Plated Reception?

[purple250]

I just found out that I am able to have a plated reception after all at my reception venue. I looked over the a la carte dinner selections from the menus that my planner sent me. My question is how many selections are we allowed to have without the price going up. i.e. Can I select the beef filet and lobster tail for $89.00, the chicken breast, jumpo shrimp, and scallops for $85, and also the tilapia for $70 for my menu? How does this work? Do they just charge you for how many of each dish you get. i.e. if 20 people order the steak and lobster tail its $20 x 89, plus 15 x 70 for the 15 people that order the tilapia, etc. Sorry if this is a stupid question. I just can't seem to find this info anywhere.

 

[lurkyloo]

There are a couple ways to do this. The way most people do it is to offer their guests a choice of entree in the invitation. When they send back their reply cards, you tally up how many people want each dish and give the numbers to your planner. Then you are charged only for the exact number of each dish that your guests want (e.g., 20 steak & lobsters, 15 tilapias, etc.)

The other way is called Crown Service, and it's where the chefs make enough of each dish for everyone at the reception, and then guests place their orders on the spot. It is very expensive because the chefs have to make three (or however many choices you pick) dishes for each person since they don't know ahead of time what everyone will want.

 

[kcampbell]

We were told they typically only do 2 entree choices for the a la carte menu, but if you find that you need to because of menu flexibility they will accomadate. We had 3 and did not choose the "crown service". Ken told us about it, but I honestly thought it was taking things a tad overboard.

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

You can customize the menu anyway you want. We ended up doing a tasting session and selecting the Beef filet with mahi mahi. This way we had a well-rounded meal that required no selection beforehand. Everyone loved it.

 

[purple250]

Thanks for clarifying this for me! It makes a lot more sense now.