We are starting to think about how we are going to serve dinner at our reception. We are having a tented reception in June. Our wedding is over a year away and no menu items have been set in stone yet. All the weddings I have been to in the past have been plated dinners, so I'm looking for thoughts/cautions/experiences on combining multiple methods. I am looking for info prior to any meetings about food and menu with our reception staff and chef.
Personally I like the idea of a family-style service best, because to me a wedding is a bringing-together of friends and loved ones, in the same way that a thanksgiving or Christmas dinner would be.
I don't love the idea of an entirely buffet-style meal, simply due to the waiting in line issue, and that we will have roughly 150 people. I don't think food stations would be an option at our venue.
Also, there will be a few vegan guests, probably a couple vegetarians, and inevitably other allergies/restrictions.
On this note, between my mom, siblings, and myself, we already have to eliminate eggs, cow's dairy (we can use goat and sheep cheese), soy, peanuts, and most other nuts from the menu. We will likely not be serving fish/shellfish , so that covers most common allergens. I don't want to be eating different food than everyone else at my own wedding. Our venue is very open to customizing food items, or altering existing recipes.
I do not know of anyone who is gluten-intolerant/celiac (but it's possible).
In my mind this makes sense:
Plated salad course
Family-style main course - we will most likely have two meat options plus a vegan option, two starch options, and one or two veggie options
Dessert Buffet later on - Neither myself or my fiancee is big on cake - we have talked about possibly doing fruit pies and ice cream, the pie from our venue's restaurant is to die for
I know that for family style to work, the tables will need to be relatively bare - I haven't decided on center pieces yet but probably something floral. No candles, we will have lots of white xmas-lights strung up from the ceiling of the tent. Favors can be put on a table/display elsewhere if needed.
Round tables of 8 or long tables? I think the long tables (for 16, 8 on each side) look nicer, but is this logistically a bad idea? My mom is concerned that people will not be able to easily talk to the other guests at their table if they are seated at long tables. I have never attended a wedding that was not round tables.
The food is one of the most important things to both myself and my fiancee, so budget is pretty flexible as we have for sure overbudgeted for food.
Thoughts?