Question of the week: What are the different options to serve food at an Indian Wedding Reception?

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Q. I am planning my wedding this coming summer and wanted to know the various options for serving food besides a traditional buffet dinner.

A. Dear Bride-to-be: Choose your wedding set-up based on your style and budget. Whether you want something formal or fun, elegant or extravagant, chic or classic, or a combination of everything, here are a few options you may want to consider:

Plated Sit-down Dinner: Not only is this style one of the very formal ones, but also very elegant. Each course is served in individual plates for each guest with the right amount of sauce, spicing, and accompaniments. Also known as “American Style” dinner, plated sit-down dinner requires assigned seating for your guests, which means that you will need escort cards in addition to place cards. The meal is timed, where appropriate courses are brought out at the same time for all the guests. This means that the guests don’t have to wait in line for their food, like in a buffet, and also gives you more control on the timeline for your reception. At the same time it also means that you need a lot of wait staff, which increases your costs. While with the buffet you can have a huge variety, with a plated sit-down menu you are limited to two or three.

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Family Style: Another style of a sit-down dinner, which is less formal is Family Style. In this style, dishes are served in platters (or small decorative bowls for curries) are placed in the middle of the guest tables by the wait staff. Guests can help themselves to their choice of dish(es) in the required amount of quantity. This allows you to have more variety in dishes, and gives your guest a chance to interact with each other. This option does not require you to have a huge wait staff and is less expensive compared to plated sit-down dinner. At the same time it is usually more expensive than a buffet.

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Live Food Stations: Live food stations are spread in different areas of the reception room, and each station has their own theme. They can vary from a live Pasta Station, Pani Poori or a live Chaat Station, Indo-Chinese Station and more. Since the chef prepares the food in front of the guests, the food is hot and fresh. Moreover, it is interactive and entertaining.

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Living Room Reception: This might be the right choice for you if you are hosting your wedding reception in art gallery, museum or lounge/club. Although this style is less formal, it can look very stylish. Pass around hors d’oeuvres, few appetizer platters on buffet tables, creative presentation, over-the-top fancy cocktail bar, combined with live food stations will not only entertain your guests, but will also give them a chance to mingle and enjoy the venue. Since a living room reception requires a lot of wait staff, it can get very expensive. The price will also vary on your choice of menu and ingredients used in the food.

Hope this helps you in your selection of style of serving food! Keep the questions coming 🙂