Roaming Wedding Receptions

Ours is, we are getting married in the ballroom, then the guest and us (small wedding, only 70 people tops) will travel across the hotel lobby to the Half note lounge and the courtyard for appetizers and cocktails and pictures that include EVERYONE and the "signing" of our fingerprint guest book, then after 45 minutes to an hour we will return to the ballroom where we will have our luncheon, then after 2 1/2 hours (includes cake cutting, toast,ect) we will give the out of towners an oppurtunity to gracefully exit home, the ones who will be staying can change, (I'll change into my short dress) and we'll move the party to the half note lounge complete with piano player, then we'll all walk 3 blocks to the walking mall for some "local flavor" dinner for an informal dinner at a sidewalk cafe and end up in the nightlife spots doing a pub crawl in old town Winchester. Untraditional but just our style!

This is the only reason we are printing programs, so everyone has the "itineray" complete with the next morning breakfast, (and in small fine print on the back, directions to the "hangover station")

My venue offers passing but let us know that for some reason many guest appear intimidated by the passer. They decline food from the passer and then go get it themselves from the tables. Just something I thought I would pass on. It may not be as prevalent with your venue's setup.

I totally love it! I have never seen a guest be afraid of food, however it's served!

We started offering this option when I was a caterer, and it went over so, so well! I would invite people for 'an evening of hors d'oeuvres, exciting stations, dessert and lots of surprises along the way!". How fun! I want an invite!

Totally cute idea! I'd definitely consider doing some kind of itinerary or program so people know what's going on. As a guest, I would be confused without that info. But, I love the concept and the idea.

I've never seen it done except on 4 Weddings this weekend. The other brides complained that it was hard to eat without a table so they didn't really like it. But then again they are all competing against each other for the best wedding : ) But they did really like the food that was being served.

After doing some more research, it looks like this type of reception is also known as a tapas-style reception. The caterer assures us that the amount of food is similar to a plated meal (if not more), so I need a good way to communicate this to all our guests so that they're not: a) skimping out on what they think are the hors d'oeuvres for the plated meal that's never gonna come, b) eating before the ceremony and not leaving much room for the small plates.

If you are going to do this type of reception, I would make sure you still have adequate seating. People are still going to want to sit down to eat most likely if it is anything more than an hors d'oeuvre. It is also nice to have a "home base" to sit when you want a break from dancing and mingling and a place to keep your personal belongings.

We had a buffet dinner. If you're looking for a cost saving, that might be the way to cut costs and still get the same amount of food without confusing guests. We did it, but again we only had 65 guests...

The Four Weddings brides complain about everything, lol..... It's really only Tapas if it's Spanish.

Still love it.