Catering for reception yourself?

LaurensMummy

We are having our reception at the local club and a friend of the family was doing the food (only buffet) but unfortunately she has been taken ill and is currently in hospital - so with 10 days notice we are now going to have to cater for ourselves (its way too late to bring in outside caterers)
Anyone catering for their own reception or offer any advice? its for approx 130 people (inc about 20 kids)

Thanks in advance

yimmie

I'm going to cater mine during the day, we're going to buy cliche bits from the local supermarkets (quiche, salad, ham, chicken wings) but in the evening we are going to have a hog roast.
we're buying silver platters to plate up the food
have you looked at m&s' website? as they have some buffet bits on there! hams, sushi, sandwiches etc
a friend of the family (whose wedding I helped out at) is going to set it all up for us whilst we're at the ceremony.
i've lately been going on mysupermarket.com to look at which foods i would like as the buffet just to suss out costs
hope this helps- feel i've rambled...

Debbiecatal

I have catered for events in the past and I am catering my daughter's wedding next year. What type of food do you want - eg is it a sit down meal, hot meal buffet, cold fork buffet or finger buffet? (Finger buffet is the easiest to cater and will need minimal work on the day.)

Also, what sort of things do you like? You could be traditional with things like sausage rolls, quiches, chicken nuggets, pork pie etc, or you could have chinese or indian finger food such as spring rolls or samosas or pakoras to add interest. You could do basic sandwiches or rolls, or you could make pinwheel sandwiches or do bruschettas etc.

Regarding amounts, I would do 1.5 sandwiches or 2 bridge rolls per person, then 1.5 - 2 of everything else per person if you have about 10 items in the buffet. This would be more than enough.

If you would like it, I have a good recipe for a quick and easy pizza dough to make your own mini pizzas, which is much cheaper than buying them, and I would supplement a finger buffet with salad items such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions to add colour and variety to the food.

LaurensMummy

I am only looking at a finger buffet and sandwiches - nothing too much

Debbiecatal

Ok if it was me then, I would do something like the following for a basic no frills buffet for 130 people:

200 bridge rolls, sliced vertically and filled with 5 different fillings, probably ham, beef, egg mayo, cheese, tuna mayo
(Cut all the bridge rolls in half when filled to make them smaller to handle)
20 large pork pies, cut into 8
20 quiches different fillings, cut into 8
200 sausage rolls
200 chicken nuggets or similar
200 vol au vents, filled with the egg mayo and tuna mayo from the sandwiches, and also with chicken supreme and prawn mayo
150 mini pizzas or about 20 pizzas cut into 8

I would provide salad of lettuce, tomato, spring onions, cucumber, carrot sticks and celery sticks with some dips if you like

If you are providing a dessert I would stick with cakes and tartlets for ease, and provide 1-2 per person.

I would serve on the tinfoil platters you can get from the supermarket.

One tip is to use colour coded napkins on each of the platters for the food, so that people can see at a glance what will be in the items - eg red for meat, blue for fish, green for veggie, white or cream for dessert.

Obviously it is all according to taste and you can substitute anything you like, but the amounts should be ok.

Hope this helps

Debbie

LaurensMummy

Debbie - you're a star! thanks for that its just what I was looking for! going to look in our local Makro to find catering sized quiches and pork pies etc...so won't have to do much cooking! and we can make the rolls in the afternoon after the wedding.