wedding dinner?

Question

I am getting married march 1 and we are having a small and simple wedding. We are only have about 20 guests, so a dinner for about 30 at the most is what we are trying to plan after the wedding instead of a cake/punch reception. I am not sure what food to have. I want it to be family style and not too formal or fancy. I thought about pasta of some kind but Im not sure. the sauce could be messy? any ideas? I am tryin to keep it cost-effective, but nice. I dont really want any deli trays or anything like that. Just a simple but nice meal for us all.

Answer 1

Hi and congratulations!

Wow! Your wedding sounds perfect! I just LOVE small weddings. 20-30 is a perfect size!

Anyway....you don't say....are YOU doing the cooking and serving or is someone else doing this FOR you?

If you want "Italian", then yes, do as the others have said...maybe lasagne or baked ziti, tossed salad, garlic bread.

Another real easy (I think) dinner is:

~ Baked Ham (look for them on sale);
~ "Cheesy Potatoes". These are a big hit where I live. If you need the recipe and want it, email me and I will be happy to share it with you!
~ Tossed Salad?
~ Veggies - green beans with almonds?
~ Rolls
~ Dessert

Really, this can be an easy and inexpensive meal. According to Martha Stewart's site, a 16 lb. ham can feed 18-20 people, so you may need a big one AND a small one. Put these in roasters....make up the cheesy potatoes early....then bake...and your done!

Good luck! It sounds perfect!

Answer 2

My husband and I opted not to have the traditional sit down dinner. Instead we had hor'd'ouvres that were passed around. If you wanted to do this, instead of passing them around, you could set them up on a table and do it buffet style and guests could grab a small plate and help themselves to what they want and go back for more when they want more. You could get great snack trays at Sam's Club (hot & cold). And, you could make an alcoholic and non-alcoholic punch for your guests. You could also serve wine/champagne or whatever alcohol you want, depending on your preference and budget.

Or, if you want a sit down dinner, you could have it catered through Sam's Club or your favorite restaurant. Or, you could make a few trays of lasagne or spinach lasagne or baked chicken or chicken and rice (I have a good recipe that's super easy). If you go with baked chicken, you could serve red potatoes; baby carrots (with the stalks on them) and roast them. This way it would look pretty. You can keep the skin on the potatoes except for the middle where you would peel just a little bit. You could get tips from the Food Network.

Are you not going to have a cake?

Answer 3

I think pasta is one of the most over looked dinners that are wonderful and every one enjoys! If your having this function back at your house it is really easy to keep warm and feeds many for a decent price plus you can prep everything (but the noddles a head of time). Sauce's can be made weeks in advanced and frozen. Put in the crock pot on low the evening before. that morning turn up to med and when your guest arrive turn down to warm!

Easy and you can have many choices like, meat sauce, Alfredo, tomato basil, etc.. Plus garlic bread or bread sticks and salad, or simple soup, maybe even some mozzarella sticks and a simple pasta salad, or veggie mix, any thing goes with pasta! Noodles made that morning can also be kept warm in crock pots with a little bit of water in the bottom.

To be a little easier on your self get your bread sticks and salad from olive garden.

Best Wishes and go luck in planning your special day!

Answer 4

What is a popular restaurant just outside your immediate area that folks patron when there's a special event like a birthday, anniversary or graduation celebration? Check out their catering options. The key is not to bring in food from a common restaurant where your guests probably eat each month or so anyway. There's nothing special about that.

Our reception was catered by a popular, semi-upscale BBQ restaurant called Rattlers. We fed almost 200 people for less than $10 per person and we had plenty of tri-tip steak, chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, hot buttered rolls, etc.--and lots of leftovers, too. Everyone likes a hearty meal, but they don't expect to get one at a "fru-fru" event like a wedding. Some guests were planning to leave after the ceremony but when they found out what was on the menu, they all stayed! Like I said, it is a popular restaurant outside our immediate area, but people typically went there only for special occasions because a longer drive was required.

Here's a tip that we benefitted from. We had someone in our wedding party pack up food into a picnic basket for my new husband and me because we knew we wouldn't likely have much time to eat during the reception. Afterwards, we took our basket of food and enjoyed a wonderful picnic on the beach before we headed out for our official honeymoon trip. Very relaxing, fun and romantic!

Answer 5

Yeah I understand about the sauce being messy kind of thing. But if you still wanted to do pasta I'd go with one that had Alfredo sauce instead of red. Alfredo is a little easier to hide if someone drips some on themselves accidentally. Red is extremely noticeable. I think you could do a combo, maybe their choice of chicken or shrimp alfredo w/ a salad and bread.

Answer 6

What about a salad and, if you want to go Italian, a lasagna or baked ziti. Those are less messy than a regular pasta dish. A buffet for 30 people at a decent restaurant can be pretty inexpensive and give you a lot of options...

Answer 7

My wife & I went with a baked chicken dinner, although pasta was our second choice. We both agreed to keep it VERY simple so that most people would eat the meal. If you go with something fancy and not so mainstream, you may get a few (or several) guests that won't eat it.
Consider who will be attending the event, and plan your meal accordingly. You won't make everyone happy, but you can try to satisfy the majority.

I hope you have a wonderful event.

VoR

Answer 8

I hate to repeat what everyone else is saying, but I am in agreement with the lasagna. For our groom's dinner we had a buffet of lasagna, caesar salad, garlic bread and autumn vegetables. There were 32 of us all together. It was delicious, and not too messy. We had our catered, but this could easily be made by family or friends in advanced and then frozen. Best of luck!

Answer 9

I like the idea of pasta. Its an inexpensive dinner. You could have different kinds.
Baked Ziti
Lasagna
Pasta Alfredo
Pasta Salad
Served with bread and a salad would be great.

Answer 10

hmm.. .you dont want anything messy that could mess up your wedding dress so I would go for salad, breadsticks and if you really want pasta go with a white sauce so its less noticeable if you spill. Like a alfredo or garlic sauce would be fine also.