How much will my wedding reception dinner cost?

Question

I would like to have an inexpensive but delicious dinner at my wedding. I am getting married in South Bend, Indiana (it's the town that Notre Dame is in). I figure that serving ham and turkey will save some money. I will have around 150 guests. Around how much do you think this will cost? Is it cheaper to go buffet or sit-down?

Answer 1

Expect it to be some where around $1000, maybe more. If it's $10 per person times 150 = $1500. Buffett will be less expensive than sit down with waiters. You could do apetizers//finger food only that will cut costs a little.

Answer 2

First off usually always cheaper to do the buffet then a sit-down plate service dinner and more guest friendly as well that many people if your looking for the amount of guests I would think of spending between 4-15 thousand dollars ask the caterer if you can bring like homebrew wine etc this can also cut costs. What I did for my reception was I had enough red and white wine for everyone to have a glass for the toast and then I had a cash bar if they would like more to drink. Pop and juice was included in my catering. It really depends on how extravagant you want it
you could spend alot if you got it Turkey is usually quite expensive consider having some BBQ chicken or something
with chicken it is a a crowd favorite some people do not like turkey but love chicken. And Ham is good but you may find that a couple of big hams may be the same price as getting a couple of new york strip roasts. Go with tossed sald and a potato salad
and lots of people like a greek salad.

Answer 3

We found buffet to be cheaper - it's definitely cheaper if there will be any amount of children. With a plated dinner children are served the same meal as everyone but will barely eat half; with a buffet, they'll get a small amount, leaving a larger portion for adults who eat more. We paid just under $20/adult and got to keep leftovers from the buffet. Also, cutting out big servings of meat will be cheaper. We went with a pasta buffet that allowed two choices - we chose one vegetarian (gorgonzola and mushroom ravioli) and one meat (some kind of sausage and red sauce thing).

Answer 4

Sorry, its trashy and rude. If you ask your guests to pay anything they are no longer your guest, but co-hosts of the event. When you invite someone as your guest, their costs are covered by you. Your reception is your thank you gift to your guests for attending your wedding, asking them to cover costs isn't a thank you. Plan a wedding you can realistically afford to pay for. 100 people is average its not really a large wedding. As for paying, its the year 2012, most couples pay for their own wedding so you're not alone there. If need to, cut down your guest list, more guests = more $. Its never something you really want to do but your budget is the biggest determining factor of how many people you can afford to invite. You're finding out what many people do, what you can afford and what you would like to do isn't always the same thing. Are you inviting children? You can start by cutting children. You pay the same amount for food for children that you do for adults and they can't eat near as much and if you're serving alcohol, you are also paying for their alcoholic beverages they can't have. Exceptions to no children are children in the wedding party (and possibly their siblings), children of the couple and siblings of the couple. Children 2: Talk to your caterer, some caterers offer children's menus/options but don't advertise them. They make more $ by charging the same they would for an adult. Catering: Look at places aside from caterers. Check out local restaurants, many don't advertise catering but most are willing to do it. Chain places like Olive Garden, Famous daves, Damon's and others usually offer catering. Your family is right that doing it yourself is too much work and then your family helping with the dinner doesn't enjoy their self since they're basically working. Alcohol: Consider having a no alcohol or a very limited bar (beer & wine or a couple signature cocktails) a cash bar is tacky. You can also consider having something like a appetizers or finger food type reception. However, this is something that would need to be done before or after dinner hours. Dinner hours is usually 5p-8p, so you would need to have your reception either early in the afternoon or later in the evening. You can also cut costs in other areas. Like minimal center piece decorations, favors aren't necessary (they are often left behind or discarded). Have you been to any bridal shows/expos in your area? They sometimes are worth going to. Vendors at them (caterers, photographers, etc) often have promotions or discounts there that they don't any other time. Many also have drawings for free or discounted services so its worth a shot.

Answer 5

Buffet is definitely cheaper because they don't need as many food service personel to halndle the serving. When you have a buffet, they usually only have to have one person per buffet table, and one person to carve the meat.

When you have a sit down dinner, they usually have one server per table as a waiter. MUCH more expensive. Ham and turkey are the way to go to make it a bit cheaper. Also, instead of going with a private catering company, check with some of your local grocery stores about catering. Most of them own their own catering company, and the food is EXCELLENT at a much cheaper price. And it's just as classy.

It's hard to estimate how much it will cost, because that would depend entirely on who you hire to cater.

Answer 6

Sit down is cheaper, have one option, not choices, choices require them to tell you what meal they want when they RSVP. It's hard enough to get some people to RSVP, let alone decide on the meal lol. We had Chicken Jerusalem, which is chicken in a creamy sauce with artichokes and mushrooms. They have to make a lot of extra food for buffet, so it costs more. Our meal was just for the meal (with salad and rolls), included the cost of the cake, tea and punch - $40 a person (we got a really sweet deal). Most venues are way more expensive, and can cost $100 or more a plate. Ours would have been more, but we didn't have the hors d'oeuvres or the bar, which cut it way down. Our cost would have probably been at least $20 more a person. Hope this helps!

Answer 7

I've found that buffet is cheaper than sit-down. Because with sit-down you are also paying for the waitstaff to serve everyone. We just signed the contract for our reception site and for 200 people we will spend around $5000 just on dinner. But it gives us a lot of choices and lots of food. And it's the cheapest place we found. Call around halls and caterers and find out what their prices are.

Answer 8

All my family is pitching in for the dinner. It is definitely cheaper to do buffet style. Do party trays, briskets, jambalaya, whatever you could think of that is easy and can serve many people. And if some guests want to bring dishes and that would be like a gift to the couple, that would be nice.

Answer 9

We did our reception buffet style and it was $8.95/person and included 2 meats. Total cost around $1200 for 125 people.

Around here "plate" is more expensive and people sometimes go away hungry as portions aren't always large enough.

You'll have to call around to different caterers and get their price lists and figure out how much it will cost from there.

Answer 10

buffet is definitely cheaper than sit down. call some caterers and they'll give you prices per person. mine costs $20 per person and it includes china and all this extra service, so its a great deal.

also some banquet halls require you to use their caterer so you don't really have a choice. but if your hall lets you choose whoever you want, ask them who they recommend. they usually have great contacts.

ps i'm terribly jealous you're getting married in south bend. we're Irish fans and we have to settle for a NOTRE DAME wedding in dayton ohio!