WHat time are you hoping dinner is served by?

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Posted by jonsgirl04

anyone else? And do you think its ok to have them choose their meal ahead of time? So the hall will already know?

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I am not a fan of choosing the meal ahead of time. I have no idea what i'm going to feel like eating for dinner 4 weeks from now....I have no idea what I feel like eating for lunch today, know what I mean?
That said, unless your RH or banquet mgr. specifically requests that you ask your guests ahead of time, then there is no need for you to do so. Catering halls are used to catering large events, it's what they do....so unless they ask for it, then don't worry about it. Let the guests decide what they feel like eating when their waiter asks them.

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Posted by jonsgirl04

anyone else? And do you think its ok to have them choose their meal ahead of time? So the hall will already know?

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my only thing with picking it ahead of time is that the response cards with the dinner choices just have pics or will just say chicken, fish, beef.

For me it would depend on how its made. For example i dont eat all fish but if i see its salmon then i might want it...same with chicken depending on how its made i might want it or not...plus what if i change my mind. Like ill get to the wedding and then that day be in the mood for fish not chicken like originally picked.

My CH is from 7-8 so I guess that with the introductions, first dance and speeches dinner should be served around 9-9:15, then Father/Daughter, Mother/Son dances, then dancing, then garter, then dancing, then cake, then dancing, then party back at the hotel!!!

ETS: I'm not a fan of choose the meal a head of time. IT's just my personal opinion.

FH wants to instruct JT to start taking dinner orders immediately - like before we are announced in the room.....that way as many orders as possible are taken so that our guests can start dancing right away.....he said sometimes orders arent taken right away and it keeps people at their tables longer....we want to go right into dancing as soon as the party starts i dont know what time they are going to serve dinner though - basically our DJ will be running the show for us....FH is telling JT to do whatever the DJ wants.....because sometimes the MD tells the DJ to tell people to sit, so everyone is seated but then the dinner isnt being served yet and the MD told the DJ to make people sit for no reason - it kills the party when people have to keep sitting for no reason....FH sees it happen alot - so i have no idea, i told him that its fine that the DJ speaks for us and tells them to do whatever, at least they won't be bothering us

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Posted by Future Mulligan

FH wants to instruct JT to start taking dinner orders immediately - like before we are announced in the room.....that way as many orders as possible are taken so that our guests can start dancing right away.....he said sometimes orders arent taken right away and it keeps people at their tables longer....we want to go right into dancing as soon as the party starts i dont know what time they are going to serve dinner though - basically our DJ will be running the show for us....FH is telling JT to do whatever the DJ wants.....because sometimes the MD tells the DJ to tell people to sit, so everyone is seated but then the dinner isnt being served yet and the MD told the DJ to make people sit for no reason - it kills the party when people have to keep sitting for no reason....FH sees it happen alot - so i have no idea, i told him that its fine that the DJ speaks for us and tells them to do whatever, at least they won't be bothering us

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thats a really good idea about taking the orders immediately! I am hoping dinner is served quickly so we can get on with the dancing too!

i guess not that soon though...people usually pig out at the CH and then they have appetizer when they get to the reception room, salad or pasta and then dinner...all this within an hour is alot so i guess dinner will be around 9:30-10

This is something I'm really worried about. When we were talking with differnt dj's and bands a lot of them told us that given the size of our party, there was prob going to be a lot less time for dancing because of all the people that have to be served food. Apparently, most RH's require a specific amount of time that 'dinner music' is played to keep people off the dance floor so that the staff can bring out the food. I think its actually a legal requirement. FH and I are really concerned about this b/c we will prob have 300-350 people and that's a lot of dinners to pump out. We are going to speak to our MD tho when it gets closer and maybe have to add an hour to the reception.
Anyone doing a longer than 4 hour reception? Our CH is 1 1/2 hours so I'm not sure if adding more time to the reception is feasible.

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Posted by NC1011

This is something I'm really worried about. When we were talking with differnt dj's and bands a lot of them told us that given the size of our party, there was prob going to be a lot less time for dancing because of all the people that have to be served food. Apparently, most RH's require a specific amount of time that 'dinner music' is played to keep people off the dance floor so that the staff can bring out the food. I think its actually a legal requirement. FH and I are really concerned about this b/c we will prob have 300-350 people and that's a lot of dinners to pump out. We are going to speak to our MD tho when it gets closer and maybe have to add an hour to the reception.
Anyone doing a longer than 4 hour reception? Our CH is 1 1/2 hours so I'm not sure if adding more time to the reception is feasible.

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yes we extended ours so it will be 7:30-8:30 for ch and reception is 8:30-1:30am

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Posted by NC1011

This is something I'm really worried about. When we were talking with differnt dj's and bands a lot of them told us that given the size of our party, there was prob going to be a lot less time for dancing because of all the people that have to be served food. Apparently, most RH's require a specific amount of time that 'dinner music' is played to keep people off the dance floor so that the staff can bring out the food. I think its actually a legal requirement. FH and I are really concerned about this b/c we will prob have 300-350 people and that's a lot of dinners to pump out. We are going to speak to our MD tho when it gets closer and maybe have to add an hour to the reception.
Anyone doing a longer than 4 hour reception? Our CH is 1 1/2 hours so I'm not sure if adding more time to the reception is feasible.

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our CH is also 1 1/2 hours.....its from 6:30 to 8pm right now our reception is from 8 to 12:30 but we are going to buy an extra half hour and extend it to 1am - for 5 hour reception - we figure a lot of the older crowd will leave after VH - and then we can party hard for the last hour

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Posted by Future Mulligan

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Posted by NC1011

This is something I'm really worried about. When we were talking with differnt dj's and bands a lot of them told us that given the size of our party, there was prob going to be a lot less time for dancing because of all the people that have to be served food. Apparently, most RH's require a specific amount of time that 'dinner music' is played to keep people off the dance floor so that the staff can bring out the food. I think its actually a legal requirement. FH and I are really concerned about this b/c we will prob have 300-350 people and that's a lot of dinners to pump out. We are going to speak to our MD tho when it gets closer and maybe have to add an hour to the reception.
Anyone doing a longer than 4 hour reception? Our CH is 1 1/2 hours so I'm not sure if adding more time to the reception is feasible.

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our CH is also 1 1/2 hours.....its from 6:30 to 8pm right now our reception is from 8 to 12:30 but we are going to buy an extra half hour and extend it to 1am - for 5 hour reception - we figure a lot of the older crowd will leave after VH - and then we can party hard for the last hour

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We are having a VH as well which is another thing I am afraid of cutting into our party time. I think we are prob going to end up just adding the extra hour and whoever wants to stay can stay and the rest can just be party poopers

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Posted by NC1011

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Posted by Future Mulligan

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Posted by NC1011

This is something I'm really worried about. When we were talking with differnt dj's and bands a lot of them told us that given the size of our party, there was prob going to be a lot less time for dancing because of all the people that have to be served food. Apparently, most RH's require a specific amount of time that 'dinner music' is played to keep people off the dance floor so that the staff can bring out the food. I think its actually a legal requirement. FH and I are really concerned about this b/c we will prob have 300-350 people and that's a lot of dinners to pump out. We are going to speak to our MD tho when it gets closer and maybe have to add an hour to the reception.
Anyone doing a longer than 4 hour reception? Our CH is 1 1/2 hours so I'm not sure if adding more time to the reception is feasible.

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our CH is also 1 1/2 hours.....its from 6:30 to 8pm right now our reception is from 8 to 12:30 but we are going to buy an extra half hour and extend it to 1am - for 5 hour reception - we figure a lot of the older crowd will leave after VH - and then we can party hard for the last hour

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We are having a VH as well which is another thing I am afraid of cutting into our party time. I think we are prob going to end up just adding the extra hour and whoever wants to stay can stay and the rest can just be party poopers

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we did it because of the VH - we wanted more dancing time.....i know people will probably leave - but i dont care! i want to dance and so does my FH!

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Posted by jonsgirl04

anyone else? And do you think its ok to have them choose their meal ahead of time? So the hall will already know?

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Most places don't do the choosing meals ahead of time thing any more....check with your hall, they may not even do it!

my coctail hour is from 8-915 so im thinking dinner will be after 10

i would not ask guests to pick their meal ahead of time; for myself, i dont know what i want to eat tomorrow let alone a month from now - Sorry