Pre-reception Menu Help Needed Please

[DisneyLeah]

Hi all -

I'm trying to decide what pre-reception items to add to our tasting session and we are really struggling! We are struggling because we really would prefer to spend our money on the main meal and DP menus as opposed to the pre-reception, but at the same time, we really dont want it to look empty/cheap! Our pre-reception will be @ 1pm at Atlantic Dance Hall.

Does anyone have any photos or experiences you could share about the cheese platter or the antipasto display? Photos and would be a really huge help to see how they are presented.

Or, if you had 3-4 passed items, what did you choose and did it seem too scarce?

At the weddings I've attended in NJ, the smallest amount of pre-rececption items I've ever seen was 6+ some displays (seafood, cheese, etc), so I am worried that having only 3-4 items will look "cheap" even though its really not!

Please share your opinions and photos (if possible)!
Thanks so much for your help!

Leah

 

[ColeV]

We had flatbreads from the Jiko's menu; barbeque chicken and apple, and olive. We also had coconut shrimp. The flatbreads were a big hit. Unless you have a long period of time between the beginning of the pre-reception and when dinner is served, three or four things should work. Ours was only an hour long pre-reception. A couple cooked items tend to be more filling than things like cheese or shrimp cocktail as well.

 

[DisneyLeah]

Hi Nicole- thanks for the info! I remember seeing photos of your flatbreads now that you mention it. I'm still struggling with what to taste at the PS!

Anyone else have thoughts?

thank you!

 

[lurkyloo]

Well, this might look cheap to New Jersey denizens, but we took a few items from our main meal and had them served early instead of ordering a separate pre-reception menu. And it was still too much food! (Plus, certain guests who know our cheap ways well actually thought the pre-reception food was the entire meal!)

 

[DisneyLeah]

Well, this might look cheap to New Jersey denizens, but we took a few items from our main meal and had them served early instead of ordering a separate pre-reception menu. And it was still too much food! (Plus, certain guests who know our cheap ways well actually thought the pre-reception food was the entire meal!)

LOL - The "platinum" weddings here are pretty ridiculous!

For our DFTW, we are pretty much customizing our entire menu hoping to come in much lower than the pre-set menus, so we won't have the option to move items from our lunch menu to the pre-reception. We totally should have stuck with our original plan for brunch and this would have been much less expensive!

thank you!!!

 

[girli565]

We had a fajita bar that was already set up by the time the guests got to the pre-reception. It was really filling a ton of food for everyone and only $11/pp. It was a huge hit!

We showed up about 40 minutes into the pre-reception and got to enjoy the food along with our guests. Then we did the dances and sat down to the main meal. It was a lot of food and didn't seem cheap.

 

[DisneyLeah]

We had a fajita bar that was already set up by the time the guests got to the pre-reception. It was really filling a ton of food for everyone and only $11/pp. It was a huge hit!

We showed up about 40 minutes into the pre-reception and got to enjoy the food along with our guests. Then we did the dances and sat down to the main meal. It was a lot of food and didn't seem cheap.

Hi Jennifer! Thanks for the info. I really liked your idea for a fajita station (especially the price!) I asked my planner about this and she told me it might be too heavy for pre-reception. My MOH thought it might be too messy. Did u have any trouble with it? Do you have any photos? Im definitely still interested in that option! thanks!

 

[girli565]

Hi Jennifer! Thanks for the info. I really liked your idea for a fajita station (especially the price!) I asked my planner about this and she told me it might be too heavy for pre-reception. My MOH thought it might be too messy. Did u have any trouble with it? Do you have any photos? Im definitely still interested in that option! thanks!

I wouldn't say that it's too heavy at all. People will make however many they want to eat. Most guests at my wedding had one to two fajitas and still ate lunch when the buffet opened.

I didn't find it messy. A lot of my guests served themselves and then went to their seats instead of using the high boy tables set up around the fajita station. So they got to sit down and eat normally instead of standing which could be a bit messy. I will tell you that it was a huge hit with my guests. We just had friends over yesterday and they told us how much they loved it.

 

[DisneyLeah]

I wouldn't say that it's too heavy at all. People will make however many they want to eat. Most guests at my wedding had one to two fajitas and still ate lunch when the buffet opened.

I didn't find it messy. A lot of my guests served themselves and then went to their seats instead of using the high boy tables set up around the fajita station. So they got to sit down and eat normally instead of standing which could be a bit messy. I will tell you that it was a huge hit with my guests. We just had friends over yesterday and they told us how much they loved it.

This sounds really great! Thank you so much for the info! You dont happen to have any photos of the cocktail hour from your actual event, do you? I saw your PS photos, but I was wondering what the actual set up looked like. It's really sounding like a great idea! I hope DF and our parents will like it!

thank you!

 

[girli565]

This sounds really great! Thank you so much for the info! You dont happen to have any photos of the cocktail hour from your actual event, do you? I saw your PS photos, but I was wondering what the actual set up looked like. It's really sounding like a great idea! I hope DF and our parents will like it!

thank you!

I don't have any personal photos of the setup but I'm hoping once my pro pics come in I'll have some.

It was set up on one big round table with the fajita filling and tortillas in silver chaffing dishes and all the toppings around both sides so lines could form on either side of the tortillas and fillings. The toppings were set at different heights with what people would call "clouding" around them.

 

[DisneyLeah]

Thanks so much for the info - We are definitely considering the fajita idea!

Does anyone else have comments on pre-reception?

thanks again!
Leah

 

[Skylarr29]

We had a pot sticker wok action station and it was a big hit. I think we had vegetable, duck, and pork with 3 different sauces. We brought pink Chinese take out containers that I monogrammed and Disney provided chopsticks.

We also had raspberry brie en cruet, meatballs wrapped in bacon and tossed in a tomato pesto, and something else I can't think of right now. Everything was great and every time we go to a wedding DH says he wishes we were eating our cocktail hour food.

 

[SamSam]

We had a pot sticker wok action station and it was a big hit. I think we had vegetable, duck, and pork with 3 different sauces. We brought pink Chinese take out containers that I monogrammed and Disney provided chopsticks.

We also had raspberry brie en cruet, meatballs wrapped in bacon and tossed in a tomato pesto, and something else I can't think of right now. Everything was great and every time we go to a wedding DH says he wishes we were eating our cocktail hour food.

Wow, your choices sound wondeful. I don't recall seeing those on any of the menus offered. Please point me in the right direction to find out about these.
DH and I are in the beginning stages of planning a 40th anniversary gathering. What we want most are appetizer's, wine, and non-alcholic beverages at the terrace in Epcot by the international bridge to view Illuminations.

 

[kcampbell]

Our Pre Reception menu was:
Smoked Duck w/ Spicy slaw in phyllo cups
Spanokpitas w/ Olive tapenade
Bacon crusted Beef and Blue Cheese

"Cheese Display" w/ artisan breads, crackers, imported cheese
and fruit.

Initially, we had 5 selected.I wish I could remember off the top of my head what the other choices were... Oh well! We cut it down to 3 b/c we also had the cheese platter and a 5 course dinner. We tried 6-7 different options at our PS and our "top picks" are what was served. Everyone raved about it. The cheese/fruit display was very nice and plentiful as well even though we went with the"cheaper" platter it didn't look it. We used the Sleeping Beauty a la carte menu so our pre reception was the "flora" I think it was $28/pp plus the cheese platter which was $9/pp.

HTH a lil bit!

 

[Skylarr29]

Wow, your choices sound wondeful. I don't recall seeing those on any of the menus offered. Please point me in the right direction to find out about these.
DH and I are in the beginning stages of planning a 40th anniversary gathering. What we want most are appetizer's, wine, and non-alcholic beverages at the terrace in Epcot by the international bridge to view Illuminations.

The action station was suggested at our planning session when I mentioned that I wanted to do something with the take out containers. The raspberry brie en croute was on a menu I saw somewhere and for the bacon wrapped meatballs I just asked for bacon wrapped scallops (it was the one thing my DH wanted but I guess they didn't have it for our session but it turned out we loved the meatballs better).

They can do anything you want. For example I wanted cheddar cheese soup from Le Cellier so they made it at our planning session. I didn't think it tasted the same so I asked our planner if we could have it brought in directly from the restaurant and so she contacted the head chef and they said yes, it was awesome!

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

Our pre-reception was at 11:00 and we just had artisanal cheese and breads and crackers, as well as an alcoholic punch. It was way more than enough. By the time we arrived at the reception, there was still tons left over. People got a three-course plated meal shortly after, followed by cake and later a DP, so there was still too much food.

 

[Stephie77]

Being from NY and knowing how the cocktail hours are during NY/NJ weddings, I was also concerned that we would not have enough food. Here in NY the cocktail hour is included in the price of the hall/food. Since Disney is A la carte, we had a budget we needed to stick to but I wanted better quality of food. I figured if there is less food available at least I can give my guests something more then anitpasto or a cheese plate (this is just my opinion) We had 3 appetizers at $28 a pp-Crab cakes, Bacon crusted Beef and Blue Cheese and chicken dumplings. Everyone raved how good everything was. Not sure how much you want to pay or what you want but you are able to make your own menu like Skylar stated. Try whatever you can at your tasting and then work with your planner on the perfect menu for you and DF.

Just an fyi-I went to my friend's wedding here in NY 2 weeks ago and the food at the cocktail hour was horrible. She had alot of stations, but none of it was memorable. So even though there was more, does not always mean it is great.

 

[kcampbell]

She had alot of stations, but none of it was memorable. So even though there was more, does not always mean it is great.

I have to agree. It's nice to get one thing of high quality than a bunch of average items. That goes for food or whatever in my book.

 

[DisneyLeah]

Being from NY and knowing how the cocktail hours are during NY/NJ weddings, I was also concerned that we would not have enough food. Here in NY the cocktail hour is included in the price of the hall/food. Since Disney is A la carte, we had a budget we needed to stick to but I wanted better quality of food. I figured if there is less food available at least I can give my guests something more then anitpasto or a cheese plate (this is just my opinion) We had 3 appetizers at $28 a pp-Crab cakes, Bacon crusted Beef and Blue Cheese and chicken dumplings. Everyone raved how good everything was. Not sure how much you want to pay or what you want but you are able to make your own menu like Skylar stated. Try whatever you can at your tasting and then work with your planner on the perfect menu for you and DF.

Just an fyi-I went to my friend's wedding here in NY 2 weeks ago and the food at the cocktail hour was horrible. She had alot of stations, but none of it was memorable. So even though there was more, does not always mean it is great.

Hi Steph! You made a lot of good points here! And, I am glad you understand my concern and sentiment over NY/NJ weddings! So many have been so over the top! If our dinner menu price is not too crazy, I think we will probably do 3 hot items like you did. Did you get any indication from your guests or family if it seemed like enough for them? Or were they left looking around for "the rest of the appetizers!" thank you!

I have to agree. It's nice to get one thing of high quality than a bunch of average items. That goes for food or whatever in my book.

Hi Kelly thanks! Another good point! I think all the items Disney serves are going to be high quality, which is a really nice thing to be able to count on! We just need to figure out what will give us the warm and fuzzies (for lack of a better term! ) for our plans. thank you!

Our pre-reception was at 11:00 and we just had artisanal cheese and breads and crackers, as well as an alcoholic punch. It was way more than enough. By the time we arrived at the reception, there was still tons left over. People got a three-course plated meal shortly after, followed by cake and later a DP, so there was still too much food.

Hi Heidi! Thank you too! Hmm, now I am torn again! We were thinking of doing something similar - even down to the champagne punch! Our pre-reception starts at 1pm though, so we were thinking people will be hungry and ready for lunch. Thanks for sharing your feeling that it was enough food with the cheese and crackers. We will really have to talk this through with the planner!

Oh and Skylar - I meant to click your post when I was multi-quoting, but messed that up...Anyway, thank you for posting your items too! For some reason, those items sounded much more appealing to me in your post than when we read them off the menus! More to think about! Thank you!

 

[daisygirl902]

I moved the pastries from my brunch menu and added in fruit platters for pre-reception...although I'm from Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) and really we're an "anything goes" type of crowd anyways!

I just figured since we are having brunch, then heading to Hoop de Doo Revue for dinner at 5 PM, then finishing off with a DP, we did not need more food!