Oh Oh! You mean like chicken in a snuff movie!
Thank you, Cuckoorex! Thank you for pointing this out to me! 
I will have the SES on standby, and dettol cream and maybe a St John’s Ambulance set up there to treat the casualities. :dubious:
Katie That’s a great idea - you could have lots of cool flavour mixtures in those - thanks 
All I have to say is, if I had MY wedding catered, I would serve everyone goose. Or duck. Duck goes quack, you know.
I wanted to have an appetizer-only type reception and was talked out of it. Lots of people were quite adamant that 100 people would not be satisfied with just finger food at dinner time. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but many people who claim to know seem to think it’s so.
If you’re thinking finger foods in the sense that people can eat it without a fork and knife, rather than just snack foods, then I think it’s a good idea. Put stuff on skewers-- you can do veggie kabobs and meat, so people can mix it up if they want. You can prepare them and marinate overnight, then throw on a grill and cook to serve.
Are you going to have access to a grill? Another thing I was tempted to do was have a barbecue reception. I think the freshly cooked aspect of it would be great.
Definitely a fruit tray, melon balls or chunks, strawberries and small grape bunches are some of the easiest to deal with as finger/toothpick food.
Take a whole pinapple, core and all wash it and slice into thin rounds (1/4 inch or less).
Then slice each one “pizza style”. each triangle will only have a tiny bit of the core, which in unoticeable, and is eaten leaving the rind. Yummy, pretty and very easy for a non cooks to prepare.
Definitely a fruit tray, melon balls or chunks, strawberries and small grape bunches are some of the easiest to deal with as finger/toothpick food.
Take a whole pinapple, core and all, wash it and slice into thin rounds (1/4 inch or less).
Then slice each one “pizza style”. each triangle will only have a tiny bit of the core, which in unoticeable, and is eaten leaving the rind. Yummy, pretty and very easy for a non cooks to prepare.
Rubystreak - you rock - you’ve hit it in one. THat’s EXACTLY what we are trying to plan. Not no food, or little food - but substantial fingerfoods. Kebabs are a great idea 
I might start to play with some veges/flavours. Her aim isn’t to starve anyone, but not to overstuff them either.
Snermy - great fruit idea
I’ll believe that when i see it. Unless you’re talking about giant hot dogs or something. Or maybe steaks that people are just going to pick up and eat with their hands. Technically, that would be finger food, right?
I’m glad I could help.
You are in no danger of overstuffing people, I’d guess. Free advice I’ll pass on from my caterer-- people will eat whatever you put out. She says she rarely has leftovers because usually everything goes, and people will try a little of everything. If you put out two meat dishes in a buffet, people won’t just say, as they will at a sit-down, “I’ll have the chicken.” No, they will have both. I guess there is a psychology to buffets that somehow I didn’t know because I’ve never had to plan a party like this before. She also said you’d be surprised about how much dessert people will eat.
If you make kabobs, make a lot more than you think you’ll need. I can’t believe how many people will eat when I make them at my barbecues. If you have vegetarians attending, tofu marinates nicely. I usually do mushrooms, zucchini, red onion, tofu, and those little grape tomatoes. If you have vegetarians, you can do meat on its own skewers, maybe with onions on it for flavoring if it’s chicken. Marinate in a lemon/olive oil/garlic marinade overnight. Awesome.
The wrap sandwiches are a good idea. Eggrolls are great too. Cheese and crackers can be as fancy as you want them to be, depending on which cheese and which crackers/bread you have. What about dips? A spinach artichoke dip with bread and veggies always gets demolished at my parties. Quesadillas with chicken or just cheese and salsa… hummus and pita?
Ah, maybe I’ll have an all-appetizers reception for my next wedding. Ha! I kid! Don’t tell my fiance I said that!
Ooh! Ooh! At my wedding, the caterer made these GREAT mashed potato rolls – mashed potatoes in egg roll wrappers, shaped just like an egg roll, quickly fried to make the wrapper crispy, and then sliced in half on the bias. They were served standing up on the flat (non-cut) end. They were SO GOOD, and unusual, and they must be pretty inexpensive since it’s basically potatoes, butter, milk/cream/buttermilk, salt, pepper, garlic/other herbs, & egg roll wrappers.
They were so good, and everyone loved them.
An option for your friend, if the food budget is getting too high and she wants to scale back, is to put something like “appetizer reception to follow” on the invitation. That way, people will know what to expect and can plan and eat accordingly beforehand. Or – this is what I wanted to do for my wedding, but couldn’t get the space in the evening – she could have a dessert reception instead. For that, it would probably be better if the wedding were a little later in the evening (7:00 or so), so that people could eat dinner beforehand, but you could do so many fun things with that. You’d still want to have a few non-dessert items, like a fruit/veggie tray, or cheese & crackers, but you could get so creative! And baked goods usually keep a little longer than finger foods, so you and your friends could do more in advance.
I wish it were socially and financially acceptable to have multiple weddings to the same person. I just love them and have so many ideas for different weddings!