Catering: Menus, Inspirations, Ideas

[EmDressage]

Ok, so, catering. Or rather, food and drink in general, whether its catered or not. What are y''all doing, or have done? Menus? Courses plated and seated or buffet? Stations with different courses perhaps? Are you, your family/friends, or a caterer doing the food/drink? I would love to know and for you to post all on the catering in general for your wedding!
We are planning on doing stations for our foods, and still in desicions about full catering or not-we have some family/friends who are willing to contribute, so we might just need a course or two and of course, serving and cleanup staff servers. Menu? Still up in the air- I would love to get some inspiration from y''all. We are trying to go for a ''Southern Lowcountry''/ formal dinner.
We are providing wine, two types of beer, and a sig. drink as far as alcohol goes. Non-alc. includes specialty lemonades and sweet (and unsweet ) teas in glass pitcher, bottles of water and still thinking about the bottles of soda, but I do not want any cans, just bottles regardless.

-Em

 

[purselover]

My fav topic - food!

I love your idea of pitchers of tea and lemonade, great for those who can''t/don''t want to drink! What are you thinking of for your signature drink? I think they''re such a great touch!

For our cocktail hour we did a few hot/cold passed hor''dourves and a veggie/fruit/bread/dips type station and then there were 3 interactive stations - we had a panini station, a mexican station, and then something I can''t remember.

For dinner we did plated, we had a mozeralla, tomato, basil salad, then butternut squash soup. For entrees there was a choice of eggplant parm, some type of steak, some type of chicken, and then shrimp stuffed with I think lobster or crab.

and our venue did all the food, hope that helps!

 

[Amanda.Rx]

Our venue does the catering, but here''s our menu (and it''s fairly Southern):

Baked Ham with sweet potato biscuits (chef carving station)
Mashed potato bar served with toppings in martini glasses (chef station)
Chicken tenderloins (buffet)
Italian Meatballs (buffet)
Crab bites (buffet)
Bacon wrapped scallops (buffet)
Pimento Cheese Bake with bread for dipping (buffet)
Crispy fried spring rolls (buffet)
Raw vegetables with ranch (buffet)
Olives (buffet)
Tropical cheese spread with pineapple and pecans (buffet)
Fresh fruit with chocolate dipping sauce (buffet)

Lemonade
Soda
Coffee
Water
Beer
Wine

To "Southern" it up, you could always do some firefly sweet teas for your cocktail for choice (my favorite!). Also, consider foods like BBQ, shrimp & grits, lowcountry boil, sweet potato biscuits, pimento cheese, collard greens, or anything with pecans

 

[EmDressage]

Thanks, bumping back up.

 

[CurlySue]

Wow... I''m hungry now. Just the suggestion of southern food gets me salivating.... and Amanda, I love the mashed potato bar idea!!

Our venue does the catering, and while we haven''t finalized the menu yet, here''s what we know:

Signature cocktail (we are thinking of doing a seasonal bellini - possibly cranberry flavored)
Open bar with wine/beer/cocktails
6 passed apps (combo of hot/cold) during cocktail hour
Plated dinner with a salad course followed by choice of a chicken or beef entree

We may or may not do wedding cake. We are considering doing individualized desserts instead - some sort of brownie or creme brulee. We''ll finalize that decision at the end of June when we do our tasting with the bakery. I swear it is one of the things I am most looking forward to... YUM!

Did I mention I this thread was making me hungry???

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Mmmm...food!

Good food was one of my top priorities! We had a big 9-course Chinese dinner reception in the private banquet room of a Chinese restaurant. It was done family style (the normal way), and we did have assigned seating but I put 2 extra seats at each table so that the DH and I could sit at east table for awhile to talk and eat a little with all of our guests. It was one of my favorite ideas.

I think family style dinner is a great compromise between plated and buffet. There's no waiting in line or food getting cold, and it's cheaper in terms of wait staff. But guests can still decide on what they want to eat and how much. And all the sharing and passing helps promote a very intimate atmosphere (which is what I wanted).

And just because I love food, here's a pic of the food from my wedding, hehe.