Canapés & Tapa style reception

I agree with MoonRide, if you are serving alcohol, you need to make sure that you have lots of food available. Otherwise Drunk Uncle Fred might get a liiiittle crazy.

I think it all depends on when your ceremony is. If you have an earlier ceremony, in the morning or afternoon, I think people deserve a meal because it's been a long day. If you are having an evening or late afternoon ceremony, you could probably get away with Tapas/Canapes for dinner because people will have eaten recently anyways.

If you do go with the Tapas, try to have a late night food snack as well, just in case people are hungry again. Oh and also I guess you should check with your venue to see if you can opt out of the traditional sitdown dinner... if they don't let you, you could always do "station" style serving where each station is something new... Ie) carving of a roast beef, sushi, salads, pasta, etc. to keep the tapas style that you like kind of alive, while still giving your guests somewhere to sit to eat.

It depends on how you do it. We go to Tapas restaurants for dinner all the time- love it! In fact, we went for tapas last night!

Tapas can definitely be a meal! As long as you have enough & more importantly, enough variety having a tapas style meal can be better than a sit down dinner, I love it b/c you can try so many different things.

Tapas and canapes are classified as finger foods/snacks. You can certainly host a wedding with appetizers like tapas and canapes, but there has to be more, and some of your apps have to be a little more substantial. I know you love them, but they might not appeal to everyone, so I'd suggest you add a few more conventional offerings. If you're not doing a full meal (and your wedding is being held during a meal time), you're going to want to do what is known as a heavy app reception. Just a heads-up -- if money is a consideration, you'll find that heavy app receptions are usually just as expensive as full meals. Talk to a caterer and see what kind of package they can put together for you.

I love it; if you have enough food, it'll be fun!! I'd put it on the invites ("join us for hors d'oeuvres and tapas"). You can absolutely serve enough food this way without the same old plate of 'meat and three', lol.... and how much fun!!

i'd probably mix stations, small served plates and hors d'oeuvres, but I agree; this won't be a cost saver. It will probably cost as least as much, but it's so interesting!

Our tapas wedding menu (I was a caterer) always had skewers (meat and chicken), saffron meatballs, a potato dish, a salad dish, a mussel or fish dish and veggies. I think everyone would find things to eat, and plenty of them, if it's done well.

Go for it!

I also like the idea. In my head it's like an on going cocktail hour. Cocktail hour is always my favorite part of weddings because there's so much food & so much variety. people walk around, mingle & drink cocktails, ofcourse. I agree with Celia, as long as it's enough food then go for it!

I also hate the sit down wedding meal so we are also doing cocktails, apps a few stations and no sit down meal. We are having seated low round tables for half the # of planned guests and some high tops for people to hand around. We have a very nice bar area with a few couches and a huge patio (hoping for a sunny day!) with a bunch of tables and chairs; it overlooks the golf course. Your idea sounds great to me. The last wedding I was at was my nieces and I was stuck next to a few aunts I hadn't seen in 30 years. It was so awkward.

If anyone says that tapas are not enough, they do not understand what tapas are. Tapas are not appetizers, they are small savory dishes. It is a way of trying many small entrees/plates instead of one large entrée & sides.

For diner at our fav tapas restaurant last night between F/H & I, we had a small plate of brie, tuna tar tar, a crab/lobster pops, a mini filet, & bacon wrapped figs. Delicious, & I was stuffed! Again, so much fun to try many small dishes!

Ditto McKony. Think of it as a meal with a larger variety of smaller portions. I tend to eat more when I have tapas/appetizers than a normal sit down meal.

We're having a cocktail reception for our second celebration (destination wedding). We chose to do that for the same reason as you, we wanted a more interactive, social atmosphere where people mingle and such. We found an amazing restaurant venue that offers this cocktail reception package with 30 something passed apps, small plates etc. (including dessert ones) plus a station with an Iberian ham cutter. The food will be circulated for around 2 1/2 hours along with drinks, and then the dancing will begin! I'll post the menu, it's in Spanish though lol.

De Nuestra Tierra :

Virutas de Jamón ibérico con Picos Jerez.

Lomo Ibérico del sur.

Tabla de Quesos con Frutos Secos.

(Rocas de Parmesano, Lingotes de Queso Mahón, Cuñas de Idiazabala, Dados de Manchego)

Salmón Ahumado con Mantequilla de Limón.

Papa Canaria con Mojo Rojo.

Pulpo a la Feira.

Croquetas cremosas de Jamón al Toque de Jerez.

Merluza de Anzuelo con asadillo de Pimiento Dulce.

Langostino Frito en Panco con Romecu Catalán

Tortilla José Luis sobre Pan Inglés

Garbanzos Castellanos con Salsa de Foie

Nuestros Vecinos Europeos

Foie con miel de Trtufo sobre Pan de Pasas.

Ensalada Capresse es Caña de Bambú.

Blinis de Bacalao Noruego con Pico de Gallo.

Crepes de Queso con Cebolla Confitada y Gambas

Nuestra Asia Querida

Tataki de Atún con Mahonesa de Wasabi.

Ternera Turca en Pan de Pita y salsa de Yogurt.

Pollo Caramelizado con Dulce Chino en Caña de Bambú

Tallarín de Patata con Gamba y Salsa Tereyaki

La América Latina y la América Yanqui

Ceviche de Camarón con Cilantro en Cucharita.

Chips de Patata Violeta con Crema de Frijoles.

Steaks de Verduras con Guacamole.

Hot Dog con Képchup Especiado

Mini Burguer de Buey con Cebolla Confitada.

Tartaleta de Trigo dulce con Brandada de Bacalao y Tomate seco

CHUPITOS Y CUCHARILLAS

Crema ligera de Patata con Aceite de Tartufo

Mejillones en Escabeche ligero

Infusión templada de Alcachofas

Pulpo a la Gallega

Gazpacho

Ajo Blanco

El clásico Final Dulce

Chupitos Dulces.

Pastelitos Variados

Brochetas de Frutas

BEBIDAS

Jerez Dulce y Seco

Tónicas

Cervezas

Refrescos

Zumos Variados

VINOS

Vino Blanco “VIÑA MOCEN”

Vino Tinto “VIÑA COBRANZA”

I love the idea! You would still have to make sure you have enough to give everybody a good amount and I would put it on the invitation so that people know to eat before if it's at meal time but I would go for it!

We are nixing a sit down dinner, as well. We have a big swing band and know that many of our guests will prefer eating/dancing on their own schedule. We have a small ballroom with tables for those that want to sit and relax away from the dance floor, as well as lounges on the patio and high tops by the bar. As long as you have enough food and enough seats, tapas are great! It's all a matter of your style!

The caterers we may go with they have x6 canapés per person with all sorts of options to choose from with things like lamb cutlets, salmon & caper mini pancakes, blue cheese and caramelised onion fig tart, and then we can choose up to 3 tapa dishes which are more substantial to canapés so perhaps crispy pork belly with caramelised apple cider jus or lamb tagine with cous cous. And we also get to choose x2 mini desserts to serve with cake. I think that's a lot of food, we will have alcohol but we're backing all this up with some cheeseboard platters and with an array of cheeses, cold/cured meats, dips and even marinated seafood items, things that are safe to leave out for people to help themselves to throughout the evening. The venue is great, we have full control over the caterers we choose. It works out that sit down meal is actually more in my situation due to the number of guests (150) as we have to hire more things like cutlery and dining ware. Lounges and coffee tables could still be decorated with my theme, plenty of food and plenty of seats and a big dancefloor for our dancing. Starting ceremony around 5:30pm however will be quite up front about the style of reception maybe something like "Evening cocktail reception to follow" or "Canapes and champagne reception to follow". In no way are we doing this because it will save money, it's actually a decision due to creating an atmosphere where everyone is free to roam and meet everyone else and have a great time instead of stuck at a table with the same people for 2-4 hours (yes I have been to a wedding where it took around 4 hours to feed everyone) while caterers try and serve a 3 course meal to 150 people.