Christening menu - please critique!

[SianBB]

My DD is getting christened a week on Sunday and I am mostly catering for it myself. We have 50 or so guests

I have a room booked in a lovely little pub close to the church and plan to decorate with bunting etc so am going for a shabby chicesque theme.

With that in mind, what do you think of my planned menu? Opinions good and bad sought!

Sandwiches from a local deli (what fillings would you suggest?)
Cheeseboard from local deli chutneys etc
Mini pork pies
Smoked salmon blinis (will probably do a veg option as well - perhaps hummus?)
Scones with clotted cream and jam
Victoria sponge x 2
Lemon drizzle cake x 2
Fruit tarts
Chocolate brownies
Chocolate dipped strawberries

Am toying with having cupcakes as well.

Do you think this is substantial enough? The service is at 10:30am and people are travelling...

Also, do you think it polite to serve a drink on arrival?

Thank you!!

Sounds very nice but there seems to be a lot of sweet items. I'd probably ditch the scones and tarts and add some grapes to go with the cheese and maybe another savoury item.

For my DD's christening I bought lots of sandwiches from the local deli and to be honest they were a waste of money. For her first birthday I decided to ditch the sandwiches and instead put out a platter of cold meats and cheeses and some crusty bread rolls. This seemed to go down a storm and actually worked out a lot cheaper than pre-made sandwiches.

Oh, and the pickles and chutneys I put out went untouched, so next time I didn't bother.

Definitely agree a drink on arrival is a good idea. I just got my dad to act as wine-waiter!

Sort of going for a afternoon tea theme (with added bits and pieces to placate my mum) hence the number of sweet items. Have you any suggestions for savoury items to fit in with this theme - i've racked my brains!

Hadn't thought of grapes, great idea.

Oh ok, well as for fillings I'd probably go egg mayo (maybe bridge rolls?), ham, cheese or even cucumber for the authentic afternoon tea vibe?

Apart from that, other savoury items that went down well were chicken satay and Indian nibbles like samosas. Not very afternoon tea though I suppose.

am a big fan of afternoon tea but in this case the service is at 10.30am so I guess by the time you are all eating it will actually be lunchtime rather than afternoon tea time - I think biscuitnibbler is right, there is a lot of sweet stuff cakes etc on the menu which may be more appropriate for an afternoon event? So I would go more with the savoury option (are you having a christening cake as well as all the other cakes?) with a couple of sweet dessert type options.

with your bunting and shabby-chic theme, how about making it more of a 'traditional ploughmans' than afternoon tea. do the sandwiches, cheese platter and mini pork pies and perhaps add some cold meat platters and french sticks cut up, grapes and apples withe the cheese and then have the cakes/brownies et afterwards but just a choice of a couple - or what about strawberries and cream?

yes deffo drink on arrival - some people want a glass of wine/champers/beer others will just want a cuppa - plus have plenty of soft drinks if people are travelling there will be drivers

have a great time it all sounds lovely

Sounds very nice.
I would add some crudites or veg content somewhere (bamboo kebab sticks with chunks of roast veg?)
Serve the strawberries au naturel (plenty of choc / sweet content elsewhere)
Not do the cupcakes - or if you do, delete something else
You could replace the sandwiches and blinis with plates of small bagels with either smoked salmon or cream cheese on top.

A drink on arrival is always nice.

Right then! Think i'm just about there with the food... Tips have been great!

The menu is looking like this

Glass of prosecco on arrival

Sandwiches

Cheese ploughmans
Hummous and red pepper ciabatta
Goats cheese and chilli jam
Chicken, parmesan and rocket wrap
Ham and mustard
Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels

Cheese board - Stilton, cheddar, brie and speciality cheddar plus crackers, chutneys, grapes, celery

Mini pork pies
Filo tartlets
Blinis
Crudites

Lemon cake x 2
Victoria sponge
Ginger cake
Scones
Strawberrys

Tea and coffee

Although it sounds heavy on the sweet side, there is only really one slice of cake/one scone per person - my christening cake isn't very big.

Hoping for a sunny day now! Thanks for all your help.

That sounds really nice.
Great sandwiches.

Sounds lovely!

Sounds lovely. Savoury scones can be nice too - maybe made with goat's cheese or some other strong cheese.