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Afternoon appetizer reception - opinions?

morrisonFTWmorrisonFTW member
10 Comments
in Second Weddings
How much food do you think is appropriate for an afternoon reception of heavy apps?  We're talking like 3pm..

I've pretty much settled on the following:

mini sandwiches - assorted
mini chicken cordon bleu
bison meatballs in a yummy sauce
shrimp cocktail
caprese skewers (tomatos, mozzarella, basil) with a bloody mary vinagrette
'twice baked' new potatoes (these are really cute!)


.. current catering price inculdes 2pp ... do we think 2pp is enough of this stuff, or should I get a price for like 3pp?  or should I add additional selections, such as chicken skewers and a cheese tray?
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Re: Afternoon appetizer reception - opinions?

  • Marrin713Marrin713 member
    1000 Comments Third Anniversary 5 Love Its Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    2 pieces per person?  We had an evening (after the dinner hour) appetizer reception.  We had a ton of stuff.  If I hadn't buried and boxed all the wedding stuff, I'd write it out.  I'll try to remember and post later.
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  • Sue-n-KevinSue-n-Kevin member
    Seventh Anniversary 5000 Comments 25 Love Its First Answer
    edited December 2011
    My Mom used to be in catering, and I recall mealtimes was roughly 8-10 apps per person. Not sure what you mean by "3 pm"...........serving at 3? Starting at 3? If you are just serving food for an hour or so, no dancing or drinking, and people leave by 5 pm, then I'd say yes, 2-3 per person is fine. If you have any alcohol or people will be there for more than 3 hrs, I think you are talking about 5-6 per person.

    And regardless of the amount of time, all of the above assumes there is something to top off the appetizer, ie dessert or cake.
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  • morrisonFTWmorrisonFTW member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks guys - so, the reception/serving will start about 3:30p, and there will be two pieces of each above app for each guest, so that's 14 pieces/apps per person.  The reception will only last a couple hours; no dancing, no traditional wedding stuff like bouquet toss.. just mingling.  We will probably have friends that say later, but I plan on doing a more casual snack later in the night for hangers-on.


    There will be cake!
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  • Sue-n-KevinSue-n-Kevin member
    Seventh Anniversary 5000 Comments 25 Love Its First Answer
    edited December 2011
    OMG, I guess I totally misunderstood........you meant two of EACH for each person? I thought you meant 2 total, LOL. .................slinking away.
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  • morrisonFTWmorrisonFTW member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    No, no Sue!!  I was not clear with my original post!!  Also, I have some friends that are telling me that the above menu is not enough food for that time of day and the event.  Their reasoning is because "people might want more than two shrimp and two meatballs" ... I'm thinking to myself, "I like to eat, and if I ate 14 pieces of appetizer I'd be STUFFED."  especially with the mini sandwiches and all of the rich stuff.
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  • Avion22Avion22 member
    2500 Comments 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    I think that 14 pieces per person is just fine. But I'm only counting 6 apps that you listed....

     Do you plan on doing crudite or a fruit or anything like that?  My only concern with the menu you have now is that there aren't a lot of vegetarian options, so your vegetarian guests might be a little bit hungry.  If you know that you don't have any vegetarian guests, then you should be fine:-)

    What about dessert?  Are you doing any kind of dessert at all?  If not, you might want to go with at least one sweet option.
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  • hsbstonehsbstone
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I had seen my parents organize a lot of cocktails in my whole life and I've learned that if you don't have a main course, you should have around 12-14 pieces per person at least. If this is a seated function, you could keep it between 13-15 p/p.
    If there is alcohol involved, you can go back to the 12-14 p/p. Keep in mind that's better have leftovers; if you have children below 11 y.o. or seniors above 63 y.o., in the reception they will consume half of the adults, but if you have teenagers  above 13 y.o., count them as adults. The selection is very appropriated. You time is more like a afternoon tea than a lunch or dinner, so you are doing just fine.
    Could be great to offer a dessert like a wedding cake, or mini cupcakes as a final delicacy.
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  • fireytigerfireytiger member
    Knottie Warrior 1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    The advice that people gave you here is pretty sound, although if you'd like, I found a website while searching for info about DIYing my reception food, with ideas for different menus and how much you will need approximately for everyone to have enough. http://www.ellenskitchen.com/index.html You have to click around all over the site to find everything, but pretty much any idea you might have for food to serve, it's probably listed there somewhere, or could give you some ideas of where to start.

    Also, remember that not everyone is going to just take 2 of each individual thing. For example, I LOVE twice baked potatoes, but don't really care for shrimp cocktail or caprese skewers. So if this were a free-for-all, I'd be much more likely to get 4 or 5 mini sandwiches as well as 4 or 5 potatoes, and then skip the things that I don't care for. Many guests may do the same thing, if they really love shrimp cocktail but hate chicken cordon bleu, etc.

    And I just wanted to say, I love your reception style idea, I often rave about a wedding I attended when I was younger that was just like that, hors d'oeuvres, drinks, and mingling with some background music. No dancing, none of the "traditions" like throwing bouquets or garters. It was honestly the classiest wedding reception i've ever attended. FI and I opted to go with the dancing in a hall route, but I sometimes wish we could do a more low-key affair like that. :)
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  • Lisa50Lisa50 member
    2500 Comments 5 Love Its Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011

    It sounds like you have more than enough for the reception, esp with cake.  Enjoy!

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  • lindaloulubbocklindaloulubbock
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I think that sounds perfect, and I think mini cupcakes would be a really cute end note for that type of service. 

    I'm with you--14 apps, and I'd be stuffed!
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  • shytownkellyshytownkelly
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    The only other thing - know your audience.

    We are doing heavy apps for our reception as well - but I told the caterer to plan BIG.  My guy is a rugby player - and we have a lot of rugby boys coming to the party.  Guess what?  they don't eat light.  No matter what time of day. 

    But otherwise it sounds like you are spot on!


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  • morrisonFTWmorrisonFTW member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    1] I'd like to apologize for my math.  That is six appetizers.  lol.. that would be 12/pp. 

    2] We are stating it's a cocktail reception, so folks will be prepared to have ate lunch prior.  I feel like stating cocktail reception will make all of the difference in the world on what people expect vs. what we've got.

    I am going to add on a few fruit, veggie and cheese trays, and probably one more meat option. (chicken and/or beef skewers with sauces).  That would be a total of 14 pieces per person, not including fruit/veggie/cheese.  We may have one, possibly two vegetarians, but neither are on the "MUST INVITE" list, so they may be cut as planning proceeds.  This will definitely be a good amount of food for our guestlist.

    I'm tossing around the idea of doing a candy bar.. just a few jars of various sweets, becasue my FI is a candy LOVER. 

    We're serving diner style cakes as our wedding cake, so there will be plenty of cake to finish the day.

    Also, as we expect to have a few late-night hangers-on (our BFFs and siblings), I'll pull out more casual snacks around 7-8p and we're also tossing around the idea of doing a smores bar over the patio fire pit around 10p. (if we think a few folks might still be there then... considering how most of our house parties go, this is a huge possibility.)

    Thanks again for all of the help guys!
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  • Avion22Avion22 member
    2500 Comments 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    morrisonFTW, I think your plan sounds awesome:-)  It sounds like you've thought everything through, and you should be good to go!   BTW, sounds like yummy food!
    DSC_9275
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  • AbbeyS2011AbbeyS2011 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Sounds good to me.  You have it planned out well.  It is a good idea to ask for a price of 3/pp of each app., just so you have some wiggle room in your budget. 

    We are getting married at 2 pm, with the reception from 3 pm - 6pm and also serving heavy apps along with cake.

    On our invites, I put "Reception Following Ceremony". 
    Anniversary
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  • morrisonFTWmorrisonFTW member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Avion - I really want to go with this caterer .. their food is always SO SO GOOD.  We'll see though.. I bet they're booked for June 2012 already!  I won't be in the position to start contracting until like six months out, so here's to hoping I can get them.
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