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Beth 12/18/12 |
My daughter's wedding is this Saturday (12/22). The wedding is at 2:00, so the reception will be mid-afternoon. We have a wonderful friend coordinating the set-up and serving, and we've hired some young ladies to help serve. After tracking down as many people as possible we have a guest count of 116. (Insert rant here about guests who refuse to commit to RSVP!) There's a possibility of a few more showing up, and many of our guests are between the ages of 15 and 25...so I've planned quantities for 125-130. What I need to know from you is: Do we have enough variety? Is there something obvious we are missing? Munchies for beginning of reception: bagged crackers and snacks, served with all the drinks mentioned below (This is just to give people something to do for about 20 minutes while the servers are putting the final touches on the buffet.) Buffet: *Meat trays from local deli, for sandwiches *Cheese trays *Rolls for sandwiches, white and whole wheat *Condiments for sandwiches *BBQ Meatballs *Shrimp w/cocktail sauce *Hummus and pita chips *crackers *Veggie trays *Clementines *Red, green, and black grapes *Pumpkin bread, sliced and served with apricot whipped cream cheese *Coffee *Hot water in air pots with: tea bags, cocoa packets, and spiced cider packets (not ideal, but the only way we could do those drinks with the help we have.) *Beer and hard cider *Soda *Bottled water *Wedding cake *Butter mints *Spiced nuts Any advice/criticism would be gladly welcomed! I couldn't have made it this far without the excellent help on your site...headed over to Paypal as soon as I post this to make a donation. |
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ellen 12/19/12 |
Good work for the mid-afternoon reception. The only thing I would add is a full sheet of brownies or other bar cookies. You can do the cider, cocoa, in the big coffee urns, works great, much nicer than packets, and the tea bags is fine as is. Also, less spilling and refilling. Here is how I do a 50 cup urn hot chocolate: Fully heat 1 1/2 gallons water in the urn. Make a mix: 2 cans (about 26 ounces each, 20 servings) Swiss Miss or other cocoa mix that can be made with water or milk (has some milk in it already); 1 cup Dutch cocoa (the chocolate only); 1/2 cup ground cinnamon, 14 cup ground ginger. Shake thoroughly till fully mixed. When the water is fully hot, stir in about 3/4 of the mix and whole milk to fill the container, taste, add more cocoa mix if needed. For the cider, you can use the bottled spiced cider right in the urn. |
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ellen 12/19/12 |
You might add one additional non meat, non-dairy dip/spread/mix for the non-meat eaters. Salsa? |
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Beth 12/19/12 |
That cocoa recipe sounds amazing! Thank you so much for your help...those are things that shouldn't be too difficult to implement. I really do appreciate all you do on this site. I grew up going to weddings where the ladies of the church were a well-oiled machine and knew exactly how everything should run for a reception. But my generation didn't step into that role, so I didn't have anyone to ask. I've spent hours reading through your answers to other questions, and I'll definitely recommend your site to others. |
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ellen 12/19/12 |
Thanks, and also thanks for the donation- |