Serving Style for Your Meal

There are a lot of decisions to be made when planning your reception, and food is one of the most important ones. But before you plan your exact menu, you need to decide how you want the meal to be served. The most common options include seated meal, buffet and passed-tray (appetizer) reception.

Before you go ahead and choose a style, take the following factors into account.

The Time of Day 

 If your reception will be held during brunch or cocktail hour, a 5 course meal will not be necessary. If your reception will occur during dinner time, you should serve more than just appetizers. 

Formal or Informal

While it´s perfectly acceptable to have a buffet at even the most formal of events, tradition still dictates that a sit-down meal is most appropriate for a formal affair. If you envision guests dressed in white tie, sipping French champagne and serenaded by a full orchestra, a seated meal is appropriate. However, if you’ve decided that you are going to have an informal beach wedding with guests dressed in casual sun dresses and shorts, then a buffet menu is the way to go.

The Guest List

Always take into account the nature of your guest list. Elders or more traditional guests may feel more comfortable at a seated dinner, while younger guests may yawn at the idea of being forced to sit at the table for any length of time. Also remember that an extremely large guest list may not be conducive to a buffet, as hungry guests may be forced to wait in line.

Personal Preference

At the end of the day the style you choose will largely depend on what you want, regardless of what are considered rules and regulations.

Now that you’ve considered the factors that influence your choice of catering style, consider your meal options.

Sit-Down Dinner

With a sit-down dinner, your guests sit at assigned tables and the meal is served to them by the wait staff. This is considered more formal option. It looks elegant and stylish and guests will eat the dish the way it was designed to be eaten, with the right amount of sauce and appropriate side items.

There are three different types of services in a sit down meal : 1. plated service - where the full meal is pre-arranged on individual plates before served to guests; 2. Russian service - where wait staff serve courses from platters onto plates already on the table; 3. French service - where two waiters serve guests from the platter, one holding the platter and the other serving.

One of the major advantages of a sit-down dinner is that it gives you more control over the timing of your reception. You can plan an exact timeline for each element of your wedding reception. Also, your guests don't have to wait in line to get their food. Sit down dinners are usually more expensive and guests have limited food options, if any.

Family Style

Family style is similar to a plated sit-down dinner. Guests are assigned to tables and food is served by the wait staff. But instead of individual plates, the food comes on large platters and is placed in the middle of the table. Guests help themselves to food and decide what they want to eat, and how much. Family style set-up is considered to be less formal, but it provides better opportunities for guests to interact with each other.

Buffet Style

With buffet style, the food is set out on a long buffet table. Gusts take a plate and serve themselves, choosing whatever they like. Buffet style is usually cheaper than a sit-down dinner because it requires significantly less wait staff. But keep in mind that people tend to have larger portions. One of the main disadvantages of the buffet style is that your guests might have to wait in line to get their food.

Food Stations

Food stations are great alternative to a buffet style. Usually a few stations are located in different areas of the banquet room and each one can have a different theme - carving station, pasta stations, Oriental station. The chef prepares food right in front of the guests providing great interactive opportunities. Plus, the food is usually fresher and hotter compare to the buffet style.
Finger Food Reception

With this style, there is no full meal. Instead waiters circulate the room, offering trays of hors d´oeuvres to standing guests. This style of service is ideal for a cocktail reception, which is often a shorter duration than a full reception.