buffet *list* vs "menu"

[lilmsjess]

so i remembered at my wedding, there was ALOT of guessing wth what what!
so, i thought on each table, i'd place a card with a listing of the buffet items, and also attach little business cards to each tray.....it seems my family is kicking in alot of their own recipes(which works for me!), but alot, you're looking at the food like WTF is THAT!(even though it tastes good!)....

so michaels had all their 12x12 card stock 2/$1, so i got 6 sheets.....i'm going to cut them into 4's, so they'll be 3x3(i think), and i'm putting 2 cards with a "listing" on each table, and i'm using the rest of the cards for grandparent/parent place settings, and also for the cards on the candy table.....

so what do you think? if you knew alot of people wouldn't know what was on the buffet, would you do something like this?!

[f77g4]

I think it's a good idea although I'd be more apt to put the names of the items on the buffet rather then at the table. I personally would forget what was on the list by the time I got to the buffet, especially if there was a long line.

[Whitewater]

My historic re-enactment society puts on a buffet dinner for New Year's every year, and we *always* put out cards with the recipes and names of the dishes. We've got vegetarians, carnivores, people with gluten allergies, celiacs, vegans, orthodox religious, and people who are allergic to shellfish, peanuts, cinnamon, you name it.

Works great. People can eat what they want and avoid the stuff that will be detrimental to them, and we don't have to feel guilty about sending our friends to the hospital! Or worse . . .

If you can, cards describing the buffet foods would be great, I think. I'm going to do that too -- that is, if people will tell me what they're bringing ahead of time!


Whitewater

[lilmsjess]

ww-the recipe sounds good, especially for food allergies!

as for putting them both on the tables and buffet, you don't know my family....i have some dumb @$$ cousins, and an alcoholic aunt, who would take it upon themselves, to pick up the card, read it, and lay it down somewhere else ;).....BUT, i am thinking, that i can tack the card ABOVE the dish, on the wall....and it shouldn't be a problem....LUCKILY, i know most of fh's recipes(esp since we got family recipe books for xmas back in 06!), so i can make those cards now....i'd just have to wait for dishes family are bringing....i know for sure, my aunt won't give me the recipe for her meatballs(they're my uncles arabic family recipe YUM!).....but believe ME, we ALL know aunt peanuts meatballs:chimp:-ok i want some NOW lol

ww-you don't use them for breads do you? i mean, unless there's cheese or certain spices, they're pretty self-explanatory for the most part, right?!

[fireprincess2009]

I'm planning on doing both dining table and buffet table cards. What always bums me out is when I put something on my plate and then I see something fantastic later on in the line but my plate is already full. :snide:

[EarlyBird]

You know i was thinking, would you like to share the recipes with your guests? kind of like a favor? You could make some cute little cards with cardstock on your printer and people could take them with them.. maybe put them in a business card holder in front of the buffet...

just a though

[MrsDM]

I really REALLY like Vana's idea of the receipe favors!!

As for the "menu", even though I'm not going with a buffet, if I was, I was going to do something like this:

http://www.weddingmagazine.co.uk/imageBank/cache/m/Menu1_e_88e74fe40921f16b0355906b0a0623fa.jpg

That way, the guests know when they sit down what the menu is, and also put a little card by each item on the buffet table so if something sounded good when they are looking at the menu card, they know what is what when they get up there.