catering my wedding myself?

Question

I am planning on catering my wedding myself with some help from some of my friends parents. I am expecting to have roughly 80 guests. What would you suggest serving that is not too difficuult to make to serve that many

My wedding is the end of October. I do have people that will help serve and set up.

Answer 1

Daal & chapaty

Answer 2

Hello here is some advice for the menu.

Deli, rolls, condiments, fresh fruit, salads, and maybe meatballs of some sort. Another way to go would do a Mexican style buffet. It is really inexpensive and more variety.

One other way to go would be a desert only reception. You would schedule the party after dinner time 7:30 - 8:00ish, so your guests would not expect to have a full meal just desert. But its really important that you clarify on your invitation that it is a desert only reception. Then you can mix your deserts up a little and have a chocolate fountain along with your cake. Fountains are a great addition to the desert you can have many choices of things to dip. Sponge cake, strawberries, pretzels, etc. Good luck and Congratulations!

Answer 3

don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it. I've been listening to that for the past couple of months now, I'm getting married this sat (9/2) and i'm catering my own wedding. I am making the food 1-2 days in advance. I'm having an english garden theme wedding so I'm sticking to the english flare for tradition. You just have to remember that you don't want to do ANYTHING on the day of your wedding so if you can enlist a few ladies to help w/ the set up and serving of the food (less stress for you and you won't get your dress dirty). You also need to decide on the type of menu you are having. I would recommend either having a cocktail type reception or a simple menu. You can having anything from finger foods to sit down. I would also rent chaffing dishes, this will allow you to keep food warm especially if you don't have the access to ovens at the reception. It takes alot of planning to pull this off, so make sure that you allow yourself plenty of time. If you don't think that you are going to have the time I would recommend having it catered. Sometimes you can get deals on it, check out culinary schools if there are some near you. Sometimes they are willing to cater your event (with the supervision of the teachers). I recommend this only if your not one for stressing.
Ideas.....

cocktail- quiche,sweet & sour meatballs, chicken & pineapple skewers, pastry puffs w/ seafood filling, cheese tray, bruchsetta, phyllos filled w/ spinach (anything that can be considered a finger food is great at this and many can be bought at wholesale places)

Sitdown- ham, greenbeans/carrots/mixed veggies, rice pilaf, rolls....lasagna (meatless)

Dessert- depending on the time of your wedding a dessert reception is acceptable- chocolate covered strawberries, tarts, candies, breads, mini cakes, of course wedding cakes

the sky is the limit, just have fun, and remember that it takes planning!!

Answer 4

Depends how formal you want it to be?
If it's nice outside get someone to run a bbq.
For my Mom's 50th we did all the food ourselves, there was about 70 people there and we had no problem, plus my mom didn't have to do a thing. Here's what we did:
Ahead of time: made cakes, squares, and cookies.
Bought premade: bacon wrapped scallops, pastry h'ordearvs, wrap wheels (tortilla wraps rooled with spinach and cream cheese and stuf inside).
Made: Meat and cheese tray with French bread.
We didn't ry to serve a meal because it was too complicated. The appetizers and desserts fill people up and you can pretty much leave the cool stuff out all night. People can make themselves sandwiches and eat some squares. We served the hot appetizers and the cake in waves. It worked very well, people were happy and full and we weren't exhausted. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Serve what you want to serve but start in advance and freeze the food. So on the day of your wedding day you can have everything heated that way there won't be so much cooking to do. I am doing the same thing for my wedding next year because it is cost efficient and I just don't like everyone else's cooking. Cograts and Good Luck.

Answer 6

Having also catered my wedding, I can tell you that the key is in things that you can prepare ahead of time. Our menu consisted of the following:

- Veggie Platters with assorted dips (we put the dips in interesting things like bell peppers and bread bowls)

- Cheese Platters

- Shrimp Cocktail

- Chicken Satee (my mom's recipe brought a nice touch)

- Lots of the pre-made hors d'ouvres from Costco

- Smoked Salmon

- Beef Tenderloin (again from Costco, buy & roast it whole to medium rare. Served cold and sliced very thin with a horseraddish sauce (sourcream, mayo, salt, lemon juice & horseraddish)

- Fresh Fruit

- Crusty Bread, Rolls & Crackers

Doing this in a buffet style will make your life so much easier. It is a lot of work, but you can save a ton of money! Good Luck :)

Answer 7

It depends; are you having a 3 course meal or hors d'oeurves and cake and punch/champagne? Are you having your wedding at a venue that will allow this? A lot of venues have it in the contract that all food must be prepared by a state inspected kitchen if they don't require you go through them (like most hotels do). You might want to check on that. If you're going all out and having a meal the food itself might cost almost as much as a caterer would charge.

If you're going for hors d'oeurves get yourself a Sam's Club or Cosco membership and raid their frozen foods and deli sections. They have lots of gourmet treats you can buy in bulk.

If you're making the cake yourself, you might want to consider cupcakes.

Answer 8

there is a great book called bridal bargains that has some great recipes that would help you.

I would also suggest tons of pre-made heat up stuff from Costco or something like that --mini quiches, cheese and crackers, ect.

also the time of day can cut down on the food too. if you have it at 2pm then there may be less need for food. . .

best of luck to you.

p.s. just a thought --a friend mentioned to me when I was thinking of doing this that she relied on a lot of friends to supply things for her wedding and they flaked. And it set them up because it was very important to her. And she told me that if you pay someone to do something, they'll do it. And there's no left over resentment. My advice is --if there is anything you can pay to have done, pay for it. And hire a wedding coordinator for the day of --mine SAVED MY LIFE on my wedding day. It may seem too costly, but I'm super cheap and it was worth every penny.

Answer 9

My mom, grandmothers and aunts pitched in and catered my wedding. We had several foods from our area.. nothing out of the ordinary that no one would eat! We had roast, new potatoess, potatoe salad, pasta, gumbo, sausages, different types of breads, veggie trays..etc... Something you would eat on a Sunday Dinner with family, but of course on a larger scale. We also had something for the kids... Finger Foods: Sandwiches, crackers.. Everyone enjoyed the food! There was literally nothing left

Answer 10

i have attended a wedding where the wedding coordinator is also the bride's mom.. and believe me its a disaster.. what more if you are the bride and the caterer?? honestly brides must be relaxed and glowing in their wedding day and how could that be if you are worrying how to feed your guests?? u might save a little money but its not worth the trouble, all the stress will just show in your wedding pictures..

Answer 11

My Dad catered my wedding and it was terrific. He is a really good cook. He made all my favorite dishes. I had close to 200 people at my reception and we had enough food for everyone. We had a buffet style reception and the menu included seafood jambalaya, seafood pasta salad, Italian meatballs, and other little sides to go with the rice and pasta.