Food for the Reception Question??

Question

So my fiance and my family want to make the food ourselves the guests including us totals to about 70 people. So I wana know what everyone thinks we should do we can make everything/prepare everything the day before but what should we do about heating it up and putting it out for people, its going to be a buffet type. So should I hire people, I mean I dont know what to do, So someone help me, give me ideas!!!

Answer 1

Hi and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

You have a good plan...making the food a day ahead of time. But, yes, if you can hire some ladies (church ladies?) OR anyone to help you heat up the food and serve it...I would do it! NO family member wants to get stuck in the kitchen on "serving duty." Everyone wants to be a guest!

Unless you have absolutely have no one, then a family member or members will have to step up. But between your family and your groom's family...maybe someone knows of a group of ladies that you can hire for a short time to do this for you.

Good luck!

Answer 2

It does not sound as though you are very experienced in catering for an event like this, so it would be best to keep it simple.

The easiest of all is to have a cold food buffet, much of which can be prepared several days ahead.

A hot food buffet is also possible, the easiest way is to rent some bain maries (also called chafing dishes). These are handy little serving dishes which sit on a warmer of some kind (it could be a flame or it could be a hot plate) and keep the food warm for a period of time.

Before anything else, decide what you actually want to serve, and how much you want to spend. Make a list of exactly what you want, and then make another list of ingredients which will be needed.

Don't forget you will also need tables, tablecloths, chairs, entree plates, bread and butter plates, dinner plates, dessert plates, napkins, knives, forks, spoons, serving utensils, plus condiments, and cups, glasses, trays for carrying and so on, so you will need to list all those things too.

Most of these items can be hired, but make sure you get more of everything than you need, especially glasses, because people will often use two or three ~ or more ~ in the course of the function. And most hire places want the crockery items washed before return, so that is something else to check out.

If you are going to have hot food or food that needs to be prepared on the day, you will need a kitchen, plenty of large size cookware and utensils, plus trays for carrying. These can also be hired, usually.

Personally, I'd stick to cold buffet, and make up a lot of 'bite size' foods that can be prepared one or two days before, put in the fridge until the day and then straight onto the table.

Because you will also have the cleaning up to do, limiting the amount of cookware and crockery involved in preparation is a great idea!

Some popular items include chicken breast fillets, slices of home made pate or terrine, mini quiches, sliced whole salmon, pasta salads, waldorf salad, green salad, Greek salad, cheese plate, varieties of bread and rolls (white, wholemeal, seed, turkish, flat, etc etc), frittata slices, variety of dips with tasty biscuits, cold sliced meats, 'grape' tomoatoes in bowls with sprigs of mint, baby beets in bowls with a sprinkle or orange juice and some zest, prawns, fish bites, or popular local foods that are easy to prepare and serve.

The other thing you can do is buy lots of pre-prepared foods and simply put them on attractive plates to serve.

I've put some links below for further suggestions and advice, but just in closing I would like to say that from working in catering and hospitality for many years, caterers stay in business for two main reasons ~ one is that catering for a party of 70 is not easy if you are inexperienced, the other is that by the time you've hired, bought and made the food and other things needed the caterer is often actually cheaper!

That's not to say you can't do it, and if you want to, go for it and enjoy it ~ but plan, plan, plan!

Best wishes :-)

Answer 3

When my mom got married 12 years ago, she and I made all the food. We had bar-b-que chicken, ribs, and brisket. Once that is cooked it is nothing to heat up in an oven and add the bbq sauce to it afterwards. With that, we had cole-slaw, potato salad, tossed salad, big bowls of other veggies like corn and green beans. All of those things are either refridgerated or can easily be heated. I don't know where you are having your reception, but if it is at a church or other venue, ask for permission to use the ovens.

70 people is not alot to cook for if you plan it out and try to keep it simply but nice. BBQ may not be your thing, but roasting chicken will work well too. Good luck and Congratulations on the wedding!

Answer 4

What me and my mom did for me and my sister's Wedding was we got the Lady's group and the Men's group to Sherie and we had things in both strafing dishes and Rosters. We made every thing and did buffet type as well but for 350 people (all just family) We tuck everything out to the church hall the night before and Early the next mooring started to heat every thing up.

We had Polish Pigeons or Pigs in the Blankets (cabbage, meat and rice in tomato Sass.) Tucky, mash Potatoes, corn, and Back beans. Both Family's are Polish Old fashion Polish so we had a Polish Wedding and Reception.

Answer 5

my mom is cooking for my wedding too for about 250 people. We paid an extra $100 to make most of the food the night before. We're having ham and turkey and other stuff that can be tossed into the oven the day off to be re-heated. She is also having some of her friends help, and my bridesmaids are going to help whie we're doing the receiving line. I have another friend who is going to run the bar for free. Good luck.

Answer 6

What your doing is possible, but you need to have a specific plan as to who will be at the buffet tbl. You need at least 3 people to get the food out and heated, you need someone at the tbl at all times, to help people, and you need someone to be in charge of clearing the tbl.
Try and find some friends to do this, you won't have time for any of it, or even hire at least one person to organise it,

Answer 7

If it's going to be a buffet-type dinner, you only need to hire bartenders and waiters to serve drinks. Rent chaffing dishes to keep the food warm;either that, or choose cold cuts and dishes that are best served cold. If you don't want the expense of hiring waiters, you can have several bartenders and have your guests go to the bars to order their drinks.

Answer 8

depends what you are going for...
buffet type things are like, meatballs, cold meat, salads, lasagna?...
and if i were you, i would assign someone else to bring them, and worry about getting them to the event. you will not have time for that... and i honestly doubt you will have time to cook it too... you don't have to get a caterer if you don't want to, but definitely find a few people willing to do this for you.. i'm sure someone will.. 70 people isn't that bad...
congrats!

Answer 9

Try to find a way to have it catered. You are going to make yourself insane trying to prepare and serve food for that many people. You're not going to enjoy yourself at all.