Stations for dinner

Our wedding was a combo of stations and buffet and it worked out really well. One was a carving station and the other was a pasta station. Our guests seemed to like it.

I really think these are hit or miss. I haven’t been to a wedding with one but I have been to a bridal shower, and a baby shower that both had these. It really depends on how well the catering is. For the bridal shower we had lobster ravioli, butThey only put three ravioli in a dish and they were extremely stingy with the portions. I feel like they wouldn’t have gotten away with this if it were per plate. But again this is all about the caterer you go with. I am personally not a fan of them And I’m much more fan of sit down plated dinners but it’s just a very personal thing for me, and typically a lot of people love the stations and there’s absolutely nothing wrong if you choose this for your wedding! I was just really stressed asking the caterer about portion size

We served stations and we would make the same choice 10000x over. Our guests loved it and so did we. We wanted a somewhat traditional dinner, but we got married the weekend before Thanksgiving so we knew some people might want something different. These are the choices we had.


Carving station: turkey and beef Mashed potato and Mac and cheese bar with various toppings, plus a couple vegetable sides Taco and fajita bar with rice, beans, chips, and salsa

I would just really suggest*

Like for example, these are very common and filling for cocktail hours in NYC. But outside of there, they are a novelty from I've been told.

I went to a wedding like this! I thought it was nice because each station had meat, vegetarian, & gluten free options so everyone had an equivalent meal they could eat. The one I attended had a cocktail hour with passed & a grazing table, & then pasta/ravioli station, a slider station, a salad station, & I think one other I forget.

I have attended multiple pre-Covid weddings that had lots of stations for hors d’oeuvres, then plated dinners. Everyone seemed to love the stations. But again, that was pre-Covid. I don’t know how comfortable people would feel with stations in the current climate

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This sounds awesome! Great idea to have vegetarian choices at each one.

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Hmm I would imagine if servers are properly masked and gloved, it wouldn't be different from plated or a served buffet instead of dishing your own. Probably more sanitary than the latter

My wedding will be the first wedding I attend that isn't an action station or buffet styled dinner. Action stations have always worked out great at the weddings I've been to. You can be really creative with them and they usually turn out fun and delicious!

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Good to know

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Sounds like a great variety!

View Quoted Comment Oh the stations I’ve seen have not had servers. They have all been interactive stations like these




So the guests are touching and breathing over the food.

I've attended several rehearsal dinners with stations (our own rehearsal dinner had stations actually) and I think I preferred them to buffets because they helped eliminate the long lines that come with buffets. I can definitely see stations working well at a wedding!

Served stations at buffets are basically the normal buffet in my area.

These allow for sanitary concerns, as well as portion control, and the kitchen can fill in anything that's particularly popular.

A well run venue will make this a breeze.

Contrary to above opinions, I had a not so good experience with stations at my cousin's bat mitzvah. Maybe it was because there werent enough stations or werent enough staff, but the lines were insanely long so I ended up picking my food based on the shortest line (which was still 20 minutes long) instead of the food I wanted to eat.

TLDR make sure there are ENOUGH stations/servers to accommodate the number of people you are hosting.

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That sounds like a horrible experience! Definitely would make sure there are enough servers and stations to cut down on lines.