Serving Food At Your Reception

Articles / / Serving Food At Your Reception

At any reception, the decision of what food to serve is a very important one. When it comes to this decision you may feel a bit overwhelmed to begin with. After all, there are so many alternative wedding reception food ideas available that it may not be easy to narrow down your choices. But at the same time, a lot of options are also a good thing. As long as you are patient with your decision making process, and check out a range of possibilities, making a choice will come to you eventually.

One of the first decisions that you need to make concerning your reception meal is how much money you have to work with. The amount of guests that you are having at your reception is going to greatly affect your overall costs. This is something that you need to keep in mind when making up the guest list. The more people that you invite to your reception the more money you will have to spend on food.

Another pricing decision that you have to make is based on which caterer you choose. The wedding catering industry is very big, and the decision that you make will greatly affect your budget. Remember, you will be trying to save money when hiring somebody to cater your reception, but you also want to make sure that the food is of high quality. After all, what good does it do you to hire a low cost caterer that serves food that your guests do not like? For this reason you need to make sure that you do plenty of research into a range of caterers before deciding upon one. Ask all your prospective caterers for references before making any decision.

In general, a breakfast or early lunch reception will cost less than one that is served at dinner time. This is a great option if you are looking to save money, but one that will have to be planned for. If you are going to do this you will need to move your ceremony to earlier in the day as well.

If you are looking to cut costs, one of the wedding reception food ideas you may want to opt for is a buffet. Buffets are usually less expensive than seated meals. The main advantage of having a buffet is that your guests will be able to pick and choose what they want to eat. This way they will always be able to find something that they like instead of being served something that they may not want to eat.

One buffet option that you may want to look into is setting up food stations for people to choose from. By doing this, your guests will have the ability to get the food that they want from a designated area. For example you can set up one food station that is serving traditional food such as chicken, as well as one that has Chinese, one that has Italian, etc. This can also help to break up the line a bit so that people are not standing for too long. Food stations at receptions are becoming more and more popular and it is a good option to consider.

On the other hand, you may not want to have a buffet style reception. Your other main option is to have a sit down meal. This option is often more costly, and is usually used for more formal receptions.

A big advantage of a seated meal is that guests do not have to do a lot of work. They do not have to get up to get their food, and at the same time it gives them more time to sit at the table and socialize with other people.

For a seated meal you will need to make a careful choice as to the food that you offer. If you do this you will risk having a lot of people left hungry. Although you no doubt have your own wedding reception food ideas, you may not want to serve anything that is too obscure, and it is often best to choose traditional favorites that the majority of your guests may like.

Other reception options are available as well. Some couples decide that instead of having a meal that they are simply going to serve tea. This is great if you are trying to keep costs down, but you must also consider that your guests may be hungry after the reception. In addition, this option is usually not too popular among younger guests so make sure that you keep this in mind.

A dessert only reception can be another cost efficient option. If you are going to exercise this option remember that you may be sending some of your guests home with an empty stomach!

Overall, there are many reception meal options that you can choose from. As long as you keep cost and your guests in mind you should be able to make a good decision without much trouble at all.

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