Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB
One thing I will note is that when you're dealing with a large number of people having an actual meal, it'll often be the case that you have to choose between 2-3 meals for everyone rather than having a really open buffet, although again, this will depend on the venue and how much we collectively are willing to pay.
Often? I've never heard of this being done.

Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB
Again, I'm up for pretty much anything when it comes to venues but I have noticed that the number of people mentioning they could duck out is pretty high and I'd be gutted if half the people I wanted to hang out with had left early.
Where have you seen people saying this?

Catering will not be a couple grand for the number we will probably have coming. Even so, with people purchasing dinner tickets, that should cover the cost of it. Room rentals for a couple of hours are not very expensive - the food will be the biggest part of that, and if we can pay for it with the dinner ticket, everything will be fine budget-wise if we are relying on donations.

I think people are hearing "venue" and "hotel" and thinking it will be a red carpet party or something like that... I don't want people to be put off by how formal or otherwise this thing is, but I did intend for it to be a little dressy because I think that's fun, and we have some guys and gals here who look awesome in dresses and suits (not that those would be required or anything). If people don't like the sound of semi-formal, though, then I'm sure we can figure something else out. We're geeks from a Final Fantasy site the age of a high school kid. Something about us getting a little dressed up to have a meal at a hotel and present awards to ourselves seems fun and ridiculous to me.

After doing some thinking about the open bar, it doesn't seem feasible and it seems like it's most fair to let everyone just purchase you own drinks. I think it's unfair to insist for other people to want to pay for that if they have no interest in alcohol. And to say "no cash limit" is ridiculous. Whose credit card would we put it on? Yours?

It isn't full catering and open bar or nothing. Food is generally expected to be provided. Alcohol is not a requirement, and if you want to drink, figure out a way to put some money in your pocket for it.