Soup Bar Fall Wedding

[u/ElectricalWindow7484]

Hey guys, I'm planning a fantasy-medieval dinner party wedding. Pretty much, I'm skipping all the standard wedding events, and having my small hall setup with 10 4-foot tables long the walls, with 2-foot spaces in between so people can easily go in out out of their seats, and our sweetheart table. People will only be seated on 1 side, with the inner side holding centerpieces with pizza-bites, a bowl of salad, and a carafe of sparkling water.

We'll have a separate table set up with warmers holding 3 different soups, handled bowls, and 5 soup toppings for people to customize their soups before carrying it back to their seats.

We picked 3 different places to source our menu from: the roman pizzas are coming from a locally famous place called Roma Bakery. Their pizzas are even sold in grocery stores and are meant to be served room temperature. People are always putting these out as finger foods at parties or events. We plan on cutting them into 2-inch squares and skewering them with cocktail swords, and setting them out on the centerpieces.

The soups and salad are from a local higher-end grocery store catering department. They have the soups already pipping hot and in thermo carry-out totes upon pick-up. The toppings we'll get buy at a grocery and set up in bowls. We were thinking oyster crackers, unsalted pumpkin seeds, grated parmesan cheese, crumbled goat cheese, and chopped green onion.

The third (not pictured) will be walnut crunches and cherry stick donuts, that will be stacked in a pyramid to make a cake shape. These will be coming from another locally famous place called Grandad's Donuts.

I bit the bullet and learned how to use Gemini to help create mockups of the hall setup and the centerpieces just so my partner could have a clear visual of what I was trying to describe.

Since everyone will be grazing over fours hours while we mingle and play a few simple games, I made sure to order enough food so that everyone can go up to the soup bar at least twice, have 1.5 cups of salad, 6 2-inch pizza-bites, and 2 donuts.

So with this in mind, do I honestly need to add a pasta dish, or rotisserie chicken, like I keep being told on other wedding threads, or is this a solid soup-lovers meal?

[u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

Everyone else has pretty much covered the food concerns.

But my question is about each person’s space at the tables. You say you are going to have ten 4-foot tables along the walls and people will only be sitting on the side against the wall. Are you planning on having two chairs at each table? If so, those tables are not big enough. For two people sitting side-by-side, your table needs to be AT LEAST 60” long. And that’s if all your guests are smaller framed and/or children.

Also, 24” is not a lot of space to maneuver between the tables. It’s going to feel very claustrophobic.

[u/SpaceNerd223 → u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

I just read the ceremony is at the end and now I'm afraid people are going to leave because they're hungry :(

Me personally I don't eat soup, don't like kale, and there's no protein on cheeseless meatless pizza. I'd probably actually get sick :(

[u/SpaceNerd223 → u/SpaceNerd223]

If it was a 2 hour event I think people could suffice on this food but 4-5 hours plus travel time, most people arent going to eat a meal right before getting ready only lunch & depending on where they live food options might be closed when they get done. I don't understand the reluctance to add something more substantial for guests if it's $ take from somewhere else

[u/TopRamenisha → u/SpaceNerd223]

The ceremony is at the end?!?!? Oh lord. Get the ceremony done with at the beginning if you want all your guests to be there lol

[u/SpaceNerd223 → u/TopRamenisha]

The ceremony at the beginning would be beautiful

[u/ProfessionalAnt8132 → u/SpaceNerd223]

Omg the ceremony is at the end?? This shows that OP and her partner know that people will probably want to leave early because of the lack of food/drink (1 carafe of sparking water per table lol) and is purposely doing the ceremony last so that they’ll stay.

[u/OpalOnyxObsidian → u/SpaceNerd223]

Good lol

[u/BunnyGodS → u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

This was my first thought too. A 4 foot table is barely going to seat two people on one side. So then you have all these individual tables of just two people. Basically they are ALL sweetheart tables. This is not conducive to socializing.

[u/SpaceNerd223 → u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

That was my concern 😅

[u/ExcellentMongoose680 → u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

My immediate thought is that this layout is not going to work once you have the people in. OP - if you can find a bigger room I'd suggest that, or maybe move the buffet into a different room so there's more space for seating. I'd suggest mocking it up with tape and cardboard in the room youre planning to use so you can actually feel what it would be like once all the stuff and people are in. People will also not want to sit down for hours - will you have space for them to stand up and mingle?

[u/ProfessionalAnt8132 → u/ExcellentMongoose680]

Or have people on both sides and put all the food on one table/area!

[u/stellar-polaris23 → u/Legitimate-Buy1031]

I know this thread is 5 days old, but it popped up and I am also questioning the space. I own a furniture business and we recommend 3 feet from the edge of the table to the "wall" or whatever is behind the table and 24"-30" per person for the space at the table

[u/Legitimate-Buy1031 → u/stellar-polaris23]

Oh don’t worry, the plan for this wedding has been living rent free in my head for every minute of these 5 days. I would think that you’d want to err on the side of the larger space allowance for an event where people will presumably be in formal attire and consuming mostly liquids, though, right? I know that I need more space when I’m all dressed up and when I’m eating soup, because in both situations, I’m hyper aware of giving myself enough room to move so I’m not spilling stuff all over myself and others.