Pasta for reception menu!?

johara9109 · February 2014

Hi guys!

FH and I are having trouble deciding on our wedding menu. Out wedding is very classic, traditional, elegant style wedding. Our budget is about $25,000 so it isn't small but we are still trying to save money where we can.

Would it be tacky to have pasta stations for dinner?

-Different sauces, veggies, noodles and meats can be added to the pasta and it is a chef attended station. So it isn't like it's baked ziti in a buffet pan and guests are serving themselves. So we would have that, bread and salad and a s'mores station for dessert along side our wedding cake.

Help! I don't want to be tacky at all, I want people having fun, bellies full of yummy food, drinks in hand, getting down on the dance floor. Bottom line :-)

Maggie0829 · February 2014

Not tacky at all. In fact, I would love that.

Just make sure that none of your guests have any gluten issues though.

johara9109 · February 2014

*Clarification*

We are having salad, and bread with dinner and a cocktail hour with some hors d'oeuvre's and like I said, s'mores station and wedding cake. Plenty of alcohol to go around.

Maggie0829 · February 2014

I think what scribe was saying was that you should have a pasta station plus additional stations like a beef with mashed potatoes and veggies station and maybe a fish station with rice.

For me, I love pasta, and if you have a large variety of pasta with sauces and many mix-ins both veggie and protein I think that is quite a lot of food choices for your guests. Just don't skimp on the mix-ins.

abbyj700 · February 2014

I think it's a great idea! I'm with Maggie on this one - I LOVE pasta. It gives vegetarians and meat eaters a like great options! Not tacky at all!

emmyg65 · February 2014

Pasta is delicious, and I'd have no problem eating it. But TBH, I don't consider it very formal or elegant by itself. Do you have a very large guest list?

princessleia22 · February 2014

I don't think there is anything wrong with it, but like PP's said, you may want to consider another menu option as well, like a beef or turkey carving station. Most people love pasta, and I would be thrilled with the pasta station, but not everyone is that way. My FI absolutely hates any type of pasta and won't touch the stuff. We can't even go to an Italian restaurant unless we confirm ahead of time that they offer burgers, steak, or pizza. And some people have gluten sensitivities, which may lead them to avoid pasta as well. So, that may be something to consider.

But, formality wise, I don't think it's a problem.

lc07 · February 2014

I agree that there should be another non-gluten/non-dairy main course option.

JoanE2012 · February 2014

scribe95 said:

I have to be honest, for a $25,000 wedding I think the food should be better than pasta stations with hardly any sides. Food and alcohol should be the majority of your budget. This is where you should splurge.

I agree. I'd add a carving station and a couple of sides like mashed potatoes and green beans. My father (as well as several men I know) are not huge pasta eaters.....but they like their meat and potatoes! I think the carving station will give you a well rounded menu.

Food is usually the most remembered part of a wedding. Don't skimp or try and save money there, especially when you have a decent budget!

RebeccaB88 · February 2014

When I hear 'pasta dinner', I automatically think 'casual and/or on a tight budget'. Which, there's nothing wrong with that, you're still hosting your guests appropriately, and a lot of people love pasta. It's inexpensive, filling, and yummy. But to me, it's not a formal meal. Spaghetti with red sauce is tough to eat neatly wearing dressy clothes. So consider the formality of your event when making a decision.

I'm also not sure that just salad and bread would be enough sides, especially if it's a dressy or very large event. I'd expect things like bruschetta, maybe chicken marsala or parmigiana, meatballs, seafood, good olive oils, fancy cheeses, an antipasti table, stuff like that. Definitely enough that the non-pasta eaters will have enough to eat. Not thinking just about the gluten-free crowd, but I'm diabetic and only eat certain kinds of low-carb pasta. If you didn't have that, then I'd be eating just salad and bread (diabetics have to be careful with bread as well).

Agree with PP that your catering/food should be the majority of your budget. If you had a high end venue, large guest list, fancy DJ, expensive dress, then presented me with a buffet of plain pasta and salad, then I might wonder about your priorities. I'm not saying this is what you're doing, by any means. (You haven't shared that with us.) But food is expensive and it's one of the things that people remember most clearly about an event, not the flowers or dress. I would save money elsewhere to make sure I had the best and most abundant food I could have for my budget.

BlueBirdMB · February 2014

We had a pasta station- angel hair with pesto, cavatappi with plum tomatoes and mushrooms, and butternut squash ravioli. The pastas were separate and they they heated them to order with the sauces and there were tons of different toppings to add like fresh herbs and different cheeses. We also had GF pasta available to use with the sauces.

Is that your only dinner option? I'd add something else. We also had a meat and fish option.

JCbride2015 · February 2014

I would suggest adding a carving station and hot vegetable sides. And maybe some of the pasta meat mix-ins can double as a meat option for people who don't want pasta. This is coming from a girl who loves pasta-- I don't want it to be my whole meal, I want some healthier options too.

CrazyCatBride · February 2014

I personally think that pasta stations with a good amount of mix-ins would be great, but I would add a station with chicken parm or chicken Marsala or something like that. Personally, I don't think extra sides are needed. If there is someone that cannot/will not eat pasta, they could have some of the veggies or cheese or whatever mix-ins

jessicabessica · February 2014

I was going to suggest something like what @BlueBirdMB had. What about "fancier" pastas, like gnocchi or ravioli, as some of the options? You could have the pastas be vegetarian, and then a carving station and a platter of grilled veggies. That sounds awesome. (If you have meat at the pasta station, I would ask the chefs there to have a dedicated vegetarian pan and spatula for vegetarian guests.)

vt&dt · February 2014

johara9109 said:

Hi guys!

FH and I are having trouble deciding on our wedding menu. Out wedding is very classic, traditional, elegant style wedding. Our budget is about $25,000 so it isn't small but we are still trying to save money where we can.

Would it be tacky to have pasta stations for dinner?
-Different sauces, veggies, noodles and meats can be added to the pasta and it is a chef attended station. So it isn't like it's baked ziti in a buffet pan and guests are serving themselves. So we would have that, bread and salad and a s'mores station for dessert along side our wedding cake.

Help! I don't want to be tacky at all, I want people having fun, bellies full of yummy food, drinks in hand, getting down on the dance floor. Bottom line :-)

We're having pasta stations for our reception meal. We are having probably 4 options of each - pasta/sauce/meat/veggies. It includes salad and bread. We're adding some more protein-heavy and hot-vegetable appetizers before dinner - you might want to look into that. We're incorporating a sort of travel theme - and Italian food seems to be a great option that will have something for everyone.

Our budget is about 10k less than yours, though - and we're expecting about 240-250 guests. Knowing the cost for our pasta stations (may be different) - what % of your wedding budget would be on the dinner then?

MyNameIsNot · February 2014

We had a pasta station as one of our three stations.

Having a chef attend and offering several options for noodle, sauce, meat and veggies puts it on a whole different level than a pan of lasagna or ziti. The carving station was the biggest hit, but people enjoyed being able to order custom pasta dishes.

One thing to consider, though is the flow of people. A chef attended station involves someone making 2-3 dishes at once, and it takes a few minutes. If you have a ton of people, the line is going to be outrageous. Having multiple stations and releasing tables can help, but this is probably not a great idea if you're having a large wedding.

MayDay513 · February 2014

I LOVE PASTA STATIONS! Definitely save money where you can. Other costs creep up on you.

melbelleup · February 2014

I'm another vote to add another station. I do love the idea of a pasta station though!

johara9109 · February 2014

Thank you everybody for your suggestions!

We aren't doing pasta after all :-)

JoanE2012 · February 2014

johara9109 said:

Thank you everybody for your suggestions!
We aren't doing pasta after all :-)

Well don't leave us hanging.....what did you decide?!

Gerbertmcway · February 2014

MyNameIsNot said:

We had a pasta station as one of our three stations.

Having a chef attend and offering several options for noodle, sauce, meat and veggies puts it on a whole different level than a pan of lasagna or ziti. The carving station was the biggest hit, but people enjoyed being able to order custom pasta dishes.

One thing to consider, though is the flow of people. A chef attended station involves someone making 2-3 dishes at once, and it takes a few minutes. If you have a ton of people, the line is going to be outrageous. Having multiple stations and releasing tables can help, but this is probably not a great idea if you're having a large wedding.

How many guests did you have? I'm having 100 and trying to decide whether stations would be practical.

Maggie0829 · February 2014

@Gerbertmcway - I had 4 stations and I never noticed any get backed up with people. We had about 130 guests. The good thing with stations as opposed to a buffet is that your guests can pick and choose which station to go to rather then all the guests having to stand in the same buffet line. So typically the station lines don't get as long as a buffet line. As long as your caterer releases the tables one to two at a time you should be fine.

JoanE2012 · February 2014

Maggie0829 said:

@Gerbertmcway - I had 4 stations and I never noticed any get backed up with people. We had about 130 guests. The good thing with stations as opposed to a buffet is that your guests can pick and choose which station to go to rather then all the guests having to stand in the same buffet line. So typically the station lines don't get as long as a buffet line. As long as your caterer releases the tables one to two at a time you should be fine.

I've only been to one wedding that was a buffet. The coordinator "released" the tables and we hated it, as did everyone at our table. We were the second to last table to be "released", so I think that was part of it. We were sitting around looking at all this yummy food just waiting to be called. Then, by the time we got our food and got back to the table, the people from the earlier tables were nearly done. But my immediate thought.... I felt instantly transported back to elementary school when the cafeteria ladies would tap on our table when it was our turn to go up for our meal. Of course, the alternative is standing in a long ass line, and that's not pleasant either.

Cookie Pusher · February 2014

Our caterer has a salad course being served at the tables. They will be releasing the tables in the order they were served their salads, so the last people to get salad will hopefully not have a lot of "dead time" between finishing their salad and going up the buffet.

MyNameIsNot · February 2014

Gerbertmcway said:

MyNameIsNot said:

We had a pasta station as one of our three stations.

Having a chef attend and offering several options for noodle, sauce, meat and veggies puts it on a whole different level than a pan of lasagna or ziti. The carving station was the biggest hit, but people enjoyed being able to order custom pasta dishes.

One thing to consider, though is the flow of people. A chef attended station involves someone making 2-3 dishes at once, and it takes a few minutes. If you have a ton of people, the line is going to be outrageous. Having multiple stations and releasing tables can help, but this is probably not a great idea if you're having a large wedding.

How many guests did you have? I'm having 100 and trying to decide whether stations would be practical.

We had 3 stations with 100 guests and it was ok. I would have preferred a fourth, but it wasn't in budget. The cocktail hour apps were still available (although not passed) while guests were getting meals.

The stations take a little longer than a regular buffet, because rather than just spoon food onto a plate, the chef actually had to cut the meat or heat the pasta dish. Some stations can be much faster, though.

JoanE2012 · February 2014

Cookie Pusher said:

Our caterer has a salad course being served at the tables. They will be releasing the tables in the order they were served their salads, so the last people to get salad will hopefully not have a lot of "dead time" between finishing their salad and going up the buffet.

Isn't everyone served the salad pretty much at the same time? It's usually a few servers bringing out trays with all the salads. I've only seen it take a few minutes at most. Unless they are spacing the salad delivery out?!

indianaalum · February 2014

vt&dt said:

johara9109 said:

Hi guys!

FH and I are having trouble deciding on our wedding menu. Out wedding is very classic, traditional, elegant style wedding. Our budget is about $25,000 so it isn't small but we are still trying to save money where we can.

Would it be tacky to have pasta stations for dinner?
-Different sauces, veggies, noodles and meats can be added to the pasta and it is a chef attended station. So it isn't like it's baked ziti in a buffet pan and guests are serving themselves. So we would have that, bread and salad and a s'mores station for dessert along side our wedding cake.

Help! I don't want to be tacky at all, I want people having fun, bellies full of yummy food, drinks in hand, getting down on the dance floor. Bottom line :-)

We're having pasta stations for our reception meal. We are having probably 4 options of each - pasta/sauce/meat/veggies. It includes salad and bread. We're adding some more protein-heavy and hot-vegetable appetizers before dinner - you might want to look into that. We're incorporating a sort of travel theme - and Italian food seems to be a great option that will have something for everyone.

Our budget is about 10k less than yours, though - and we're expecting about 240-250 guests. Knowing the cost for our pasta stations (may be different) - what % of your wedding budget would be on the dinner then?

That is what I was wondering. 25,000 is a decent budget. If you are spending so little on food, where is your budget going to? FOOD should be about 40-50 percent of your budget....If it isn't, you need to re-consider whether you are splurging on less important things.

FOOD should be prioritized higher than a wedding dress, for example

Cookie Pusher · February 2014

JoanE2012 said:
Isn't everyone served the salad pretty much at the same time? It's usually a few servers bringing out trays with all the salads. I've only seen it take a few minutes at most. Unless they are spacing the salad delivery out?!

We're planning for 100 guests, so it will take a couple of minutes as we are only being provided 4 servers. But it's a salad, it won't take an hour to eat. But that extra 5 minute buffer makes the wait to get on the buffet lines seem a little less. We're also having lines on both sides of each station except the carving station, so the lines will actually move fairly quickly.

sarahs616 · February 2014

I think pasta is awesome- very few people dislike it!

Fairyjen1 · February 2014

The last wedding I went to had this. Basic pasta (ravioli, tortellini, fettuccine, etc) with several different sauces and meat and veggies to mix in, along with salad and bread. They had a pretty tight budget though and weren't trying to have overly formal wedding so it was just fine. I liked it because they had Pesto and cheese tortellini. I eat meat, but don't like it with pasta (I know I'm weird).

Pasta for reception menu!?

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