Catering Your Own Wedding?

Question

Has anyone ever catered their own wedding? If so, what kinds of food did you have and how hard was it? I'm getting married in December 07 and would like to do as much as I can on my own due to a small budget. Any tips and ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jen

Answer 1

This doesnt have to be hard OR stressful, especially if it is an afternoon/evening wedding. I suggest you invest in a vaccuum-sealer. (You'll likely use it for more than just your reception, its a great investment).

Here's how to "cater your own" step-by-step....

1. About 3 weeks prior to your wedding day set a date to do a huge "cooking day" and get any friends and family willing to help you. You batch cook for whatever number of guests you will have. (example: 100 guests, cook 125 chicken breasts, or 8 hams, or 4 or 5 turkeys) After the cooking is done you break it down into servings (slice the hams, carve the turkeys, etc) then you vaccuum seal the meat into bags of approximately 10 servings each. Then freeze.
2. You serve frozen veggies at your reception so that work is already done.
3. DO NOT try to do any pastas, they dont freeze well. For a breads/grains type of dish either serve rolls, or find a good "freezer cooking" or "once a month cooking" recipe for potatoes, there are a few out there... mashed potatoes is one.
4. Enlist at least 3 family members or friends to set up your food the day of the reception while you are getting ready. It will be a fairly easy set-up as you will have already done all the work.
5. Day of the wedding: Your recruits/volunteers pick up the food and take it to the reception hall early. They set up roasters (rented or borrowed) and they put the food in the roasters (be sure the roasters are able to have liquid put in them). Add 1 cup water or broth for every 20 servings. Set the roasters on med-high. Do the same for your frozen veggies, but follow the package instructions for liquid requirements (it should come out about the same). For your rolls, have the volunteers/recruits arrange them neatly on platters. If having mashed potatoes instead, there should be instructions with the recipe for how to thaw and reheat it. (if not follow the same recommendation as the meat but halve the water and add 1/2 cup about every hour, stirring thoroughly.)

NOTE! If you wish to free up your volunteers/recruits you can hire (generally for very cheap) some students at a cooking school to put all of your food together for you, as well as to dish up your guests. (which will help keep your serving sizes in check).
If after reading this you feel intimidated or overwhelmed, you might consider compromising between self-catering and full-service catering and hire chef students to do your catering. Just be sure they are nearing the end of their education, not the beginning.

If you need further assistance, feel free to email me.

Answer 2

That's an awful lot of food for 80 people. I've catered many affairs, and I would advise cutting that menu down to 2 main dishes, a salad, bread, and 2-4 sides plus wedding cake for dessert. I would tend to recommend you have someone cater the food, as you will surely have an awful lot on your plate with just being the bride, without adding the extra stress of having to prepare 22 different dishes for 80 people! I think you'll be sorry you didn't get help. You only get 1 wedding day, and you surely don't want to waste it being so tired from doing all that cooking or by worrying about the food at all.

Answer 3

I have never had a wedding before, but my cousin did this. She's not big on people's food. Not sure how she did. Anyways for my sweet 16 I did.The hotel allowed me. I don't do everyon'es cooking and some people say I can come off a little rude so besides that being true for such a BIG bang I decided to cater. Hard work, but it can be done. I gather two of my closest friends to help me. Get people who know you well enough to be able to make plans with out you being there. You shouldn't have to worry about them not turing out the way you would like bcasue they know you well enough to know what YOU like and dislike. Some foods I did were Indian Tacos (hard work and loads of time) makes ure you're not stressed for that one. Is the time and effort worth it? Yes and no I'm not Indian so it wouldn't be good to me right off because it's my food. Have some family and friends make some dishes for you. That's always cheap and free. It not only gives them a special part in the whole thing, but a sense of power and freedom in a way. I think you should also try a Walmart I hope you have one around or one you can drive too. try a Super Walmart they have the store in there and the food department who does beautiful cakes too. Besides a big cake tr a smaller one. I mean they only need like a sample piece anyway. I know this sounds a little weird, but make something too you and your husband....well soon to be. That's cool and it should be fun. If I were you I would have some friends and fmilyhelp me out. If you have some things in mind then go with that. I've helped plan weddings in all and the one thing people forget is the theme that they say they want to go with. It it's outside yes even in december that's cheap see you can do that and use some of that money to go towards food. you can rent a large tent and some heat lamps they really work. You'll be warm. Does someone you know have a nice large house that you could use. My cousins got married at my aunts and uncle's house outside and went into the back yard where the tent was it was beautiful and affordable they said. It cut the price down too. They had homecooked soul food and that was good. So, think it over, talk it over and put together a little group and a plan. Get people who are positve too that goes a long way. Ask him if his mom can cook and backe or whatever that would be special for her and very thoughtful. As for drinks you can buy those so that's no biggie. Don't stress though and congrats.

Answer 4

Go to Epicurious.com and type in Weddings (you may have to become a member to get full access but its free and they don't spam at all)results for some recipes will come up. They will be parts of menus! Those menus have actually been planned to be done at weddings. In fact most of them have Planning Timelines, so that by the day of the wedding all the prep is done, and it is easy to throw things together! The food is very good, and there are menus for everyone's budget.

If none of those strike your fancy though, try a dessert bar! Make a bunch of desserts ahead of time and of course the wedding cake is the center! You can enlist a friend to set it up for you the day of by simply taking the food from the refrigerator to the serving tables!!

I hope that helps!

Answer 5

If you are deadset on catering your own wedding (though I can't imagine why you would want to stress yourselves out so much) then my biggest piece of advice is to research every option and PLAN AHEAD. Anything that can be made ahead of time and frozen is a good bet (lasagna is cheap, easy to make, and tastes just fine popped back in the oven to reheat. Frozen meatballs and mushroom soup = Swedish meatballs. Utilize crock pots, microwaves and an oven if your facility offers them.) You can do simple cheese, crackers, meat and fruit displays, or you can go more elaborate and do salad, meat and dinner rolls. It's all in the planning, and of course recruiting enough people to help you (but make sure you assign each person to a specific task - you don't need three people baking bread if there's no one to toss and dress the salad.)

I'm getting married in October (we live in Texas), and while we are paying for a caterer, we found one who is the owner and seems to be the main chef too. We too are on a budget, so we got lots of quotes from lots of caterers before we even met with any of them. We had quotes as high as $55 PER PERSON, but thanks to thorough research, we are doing passed appetizers, a full buffet dinner, two cakes (one bride's, one groom's), and a champagne toast for about $20 apiece. That also includes three waitstaff, gratuity and taxes. My point is that you've still got plenty of time to do lots of reasearch to find someone that can work with your budget.

Another suggestion would be to contact your favorite casual dining restaurants as often they do very nice catering at a fraction of the cost of a traditional catering hall. A friend of ours did this last year - we had a full buffet of spaghetti, fettucini, sauce, garlic bread, salad, water, lemonade, etc. and the company even supplied all the plates, forks, napkins, cups, waitstaff and service. As a packaged deal it wound up much cheaper than if she would have prepared it all herself.

It's a lot of work, but if you're up to the task of meticulously planning everything, good luck and start now!

Answer 6

My husband and I catered our own wedding. We had our wedding at 3:00 in the afternoon. People don't usually expect a full meal at this time of day. We had finger sandwiches, nuts, cheese platters, meat platters (ham, turkey etc) crackers and dips, fruit platter, punch, and cake. My mother and mother-in-law prepared most of the food. It was self serve so my mother and aunt just made sure that the food was kept stocked.
For us it was very easy. Everything, except the finger sandwiches can be prepared a couple of days in advance (as long as they are sealed) The finger sandwiches, I wouldn't make any earlier than the night before (a damp paper towel and plastic wrap will keep them from drying out). We did splurge and buy the cake from another relative who made cakes, but she decided to give it to us as a wedding gift. She even set the cake up. The base for the punch can even be made and frozen in jello ring molds.
As for pictures, numerous family members had cameras so we just purchased film and bought some disposables and guest took pictues and we had them developed
It can be very simple and stress free if you can find some family or friends willing to be in charge of setting up and keeping food stocked during the reception.

Answer 7

I catered my own. Well, actually I had friends and family set up the food. We had buffet style summer foods since it was an extremly HOT day in mid-July in Michigan (96 degrees 87% humidity) We had bbq pork, veggie trays, meatballs, fruit bowls, mac n cheese (had kids at reception), garlic cheese w/ crackers, ect.. Everyone loved the idea of not having to sitdown to a huge meal on such a hot day. We saved a fortune and all the guests were able to relax and not worry about which fork they were supposed some unidetifiable, rubbery mystery meat with.

I thought it was fntastic and was not stressed at all. We prepared everyting ahead of time and it went very smoothly. I think the stress level depends on how fancy a meal ou want to serve.

Answer 8

ok, I am trying this since I my fiance is being " Cheap". We are ordering trays of lasagna from a local Italian place $25.00 a tray for 10-12 people. $250 total. We are having 200 guests. We are buying pre bagged roman lettuce and grated parmesan cheese. and rolls from Costco. We are hiring a couple of people to man the stations and mix salads. All in all I think we will spend less than $1000 so that's about $5 a plate a very little work.

Answer 9

I was married in 1992, but we did everything on a budget. We had very little money starting out, so our family members took pictures and gave us the prints after the ceremony so we could make our own albums. We had the reception at my parents' house, and My Mom and her neighbors did all the cooking. We did the simple meat/cheese platters, rolls, cold salads, and one neighbor made a big 9x13 dish of taco dip which was a HUGE hit with the kids. Everyone loved it, and they said they enjoyed being at a wedding where everything was low-key and relaxed and not too fancy. Enjoy your special day. :-)

Answer 10

Congratulations!!! I have had a think and how about a carvery type buffet? You could roast a joint of beef, a turkey and boil a big gammon then carve them up and serve them on platters. You could cook those the day before and have them ready. Then you could bake some jacket potatoes in the oven, or a mix of potatoes and sweet potatoes and serve with green salad and coleslaw, or pasta salad, cous cous salads etc. You could also serve soup and bread as a warming starter.