I’m thinking about having a “family style” service for our reception dinner. Instead of a buffet line (I hate waiting for tables to be called, feels like summer camp) or served plates (expensive, food usually cold), the servers bring dishes of food to the table to be passed around and shared.
I just don’t have a frame of reference for this style of serving. Has anyone experienced a family-style catering in person? Thoughts? Opinions?
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We went with served plates at our reception, mainly because my Turkish family would be mortified at the idea of family style at a wedding. It’s a cultural thing…. But the usual practice in New Jersey is family style, since most establishments are traditional Italian. At the very least, there are large bowls of salad and pasta that get passed around, and usually the whole meal comes on big platters. I personally like attending weddings with family style service – it helps break the ice for the shy people at the table and just feels more friendly.
My sister in law and brother had a rehearsal dinner like this in NYC. It was GREAT!! Plenty of food to go around and at the end they brought out the most fabulous desserts. Great idea.
Not at a wedding, but we do this every year at the annual Portuguese festa in town and it’s super fun. I agree with hyb that it breaks the ice at the table and feels friendly. I had never thought to do this for a wedding but might steal the idea for my own!
We did this for our wedding and it worked really well. It took a little convincing with the caterer (they had never done it before and weren’t sure about pricing/having the right serving dishes, etc). It worked especially well because we had a vegetarian option and meat option for everyone. Some people ate more of the vegetarian, some more of the meat, and some a little of both.
I went to a wedding in August at which the food was served family-style, and it was completely charming. It was very much in keeping with the couple’s personal style and the overall feel of the wedding (outdoors, simple, welcoming, no pretenses, but still stylish). I loved it and it’s a great alternative to the despised and always-clumsy-for-one’s-guests buffet line.
I love this idea. It will make everyone instant dinner companions. It just seems more friendly. Brilliant!
my personal preference is usually for served plates, but I definitely think that family-style is far preferable to a buffet. and from what you’ve discussed about your wedding plans, I think it’s a good idea for you. 🙂
oh i love this idea! family style is such a fun way to eat!!
Having worked in catering as a waitress, this is by far the BEST option for serving. Sometimes it can also mean that you need less serving staff. Also, your guests can have as much or as little food as they want. I believe that all parties should be served family style.
We’re serving dishes family style at our wedding next week (eek). It seems so much more us, and reminds me of all the family parties I grew up with.
What a great idea! You are so clever.
Our wedding was family style and it was lovely. We had a lot of people but it felt intimate and warm, almost like we were having all these guests for dinner at our house.
I went to a family style wedding. It was awesome. It was great because you really talked to the other people at the table and got to know them.
It was all great except when a huge, heavy serving spoon full of salsa tipped out of the serving dish and splattered all over my beautiful Anthro skirt.
If you do this, make sure the serving utensils are appropriate for the dish!
I did this for my first wedding 🙂
It was great!
I was a maid of honor at the wedding where they did family style dinner. Huge platters of linguine, stuffed chicken breasts, whole loafs of artisan bread… very italian, and very very good. Should you opt for this, make sure you are comfortable with informal, relaxed, comfortable wedding dinner. If yes, its a definite winner.
My daughter wants to do this. My mother thinks it is a terrible idea! I went to a wedding last year where they did this and it was fine. I think it will be charming.
Voila Catering in Portland has an entire website dedicated to family style catering. The website is http;//www.familystylecatering.com and they also have pros and cons about service style at their website http://www.voila-catering.com
My daughter used their services and it was a fun event!