Stations wedding

We are doing a pasta station, a carving station, and possibly a fajita station (FH wants it but doesn't want to pay) In addition to h'orderves, drinks, cake and extras. Not sure how it will go but the wedding cordinator at venue says she prefers that option herself.

I have been to two "stations weddings" in the past few months...by the way, everyone I've ever heard talk about them calls them "cocktail style receptions."

I LOVED the food at both...one couple had a grilled cheese station, where you pick your bread and cheese and the guy grills it for you and then they had the most adorable little bowls of tomato soup. There was also a mashed potato station, where you fill your bowl with one of three kinds of potatoes (lumpy, smooth, etc) and then there were a ton of toppings. I absolutely loved the food because it was so unique, fun, and everyone could find something that they liked.

What I didn't like was the seating arrangements...in that there weren't any! There were literally like 5 tables for receptions of 200+ people. I get that the point is to mingle, dance, and roam around, but when I am a guest at a wedding...I would like to have a "home base." (cont...)

(cont) at both of these weddings, I was a little upset when I saw there was no where for me to sit...My feet were killing me and I had my purse, the favor, and my fiances jacket, plus my heels because I immediately took them off. You can't eat while carrying all of that stuff (plus a drink!) So I had to go out to my car and put all my stuff down, but then it sucked sometimes (like when I wanted chapstick)...or when I had to go in the bathrooms barefoot (eww).

We are actually having stations at our reception too...but we are having enough seats for everyone. We're not doing assigned seating, but we are putting up signs that say "please seat yourself" (I'll probably think of something more creative later for the wording).

So in short, LOVE the idea and the food, but please let your guests sit down!

We're doing that for our home town reception this weekend, and can't wait! For 1/2 the price, SO much more food and a TON of variety! Personally, I like having a buffet and/or stations so I can choose what I like and will actually eat. I hate to see how much food goes to waste on plated dinners because some people don't like one of two meats, or one or more of the sides, etc. This way there is less waste and people eat their favorites from the selection.

If you do, make sure you have a few to choose from, like what Future Mrs. P is going to have. I went to a wedding earlier this year that only had a pasta station where you pick your pasta, ingredients, sauce, then they sautee it for you. The food was great, and it was a neat concept, but we waited in line for about 20 minutes - and the line wasn't terribly long.

We did stations, we had a pasta station with 3 different pasta choices, a carving station with 3 different meat choices, we had a California station which was salamon, cheese, fruit, and crabmeat, and we also had 4 salad selections.

It went smoothly for us. We had 100 guest and everyone was able to get their food in about 30 minutes. The tables were dismissed 1-2 at a time and as they made their way through the line another table was dismissed.

We are having a stations receptions.

We are having 10 stations:

*Grooms Tailgate Station (buffalo bites, brats simmered in beer and onions, taco bar and mini keg) *Street Vendors station (NY hot dogs, Philly cheesesteaks, sliders) [FH is from NY and I am from PHilly so this is to represent our hometowns.] *Russian Station (Salmon Kubiac, Filo stuffed with chicken and nuts, Roasted Potatoes with onions and mushrooms) [I am russian] *Caviar Station (black and red caviar, buckwheat bilini, potato latkes, creme fresh, onions, butter, iceblock with vodka test tube shots in it) *Smoked Fish Station (Whitefish Salad, Smoked Salmon, mini bagles, mini pumpernickle squares, tomatos, capers, cucumber, onion, cramcheese) *Sushi Station (Spicy tuna rolls, spicy crab rolls, crab and avacado rolls, salmon avacado rolls, ginger, wasabi, soy and seaweed salad) *Steakhouse station (Prime Rib, creamed spinach, scalloped potatos and onion rings) *Seafood Station - Raw bar and grill (lobster, cont..

Shrimp, clams, crab claws, muscles, oysters, crab cakes, pan fried scalops) *Ravioli/Oso Bucco Station (lobster ravioli, cheese ravioli, veal osso bucco) *Mashed potato bar (potato skins, mashed potatos, bacon, sour cream, cheese, onions, mushrooms, severiogne gravy)

We are also having one large italian station at the cocktail hour, which will have meats and cheese and veggies and speghettie pie. And we have 35 passed h'dorv. for cocktail hour and one hour of the reception.

Then we are having a stations dessert room with about 9 different dessert stations.

We are seating everyone and the food stations will be open for about 2 hours so everyone can graze for the night! Then once the dessert comes out the food will be put away.

This cost us a lot more money to do it this way but we both come from a family of eaters I come from a family of drinkers too and I wanted everyone to have access to food all night long.

@FabulousBride - ummmm wow can I come?! haha just kidding, but that sounds incredible. I love how fun all of your stations are and original...and so meaningful to you and your's backgrounds! My favorites are the Groom's Tailgate and Vendors!

Thanks Katie Bug! I know it's a lot but like I said we both come from familes of HUGE EATERS! lol..

My fav is the vendors station! I'm such a proud Philly Girl and He's such a proud NY'er we had to incorporate it. :-)

Ive been to both types of weddings and they both work out great. I know when I go to sit downs I can never eat all the food thats given to me. So with that point I like the Stations but I also have this big thing about people touching food with their fingers and I have at least one family member who will lick his fingers if something touches it (or would pick up something dropped and put it back)... Weee I wanna eat on my wedding day w/o worry. (sorry if TMI)

We're doing stations as well. With our theme I think it works best. So we're doing a hamburger/hotdog/brat station with all the fixins, Nacho station, Pasta station and Salad and for dessert a Sundae bar! I'm super exicted. Hopefully for apps we can do toasted ravoli, (Google it...delicious), Buffalo wings, and maybe pretzels. I'd like to have a late night snack of popcorn, but I'm not sure yet... We'll see how everything works out price wise.

@FabulousBride wow that sounds fantastic! My FH is Russian (he came here when he was 6) and he would have loved to have Russian food included in our wedding, but we couldn't find any place around here that could do it the way he wanted that we liked.

Sounds fun though!!!

I agree with Katie Bug - I've been to a weddings like this and my only complaint some did not have enough seats. If you don't want to have enough chairs at least do enough of the high cocktail tables for people to stand around. I can't exactly eat and and hold my drink. People will still mingle you don't have to force me to stand the whole night to accomplish that.

Otherwise I enjoy the variety of food options.

We did a cocktail reception as well. We had passed hors d'oeuvres- mini burgers, bruschetta, lobster and crab cakes, and cornbread stuffed with chili. We had a pasta stationl, and it was run really well, no one waited more than a few minutes. Then, after cutting the cake, we opened an ice cream sundae bar. There was so much food, and it was delicious. We got so many comments from guests about it being the best food they've ever had at a wedding.

The event coordinator warned us to not have too many stations, because then guests sort of just go from station to station and don't mingle as much.

Thanks Sara! I hope it all comes together well! (we will see in 13 days!)

Oh that's great! I was the first born here in my family. My parents imigrated to Italy where my mom got prego with me there, then they imigrated to the states in April and I was born in Dec. But my entire family is from there. Russian style parties are fun and filling!! :-) Where did your FH's family come over from?

Where are you guys loacated?

Kerri, if the stations are done correctly people will be able to mingle as they eat.

I think the coordinator's point wasn't that people can't mingle as they eat, but that if there are tons of stations, guests will tend to go from one to another, and it just isn't as conducive to the atmosphere we wanted, as having a few stations plus passed hors d'ouevres.

@FabulousBride They are originally from Ukraine (he was born in Kiev) and he stayed with some family in Poland for awhile while his mom was getting established in the States. Once they came here they stayed in NYC for awhile with some of his Uncle's family before moving out here to a suburb just north of Chicago (large Russian/Polish population in Deerfield and Buffalo Grove area, the kids he grew up with called his neighborhood "Little Moscow" lol)

I've been trying to learn Russian, since a lot of his family doesn't speak English (so my FH spends half of the time at family gatherings translating for me) but it's hard! But I know he wants to teach our kids to be multi-lingual (he speaks English, Polish, Russian and Ukranian).

Where is your family from?

@FabulousBride...I want to come to your wedding HOLY CHOICES!!!

I went to a stations wedding in July and it was delicious!! The reception was in a mansion so stations were setup in different rooms and on the deck. They had a raw bar YUM!! We seriously considered stations, but FH really wants sit down white glove service. He was worried about "buffet" style being dry and/or cold. He doesn't put much input in on things, so I'll let him make this decision

Stations gives your guests a great variety but can be more expensive also b/c of the labor requirement to "man" them. They are different than traditional buffets and I think they are a great choice! Good luck