hor dourves vs. dinner

Celia always has great advice on this and has seen it done beautifully, but one thing she always mentions (in case she doesn't comment on this) is that if you're only serving hor dourves you need to provide enough to fill people up which can get REALLY expensive really quick.

I've looked into both options, and they are often about the same price..... but would it work out to have an afternoon cake and punch wedding? (I've been to a very beautiful one) or a dessert buffet. I'm doing an afternoon luncheon and that has majorly helped with costs. I got a wedding venue for 1/4 of the price because it was an afternoon wedding.

I've seen both done really well. One of my favorite weddings I've been to was just apps. They did super unique food and it came out in waves over a few hours. A group of us went out to dinner beforehand but the apps would still have been enough to fill us up. I can see how it could be more expensive than a traditional dinner depending on what food you choose. Talk to your caterer and ask them to price both options out for you

You will get the most for your money doing a lunch or brunch reception. Hors d'oeuvres won't save you any money if it is during dinner as you will need to provide enough to fill your guests as a dinner.

I've been having the same debate. We decided to go with the appetizers. and it is cheaper. We also made it an evening event so we can have a cocktail/Hors d'oeuvres reception.

I love this style, whether or not it's cheaper or not (and that really depends on a lot of thing....) A lot of venues in my area offer this under various cute names, and those parties always seem like a lot of fun. If you're working with a caterer and rental china is involved, it'll save you a pile on that.

Some things to make this happen on the lower end of the dollar scale;

-pick a time that is not a blatant meal time; start the reception at 2:00-4:00 at the latest. (Bill and Diane, I'd be looking at your invite time; you can do hors d'oeuvres any time, but once you get after about 6:00, it's got to replace dinner...)

-word your invitations, "Join us for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres following the ceremony" (or "an hors d'oeuvres reception") so people know exactly what to expect.

-spread the news by word of mouth, website, etc.

-keep the time frame reasonable; since there is no waiting around for courses, you can probably cut an hour

-mix up your seating; don't do tables of 10 set with place settings; it sends the wrong message. Go with cocktail tables, 'airport' tables (high cocktail tables), lounge seating, and lose the place cards. Reserve a couple of tables for family if you have to.

- mix up the food; pick some platters/displays (hummus, bruscetta, dips, cheese platters) which don't require making individual things so they are usually less costly) and some passed things (better for control of expensive things like shrimp. You do not want to put a lot of individual items on platter or in chafing dishes because people tend to take a lot more that way...).

- be sure to have a few substantial things like wrap sandwiches cut small, chicken or beef skewers, mini tacos, empanadas

If you have more bucks;

-add a station or two; mashed potato is still going strong, pasta is good.

-perfect atmosphere for a food truck

-do some kind of fun bar; prosecco, sangria, martini, hot spiked chocolate

There are a lot of little savings along the way that can go to more food; no big centerpieces, no placecards/menus, less rentals.

But DON"T set up a room at dinner time with tables for 10 and assigned seating and then serve pigs in a blanket and crudités. For one thing, it'll feel like a dead party, people will be confused and it'll be terrible.

If you're really, really on a budget? Here is your plan;

-1:00 invites, 1:15/1:30 ceremony start, 1:45/2:00 reception start (don't even consider a gap, okay?)

-have your caterer set up a big display of cheese, bruscetta, hummus, wrap sandwiches, cheese and grapes, bowls of seasoned popcorn. Use little disposable plates and cocktail naps.

Enter the reception yourself at the almost beginning, do your toast and first dance at some random point in the middle (see, the trick is to not have the orchestrated events that act as clues to "hey, dinner is coming!"), cut the cake at 4/4:30 and there you go.

Hope that helped.

Hey Champagne....even i get confused with it, and i catered for a gazillion years....

We did a cocktail style reception. All passed apps (I can't spell that word either so I don't even try! Haha) the way our venue does it was that there was seating for about 50% of the guests at any given time and there were no stations, everything was served silver platter. Started with cold passed apps, then hot, then "mini entree" style (chicken skewers on risssoto, mini prime rib sandwiches, etc).

It was by far the most expensive menu option they had (and we could've doubled it by choosing to have every menu item) and really the only way I could see it working as an actual meal. There was SO much food, it was non stop, and the poor desserts were neglected and so were our late night snacks because most of us were still incredibly full from dinner.

So, I agree with Celia and the others - if you're doing it to save money, it won't be budget friendly to try and do it in place of a full meal. But you will be able to do it as an afternoon reception I'd bet, for cheaper than a meal. I'd also not recommend assigned seating if you're doing only apps either. I was nervous about only having enough seats for 50% of the guests but they were right, there were several chairs empty as many of my guests were up and mingling all through the food service, outside, inside - didn't matter where people were, food found them. It was a really neat experience and my guests still rave about it. So it can definitely be done well if you pull it off right!

Thank you for all the advice. I will definitely talk with my caterer and my fiance.

I'm pretty much doing Celia's schedule. Invitation will be worded 'cocktail party'... starts at 1 with open bar, raw bar and cheese crackers/crudite set up. Quick ceremony IN SAME Location at 1:15 (ten minutes tops I imagine) then 1:30 start music and passed around apps will flow all day. We will dance, drink, eat apps etc. I will have a cake but no cake cutting. We have some high tables and some round tables for about 40-50% of guests... there are some couches. No place cards or set time for anything other than the ceremony. Party ends at 5 pm. It is costing WAY more than either a sit down lunch or dinner because of the apps and the quantity we need so people can eat enough. I want people to mingle and have fun, not have to stick to some schedule and wait around for food.