Hors Devours Amounts
This is a thread that was started in our old BlissWeddings.com forums by justine on 07/07/2004.
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posted by justine
I will be having 220 people at my wedding and need to know how many pieces per person I should order. My wedding is at 7:30pm on a Friday. The reception is Hors devours, dancing and dessert. I have the question because my catering director told me 8-10 pieces per person and the assistant said 2.5-4. Given how late we are getting to the reception (8:15ish.) and that 95% of the guests will have had the opportunity to have eaten dinner, I think she's trying to screw me. Any thoughts?
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posted by HeatherR
I think the standard is somewhere between 3 to 4 hors' duerves per person when serving dinner.
I was able to find this:
"If a meal will be served shortly after the appetizers, allow 4 or 5 hors d'oeuvres per guest. If a late meal is planned, figure 6 or 7 per guest. When appetizers are the meal, plan 12 per guest."
It's possible some of your guests will have eaten dinner and others have not. I would say the caterer is right on, that way everyone is covered. You would rather have too much food than not enough.
Heather
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posted by catina
We're having hors d'oeuvres before dinner from 5:30 to 6:30. It's included in our package. They will have 3 - 4 per person. Even though most will have eaten, they will have eaten at around I'm guessing 5:00 - 5:30 in order to get dressed and get to the wedding for 7:30. Being an early dinner like that, it probably wouldn't be a very big dinner (also, people have to come home from work etc.) So, by the time the reception starts (approx 8:00 - 8:30?), 3 - 4 is not alot on empty stomachs, I think. I would think 8 - 10 would be better.
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posted by 6amandaf6
It also depends on if you are serving alsohol or not. I would go for about 8 per person. We had 4 per person at our wedding but they were served before a full dinner. Do you want to be able to have hors d'oevres available during the dancing as well? Depending on that, and the alcohol thing, I would say 8 - 10. It also depends how heavy they are, so if you're wanting to minimise the number for cost, go for pastries and hot food, rather than little cocktail sandwiches for example.
Good luck!
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posted by wynelle
We had heavy hor d'oeuvres instead of dinner at our evening (7 pm) reception and allowed for 12 bites per person. I mean heavy- little minature beef wellingtons, "two-bite" salmon filets on toast, steak quesadillas, grilled shrimp, etc. I think for a wedding at 7:30, most guest will arrive between 7-7:15, which means leaving home by 6:30-6:45, dressing by 6 which means early, usually light eating around five. So in all reality, this would replace dinner. Its safer to have a little more than you need, than to skimp and look stingy or unprepared. Both your catering director and the assistant are correct-just for different occasions.
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posted by tweetyblue
Take a look at "Secrets from a Caterer's Kitchen," by Nicole Aloni ($18.95 or thereabouts -- well worth it not just for wedding but if you entertain at all). Lots of info re portion sizes, party types, and many recipes.
Remember too that serving more food isn't necessarily going to increase your bill that much, nor is serving less food going to decrease your bill that much. The per-guest fixed costs are going to stay the same -- service staff, linens, barware, china, all that kind of thing. Your caterer should break those costs out for you if you ask (mine did!).
Can you discuss with the caterer the option of using a mixture of passed items and bulk buffet presentation? The more individual fussy things served, the more prep time you're incurring and the more it's going to cost you in the end. If you offer, say, a substantial cheese tray or charcuterie plate along with some kind of terrine, and then 4-5 pieces of two or three other tastes as passed hors d'oeuvres, that gives you plenty of food and helps on the prep end. It's true that guests tend to eat more when they serve themselves, but that's why you put less expensive and less elaborately prepared food on a buffet and pass the shrimp and beef and quenelles.
Good luck -- and have a wonderful wedding.
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posted by syringa
Definitely go with the 8-10 pieces per person. Some will eat less and others will eat more, so it will average out.
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posted by justine
tweetyblue-
Thanks so much for the book hint. There will be a combination of fruit/cheese trays for guests to serve themselves and passed food. Cost is an issue but linens, china, barware is included. Service staff is on top of the total. The main cost is food. The reason for the question is that this catering directior is NOTORIOUSLY bad. (It's at a country club.) I've had 15 couples, the wife and the husband, warn me about this woman. They have all had problems with her- She's unprepared and totally disorganized.
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