Beverages:
Coffee with sweeteners, dairy milk and soy milk
Iced tea with lemon, simple syrup, and artificial sweeteners
Pink lemon-limeade
Very Berry Refresher
Cider punch
Water with lemon on the side (maybe a gallon or two of infused water in addition to plain)
Food:
Cheese and crackers tray
Vegetable trays with dip (including vegan dips)
Fruit trays
Finger sandwiches: chicken salad, egg salad, tofu salad, cucumber-cream cheese, pimiento cheese
Wraps cut in thirds: Ham, turkey, roast beef, and roasted vegetable, plus a tray of gluten-free wraps with roasted vegetables
Mediterranean trays with hummus, baba ghanouj, stuffed grape leaves, and tabouli
Antipasti trays
"New York" deli trays with roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, and roast turkey for those who need something gluten-free with meat (I asked the deli manager at the grocery store and found out that all the meat is gluten-free) or just want something different; one with potato salad, one with coleslaw, hold the bread
Sweets:
Chocolate chip cookies (our nearby food service supply store has large boxes of ready-to-bake cookies)
Sheet cakes: one half-white and half-yellow, the other half-chocolate and half-red velvet, both with Bavarian cream filling and either white buttercream, white whipped satin, or Oreo whipped satin (I didn't know this was an option till today) icing
Vegan gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing
Late afternoon snack:
Sheet pizza
My questions:
1. We pushed the wedding back to October. Should we offer hot tea instead of or in addition to iced?
2. Should we bother with the infused water?
3. I was considering switching to mini croissant sandwiches instead of wraps (except for gluten-free, of course). The costs are comparable. What do you think guests would prefer?
4. Do you think the corned beef and pastrami are polarizing (I was never a fan of either even when I still ate red meat, but I know folks who would enjoy them. FW likes corned beef but not pastrami.)?
5. What flavors and/or icing would you pick for the cakes? Me, I'm all about the frosting regardless of type, and I know buttercream will hold up better if it's hot. Also, FW loves the Bavarian cream but I'm concerned about it in heat. (October weather in Ohio is weird.)
6. What do you think about the pizza?

Re: Our proposed menu
2. Sure, why not?
3. This is just personal preference, but as much as I love croissants, I like them better on their own (or filled with chocolate, lol). I'd say stick with the wraps.
4. If you have enough guests who'd enjoy corned beef or pastrami, then go for it. Since you have the roast beef and turkey as well, you should be okay. I'll admit I'd be pretty excited to see corned beef at a wedding since I love it.
5. My only knowledge of frosting involves eating it in large quantities. You may want to discuss this with whoever is making the cakes.
6. The pizza depends on the length of your reception, I think. You've got a very nice (and big) selection of food already, so I'm not sure this is necessary.
@missfrodo, we're making our own beverages; I'll rent or borrow urns for the coffee and hot tea and a 5-gallon dispenser for plain water, and I often see 1- and 2-gallon beverage dispensers for the cold drinks in thrift stores or on Craigslist. I was thinking a melon-cucumber infused water and maybe a citrus-mint one. The pizza would be from our favorite local place. It reminds me of the pizza I had as a kid growing up in a very Italian neighborhood.
The hot tea is very know your crowd- do you have a lot of tea drinkers? For example, I know my parents only drink coffee in the morning, and then have tea in the afternoon and evening, so if they wanted something hot to drink, it'd be tea, not coffee. Are a lot of your guests like them?
I'd go for the infused water. I'd also stick with wraps instead of croissants, which I love but are a bit messy. The flakes get all over me when I eat one (maybe I'm just a messy eater lol), whereas a wrap holds the sandwich fillings so nicely.
Like you, I like any frosting, but buttercream is probably the least polarizing.
And to me, pizza is always a nice addition to any wedding (or anything).
I would have both iced and hot tea, like you said October weather is unpredictable!
I would save the pizza for the afterparty or not bother tbh as it's a 3 hour reception.
I also think infused water is a great idea.
Do you and FW have someone to push the on button on the coffee machine? lol
I love the sound of the cucumber-melon infused water!
Wraps, wraps, wraps! They're easier to eat, less flaky, and just less messy in general.
Corned beef!!!!
I know nothing about frosting, sorry, can't help there.
Your menu sounds wonderful. Sorry if I missed this, but how are you keeping the sandwich meats/egg salad/etc cold? I think that would be my biggest concern with the menu, that food getting warm.
This is what the "chill and fill" tables look like, if you haven't seen them. I think we'll need at least three or four, but they're not that expensive to rent.
http://www.abcpartycentral.com/equipment.asp?action=category&category=51&key=TABFILL
I think if you're having pizza you should have it out with all the other food. If I had sandwiches and cake for lunch I'm not going to be hungry like 2 hours later, BUT if it was "sandwiches or pizza" I might have 1 slice of pizza and a half sammie or something.
Also, wraps for sure!
Are y'all self-catering this? That influences my answers. So assuming you are self-catering since that's the vibe I'm getting, I answered that way below:
1) offer hot tea instead of iced tea (you already have a bunch of other cold options); and I like @labro's suggestion of hot cider instead of cold cider. If you do that, you have 3 hot options (coffee, tea, cider) and 3 cold (lemonade, refresher, water).
2) No, you already have a bunch of options
3) I LOVE croissants so I'm biased here.
But wraps are probably less messy/crumby and more of a crowd pleaser.
4) For simplicity, one or the other, but not both.
5) I think you can do buttercream frosting and still have Bavarian cream as a filling.
6) Skip it
In general, if you are self-catering, I would skinny down some offerings so you aren't super stressed in the days before. How many people are on your guest list?
The food is coming from two different grocery stores (a natural grocery that does catering and our regional chain), including the cake. The only thing we're making ourselves are the beverages. I like the three hot beverages, three cold beverages idea.
Xxx
2. If it's cheap or free or isn't a bother to do, sure and it'd be a nice touch, but it's not necessary or worth extra stress.
3. Both! I like both kinds! Some people might prefer the less bread in wraps though.
4. I don't know, maybe. I do know I have always hated pastrami since I was a child, but the rest of my family really likes it. I will say you have turkey and then three somewhat similar meats. If you are able to, I'd maybe switch out one of the meats for ham or something else. If not, I'd make sure to order extra turkey because I think it could go fast just because it looks different.
5. The buttercream.
6. Pizza is always good! But not necessary if you're looking to save money.
1. We pushed the wedding back to October. Should we offer hot tea instead of or in addition to iced? I vote for @labro's suggestion of hot cider - yum!!
2. Should we bother with the infused water? Definitely!
3. I was considering switching to mini croissant sandwiches instead of wraps (except for gluten-free, of course). The costs are comparable. What do you think guests would prefer? I love both, but I think wraps are more universally crowd pleasing.
4. Do you think the corned beef and pastrami are polarizing (I was never a fan of either even when I still ate red meat, but I know folks who would enjoy them. FW likes corned beef but not pastrami.)? UO: Pastrami!!!! Love it.
5. What flavors and/or icing would you pick for the cakes? Me, I'm all about the frosting regardless of type, and I know buttercream will hold up better if it's hot. Also, FW loves the Bavarian cream but I'm concerned about it in heat. (October weather in Ohio is weird.) I love Bavarian cream - ditto PPs suggestion to see if it can be refrigerated. I also vote for buttercream.
6. What do you think about the pizza? I love pizza. Echoing PPs comments about ordering from a local favorite vs. a national chain, however.
ETA: I'll save the pizza for if we have an after-party, unless it looks like we might be running low on food. If that's the case, I'll order pizza.