal preference.  It has been a pain to organize all of these and truly a hassle, but if you have a venue that has all these things already in place, then it shouldn't be an issue.  I have almost just given up multiple times and said screw it, let's just do buffet.  But I can tell my mom also really wants family style and she is willing to go through all these measures to make it happen.  In the end, I really don't think you can go wrong with either.  I just think you need to be aware of all the things that are included with family style and ask your venue about it first...
  

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• Hinaj member

  

  May 2011 edited December 2011

  Thanks guys!!
  
  I know one of my venue only offers buffet style and I really like the place because it has a view of the Chicago river and chicago's skyline. Let see what happens.
  
  

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• temurlang member

  

  May 2011 edited December 2011

  What works depends a lot on the venue, and both styles have some pros and cons.  The big plus to family style dining is that people stay seated.  If the venue knows how to handle the serving you do save a lot of time and it's more organized (in the sense of people not moving around as much).  We did family style.  It was the only option at our venue and it worked out great.  However, the venue does have to have a big staff and know how to get the right stuff on and off the table.

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