Food stations -other ideas?

[sirbenson]

IF we end up having a wedding with a ceremony and reception, we'd like to serve an assortment of hors d'ouevers, self serve food stations and have a few chef attended stations. We don't want the food to be super formal but must be top notch in terms of presenatation and flavour. We are considering a poutine station and figure that if we have another station it should be a meat station.

Really I'd love to do a fajita or taco or fancy grilled cheese/mac n cheese station but I feel like the station other than poutine should be of more "substance"...something of better "value" (ugh, that's such a bad word but I can't find the right one....) for the guests....something a bit more "grown up". Does this make sense? And I guess the second anchor station shouldn't be a filler/carb type food...we should offer a meat/chicken as protein. The caterer quoted us on beef tenderloin but I feel like its a bit too formal and then guests will have to sit down and fuss with a plate, fork and knife. Also, I'm a vegetarian (only me and MOH out of 65 people are) so beef tenderloin does nothing for me.

If you have gone to a wedding without a formal sit down meal and one with food stations, what stations have you loved? What stations are fun and crowd pleasing?

I AM the type to screw expectations and just do what I want but can I get away with the main stations at the wedding being lets say, poutine, fajitas, and pasta? Or just poutine and fajitas? Any ideas for serving meat in a fun way other than burgers?

Thanks!

 

[IrisAccents]

My cousin's wedding had a sandwich station and it was a huge hit! I am a veggie too, most of my family isn't, but it included lots of yummy items like avocado, sprouts, different cheeses, hummus, pickles- etc. So my veggie sandwich was still delish! She also did meat and pasta station, but as for the veggie pasta I pretty much could have only had noodles and sauce.

Just my two cents- good luck!

 

[Bunny007]

I've never actually been to a wedding with stations but kabobs might be fun. You could have different types of meat or no meat at all, various combinations for both. You could include a few dips like hummus, yogurt sauce, feta, parsley, etc... and flat bread? It would cater to so many tastes, vegetarians and meat lovers, and at whatever price point you want.

 

[sirbenson]

Good ideas!

I thought of something, and this might be silly....but at a reception with food stations and hors d'ouevers what do people do all night?
After the hors d'ouevers have been passed and the guests have been to each station, then what? We don't really want to have a DJ or dancefloor though we will have background music. A a seated plated meal based wedding the serving of the various courses takes a while so that passes a lot of time. But when you are not sitting around waiting for food to be served, what are you doing? Mixing and mingling will be the obvious answer but our families have never met so I wonder how much socializing there will be.

 

[sillyberry]

I'm doing stations. We're starting with passed hors d'oeuvres, then having a fancy burger bar, Mediterranean station with gyros and dips/olives/crudites, crab cakes with a ton of toppings and cobb salads, and a mashed potato bar.

Other options we were presented with included a Mexican station, risotto station, Jamaican jerk station, Hawaiian pig roast... there were a ton more, but I can't remember them. If you talk to a caterer, they'll have a bazillion ideas for you!

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

I went to a wedding reception once with stations. I thought it was a cool idea. They had passed hors d'oeuvres and then three stations. Mexican, Italian and Chinese. So, kind of a taco bar, a pasta bar, and a chinese take-out style bar.

 

[Gypsy]

I'd go with the tenderloin. As a wedding guest that would make me so happy. Much happier than Fajitas, or pasta. You may not like meat, but... hon, you aren't going to eat much during the cocktail hour. I think you should get what will make the nicest impression. Meat. You don't have to do tenderloin, a lovely Prime Rib (well aged and Prime Beef) would be well received.

 

[sirbenson]

I like the pasta, Mexican, Italian idea! BUT like Gypsy said, in the back of my mind I think I should pick something that will be more impressive, something heartier. I know my friends would LOVE to have the more casual stufff in stations but the older peeps likes aunts and uncles, etc. might be a bit turned off. Also since I'm only one of 2 vegetarians that will attend the wedding I have to take that into account. And for the record I DO plan to eat