Catering my own wedding

MrsTinks

I THOUGHT about it for my wedding... but trust me... come nearer the time you will regret not having time to think and enjoy the run up to your wedding and worrying about the food on the day and the day before...

And I'll move your thread over to the weddings board

Horace

MrsT can you merge the two threads? Please:D

MrsTinks

And like magic...

noseybonk

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm happy to do the buffet myself (and with the army of helpers). We've done house parties for probably only 10 people less with no problem, so I don't see why this isn't doable too. It's just a party! I would find the stress of paying out over £1k just to feed a few people worse than a bit of rushing around. And it shouldn't be THAT much work - we will buy all the food ready prepared from Marks or Waitrose. It should be just a case of plopping the stuff on a plate and plonking it on a table.

We are not getting married until 2.30 in the afternoon, so it leaves quite a bit of time to get the food to the venue. We could even go shopping for food that day.

Rachel85

Could you have a look into M&S party food or similar?

Also just a thought but if you could make things, freeze them and then take them to the venue they'd defrost and be ready to eat later. Hey presto, no fridge needed!

becs

If you go onto the waitrose website and click on the entertaining tab there is a section on buffet food and it tells you on there how many each item serves. My own advice would be to think about what items you would like to provide and then think about how much of each thing 1 person would want. I went to a wedding with a cold buffet catered for by the local pub and it was a disaster. Nowhere near enough food so the last tables going up had literally a slice of ham and a couple of lettuce leaves! People had already been at the wedding for 3 hours by this stage and were going to be there for at least another 6 hours. As a consequence about half the guests left very early to go and get food because they were starving! Also remember the vegetarians, they provided 1 veggie quiche at the wedding for I think 2 or 3 vegetarians which was fine or at least it would have been if they hadn't allowed the non veggies to eat it first!

jfdi

My OH caters weddings sometimes - a basic Cocktail Buffet is about £6 - 7 a head. As a guide it takes 3 people about 4/5 hours to prep for 70 - plus shopping time etc.

Easiest (but more costly) would be a Cold Salad buffet - lots of cold cut meats (Ham, Turkey etc) - plus about 4 large salads & lots of nice bread & butter.

Salad's will be OK out the fridge as long as you can keep them in shade & covered with damp cloths etc. Cold meats need fridge. If you freeze the butter pats beforehand they can usually sit out for a bit. Bread'll be OK. Big Gateaux take a while to defrost.

From the Caterers point of view, food aside, it's the table decs & room set up that takes the time (average 2hrs!). Don't forget you'd need banqueting roll, disposable plates / cutlery & napkins etc. Would you be able to bribe (!!!) a local Lad to run the drinks for you? Collect glasses / dirty plates etc too?

HTH

A
xx

MrsTinks

Having done the catering at a wedding for a friend of a friend - don't underestimate the time it takes to get the food out and ready! And don't underestimate how much time you will need to get ready and to the venue! I got married at 1pm and was rushing round because I only got up at 8:30... I had my hair done and did my own make-up but the hair didn't take that long to be honest - hour max including travel as was just up the road from the hotel - but checking the details etc took loads of time so I was only just ready about 20 mins before I needed to be. I can't imagine if I'd had to think about food too! Friends of mine opted for basically a roast pig - our local butcher does these including someone there to carve the happy beast up for a decent price so maybe something like that and most will also do a buffet deal to go with it

shelovestobuystuff

I found this while looking for caterers,not in my area as surrey based but they look good.Maybe too expensive if you have a £500 budget but there are loads of ideas on their site for savoury and salad ideas you could do yourself.
www.thepurplepepper.co.uk

noseybonk

Well after you lot scared the bejesus out of me ;-) I had second thoughts and we remembered Goddards. They were the BEST pie shop in the world (in Greenwich) before they sold the premesis and started... yes... CATERING.

Voila, pie, mash and mushy peas. Not as cheap as doing it ourselves, but at £8.50 per head with service, VAT, cutlery etc included we can't grumble. Thanks you guys, I'd probably be struggling my way through my wedding carving ham if I hadn't come here. :-)