6 Popular Reception Styles (And Which Is Perfect For Your Wedding!)

Couples from around the region and well beyond have long chosen to exchange vows at our AAA Four-Diamond resort in the heart of Northern Virginia’s Potomac River Valley. Here, you discover all the elements for a blissful wedding. Delight your guests with unique settings, approachable service and serene accommodations. And relax knowing that our energy and focus are fully engaged in creating the big day that reflects your personal taste – which especially shines through with your choice from six popular wedding reception styles detailed below.

Perfectly Plated

A plated reception invites your guests to sit back, relax, commiserate and enjoy a full-service experience. The very height of elegance, our Plated Four-Course Dinner showcases your choice of sumptuous salad, appetizer and dessert. For the main course, you can choose to offer your guests two pre-selected entrées or one paired entrée with your selected accompaniment. Alternately, our Plated Three-Course Dinner features your choice of salad and dessert plus two pre-selected entrées with your selected accompaniment. Both of our plated dinner packages include a cocktail reception featuring your choice of five passed hors d’oeuvres as well as a four-hour premium bar and complimentary champagne toast during the dinner service.

Bountiful Buffets

A buffet reception allows couples to treat their guests with a lavish assortment of culinary delights. Our Signature Buffet Dinner is designed to impress even the choosiest foodie. Just a sampling of the upscale entrée selections includes roasted beef tenderloin with spring mushroom and brandy demi-glace, pan-seared Atlantic salmon with basil and lemon cream and slow-roasted pork loin with butternut squash, applewood bacon and sage hash. The gastronomic journey is rounded out by an array of salads, accompaniments and a miniature dessert buffet. Our Signature Buffet Dinner package also includes a cocktail reception featuring your choice of five server-passed hors d’oeuvres as well as a four-hour premium bar and complimentary champagne toast during the dinner service.

Fabulous Food Stations

Similar to a buffet reception, food stations are all about presenting a variety of cuisines. This trendy option has been gaining more and more popularity of late. Given the very nature of this fun and flexible reception style, our catering team has no predetermined menus. Rather, couples meet with our experts to collaborate on their desired types of stations and the selections to be offered at each. The possibilities are deliciously endless.

Three More Casual Catering Styles

If your wedding budget doesn’t allow for a grand reception on the scale of the three previous styles, you can consider the more modest options of food trucks, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres or champagne and cake to celebrate your special day with family and friends. 

Our experienced wedding specialists are ready to help bring your one-of-a-kind vision to life for your big day – and beyond. Our resort is the ideal venue for combining your ceremony and reception in one stunning location as well as hosting the celebrations leading up to and following your wedding day. Ready to discover your moment? You can start the conversation here.