Grazing/food stations

Have duplicates of each station and spread them out as much as possible.

I should also mention there are approx 175 guests and we are limited in space since the reception is under a tent.

I can't help but be amused by the fact that you want people to graze, but not in a cattle-like way.

175 under a tent is going to involving a fair amount of lining up, unless it's a really big tent. You can try to spread things out as much as possible and have as many duplicates as you can. but that will lessen the problem, not eliminate it. You should also have something edible on the tables so people can eat as they wait for their turn, and get some passed apps going pretty consistently so there are food sources other than the stations.

You need to have more than one station, and they need to be spread out so people don't just go from one to the other in a giant line. Use small plates. Don't open in waves. That gives you 175 people who dicover two station, then two more all at the same time. You should have two full bars and pre poured drinks at the beginning and at least 5 food stations.

The best way to do this is to have passed hors d'oeurves too, and to NOT have every station be something that has to be cooked to order which takes too long. You could have some stations where even if the food is being cooked it is pre plated on small plates so guests can just grab a plate and go, or grab a mashed potato sundae, top it and go. Carving doesn't take long. A cold station with cheese, fruit, bruscetta is good; one of my venues makes little seafood platters that are all lined up on a huge table. It's really cute. But you really do need more than one table of anything that is more time consuming than grab and go. Pasta to order is a nightmare; once people have to make decisions (mix-ins, omelette or crepe fillings, what kind of slider) it just takes too long. One of our venues does a bacons station where they have bacon bourbon shots pre poured, bacon sliders pre made with four ketchups and mustards and bacon mac and cheese in little bowls. Another one does a man cave station with a giant hero pre sliced, wings, poppers and a kegerator of beer. Come to think of it, a lot of our venues do pre poured cocktails that go with the food station; wine with the cheese stations, saki with sushi.

Traffic wise, have pre poured drinks when people come in the tent. Don't do assigned seats but have plenty of seating. But the most useful trick we found was to NOT herd everyone in, make them all sit down, do three dances and speeches and then let 175 people loose on stations. The stations should be open from the very beginning and at some point in the evening you get everyone's attention and do the dances. Then do speeches when you cut the cake.

The success of something like this depends on everyone NOT doing the same thing at the same time, and to a certain extent, confusing them a bit. The "in the door, dance, speeches, then eat" scenario will result in just that, which is not what you want. You want it to unfold organically, for people to wander in, maybe have staff who lets them know that all the stations are open and let them kind of discover things.

I'll tell you quite honestly; this doesn't always work; it depends on the time of day, the crowd, and how the room is laid out. Most of our cocktail hours here are done like this (even with a full buffet following) with 4-6 stations, passed hors d'oeuvres, fast bar service and lots of seating at small tables. What usually happens is after the first few minutes, the stations are all cranking, passed food is coming, people are catching up with drinks in their hand and it's really a scenario that could go all night. I love it, but then, our crowds here are used to it.

Celia basically gave all the info I would have- you must have worked in food service before, too!

Grazing stations don't always work well budget wise if that's what you're going for. People tend to take more at one time and it often goes to waste. If you're doing something to save money, do passed instead.

I've never been to this style of wedding, but what @Celia has described sounds like a wonderful experience as a guest. Walking into a room where drinks are waiting to just be handed to me always makes me feel special. It comes off as a nice touch, but smooths the logistics of your line concerns as well.

I think no assigned seating for an event with 175 guests of more than an hour is going to be difficult, especially you say limited space. People will start saving chairs, etc. You will need a lot of staff to keep places clean. What if someone sits down at a table, spills, walks away. Who is going to want to sit there? I get it, you want people to mingle, but, imho, not nice to force them to mingle.

I agree with others, you needs lots of stations, bars, I think to do it so everyone is comfortable is going to cost a lot and may not be workable in this space.

@ Delfina's response once again got me because I was thinking the same things!

I owned an upscale catering biz in NJ for many years. This is, honestly, my favorite style of service (though I do love family style too; maybe you could consider a combination of both? One of my venues, after the giant cocktail hour, leads people to their tables where they find olives, cheeses, crostini marinated veggies...I love it!)

This is what I also plan to do except I will have people in both a tent and inside a Victorian. I expect 200 people and will have seated rounds for 100 with 30 extra chairs lining the walls, 18 cocktail tables, plus all of the furniture already in the house. I really want to encourage movement and not to have people chained to their seat. I second not having assigned seats if you don't want herd mentality. Cocktail tables are the best way to encourage mingling.

Very glad to hear Celia's advice, although I am now concerned that limiting food access for the first hour to veggie, fruit, cheese stations and 4 passed apps until the wedding party arrives back will cause a bottleneck once the food is put out. Need to work on that transition plan.

I wouldn't do that Kirackle. It think the setting sounds like it will work for you, but do everything at once.

I've only been to one wedding with stations. The mother of the bride said guests were supposed to just stand up and go to the stations they were interested in - each one was a different kind of ethnic food. In reality, it ended up with one long line, it took a lot of time, and the food was cold, by the time the guests sat down.

Ideally, guests weren't supposed to go to every station - just pop up, serve, and sit down. It ended up that no one wanted to skip a station, i.e. you didn't want Mexican food, and just go onto another one. No one did it, because they'd have to get into line further ahead.

The stations set-up did take up a lot of room, but it was on the dance floor, so later cleared away. Very few weddings have all the food at once - this is one of the few we've gone to that did it. We have open dancing after the bridal party enters and between the served courses. That's about the only way I can do the food justice - by burning up calories on the dance floor, between courses.

@Olivia P

I have room for everyone to be at seated rounds, but the whole point of having the reception on the grounds of a Victorian house is to encourage mingling and movement. I might as well rent a nondescript banquet hall if I wanted everyone assigned to a specific table. This will in essence be a continuous cocktail party but with more food. Anyone who needs a seat can have one if they wish because as I said the large house is fully furnished in addition to 130 rental chairs.

@Kirackle - Are you seriously only providing 130 chairs for 200 people? So people are going to have to leave the tent, where the food is, and go inside the house if they want a seat and things are taken? I really can't see that working with stations. Isn't the point of stations that you get up, grab something, sit down, have a nosh, get up for something else, etc? If people are going to need to trudge in and out of the house every time they want something else, they're going to get annoyed fast.

Also chairs lining the tent aren't going to be comfortable for eating anything but dry snacks. I'm happy resting a plate of pretzel or whatever on my lap, but for anything in a sauce I need a table.

No need to take a stab at banquet hall brides. They didn't create your seating issue.

I think adults know how to mingle even if sufficient seating.

Thank you for all the insight everyone!! I think it's all going to be about proper layout. And I LOVE the idea of having food on the tables for guests to eat as well as passed apps too. This could end up being more costly than a sit down meal. Hmm we're going to have to play with it.

We are having about 114 guests about half of them our kids and we are doing finger foods and simple stuff as we aren't doing an evening wedding. We may also do some baked beans and potatoe salad and we'll just keep it out for people to eat as they want. Can you do that? No telling them to eat or not just leave the area opened and let them eat if they want.

The problem with our grazing stations is that the options are limited to hot chef attended stations so they can't just leave stuff out for guests to serve themselves. Unless I suggest that they cook a lot in advance and have it plated and ready to go for guests, I'm not sure how we will get around long lines. This is a bummer because we really wanted grazing stations. I don't want a formal sit down.

Maybe, a few small ones spread out. Or a "grazing table" like center piece. have some snacks and treats already at each table and then a big one that they can go get more if they would like.