How Many Hors D'oeuvres for 90 People?

caramels03 · February 2010

I am wondering how many butler-passed hors d'oeuvres we should order for our cocktail hour. Our wedding package comes with a cracker, fruit and cheese table for our guests, but we would like to add extra canapes. We expect to have around 90 guests. Hors d'oeuvres are sold in batches of 50.

Originally I was thinking of ordering 4 types of hors d'oeuvres (so 200 pieces), but I'm not sure if approx. 2 per person is enough. I want to keep costs down, but I don't want people to be hungry. What do you think is an adequate amount of hors d'oeuvres given our guestlist size?

Thanks!

fallbride1109 · February 2010

Our venue suggested 2 of each per person and we had 6 appetizers for a wedding in which we were planning for 140 people and ended up with around 100. We had fruit and cheese as part of our buffet but only passed appetizers for cocktail hour. What you are planning sounds about right.

Lasairiona · February 2010

At a non-meal time or during a cocktail hour before dinner,no more than 2-3 per person. If this is in place of a meal (which you can do, despite people telling you otherwise), serve 15-20 per person minimum. A plated meal is actually the equivalent of 5-7 pieces per person. That is describing heavy appetizers which are filling on their own such as coconut shrimp, chicken strips, a carving station with dinner rolls to make sandwiches from and the list goes on. What most people consider to be heavy appetizers (which is not correct) is very light food such as fruit trays and cheese platters.

duckie1905 · March 2010

If you are serving a few meal or having your reception at an off-mealtime you can get by with 2-3 pieces per person. We had the spread of fruit, cheeses etc and in addition to that we did 4 different kinds of passed apps which altogether equaled 3-4 pieces a person. I thought this was an excellent amount. We had a few of each leftover but nothing that I would consider wasteful.

If you are not serving a meal but are having your reception during a mealtime I would up that number signficantly and make sure you have plenty of filling, heavy options.

lyndausvi · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_many-hors-doeuvres-90-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:6c130b1f-5d5c-429b-a853-758a60e867c9Post:bcbd8f77-6832-439c-8ff3-a34b0a953eee">Re: How Many Hors D'oeuvres for 90 People?</a>:
[QUOTE]FI is a Chef and he always says 4 per person
Posted by Shawnee11507[/QUOTE]

DH is a chef, he agrees.

You do not have to have equal amounts of each hors d'ouvers. There are some that are clearly more popular than other in certain groups. For example if your crowd loves shrimp, you might have bump that up, but leave the others ones at a lower amount.

homediva · March 2010

Our venue suggested 5 per person, and we bumped it up to 8 per person (for an hour) because CERTAIN people in my family live in chronic fear that guests will go hungry, LOL! Sounds like 4 per person should be fine though.

caramels03 · March 2010

Thanks everyone for your feedback! We are having a full lunch reception immediately after the cocktail hour. The cocktail hour is just to whet everyone's appetites, but not make everyone too full!

I think I am going to go with 2-3 served hors d'oeuvres per person, in addition to the crackers/fruit/cheese tray.

How Many Hors D'oeuvres for 90 People?

Re: How Many Hors D'oeuvres for 90 People?

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