Am I crazy? Considering doing own catering for evening buffet

ohara09

Hi :wave:

I'm getting married in May next year, and I'm looking for ways I can cut costs. Looking through our budget, one of the areas which I am hoping to save is the evening catering.

There will be 100 guests to the day, and I think there will be approximatly 150 guests to the evening (this will be finalised closer to the date) and based on the formula of catering 1/2 portions to people who had the wedding breakfast, and full portions to evening guests, then it works out that we will need to cater for 100 heads in the evening.

The cheapest evening option on our caterers list is £9.95 per head, which means the evening catering will cost close to £1000 :eek:


Am I crazy to even consider doing the catering myself instead?

I was thinking a cold ploughmans style buffet with local somerset foods - big cheeses, large pork and game pies, artisan breads, pickles and some roast meats such as some large hams etc, which could then be put out on platters for people to carve and help themselves - so all prep could be done the day/few days before, and then I could get helpers to lay it all out.


Is this utter, utter madness? Has anyone else done (or considered) something similar - what was your experience?

Be grateful if someone can get back to me - my OH currently thinks I'm being very silly!

Thanks in advance,

xx ohara

p.s food is very important to us, so although I'm looking to save money, at the same time I want it to be good quality, local foods

MrsDrink

No I don't think you are utterly utterly crazy for considering doing your own buffet... just slightly utterly crazy :rotfl:.

In all serious though as a bride your day is going to be so hectic - do you really want the faff of doing your own buffet either on the day or the day before? Setting it out for everyone etc etc. Instead do you have a circle of close friends/family that could lend a helping hand? You could give each member a job - like Auntie Sally could be in charge of getting the platters and plateware, bestfriend Joe could sort the quiches etc.

I'm doing a buffet myself for our guests. But the difference (I imagine) between our wedding and yours is we are having 3 days inbetween our ceremony (on a Tuesday) and our reception (on the Saturday). So I won't be quite so hectic, and will have (hopefully!) plenty of time. Oh and we're having only around 55 guests (plus us two). The last time I wrote about this I think I said I could get all my food for around £2.50-£3 per person. (Not including plateware, cutlery etc). If you do a search you'll see those threads. If you can't just scream and I'll have a look for them.

*edit* sorry re-read your post - and see you plan on asking people to help set it up etc. I think it's very doable as long as they can be trusted as your going to be too busy yourself.

TeaCake

A wedding I attended last year had a hog roast at about 5pm (wedding was at 2pm) then the couples parents brought in loads of pre prepared sandwiches and nibbles (chicken legs and cold meat, cheese, quiche, bread n butter, crisps, cake etc) at around 8 or 9pm. Seemed to work well and the bride said at a later date that it was a hell of a saving them doing it like that.

Have you got the helpers on hand that'll be needed and can be trusted to organise everything on the day? If you have I say go for it, you'll get loads more for your money. Its something I would look at doing when the time comes round.

ohara09

Bad news the venue just called me back (I left a message this morning) and they said that we wouldn't be able to provide our own catering :wall: even though we book the caterer seperatly to the venue, they only have one 'approved' caterer, and won't let anyone else provide food

Grrr!!!


Thank you for your lovely responses though.

The issue is that we had originally planned to have a hog roast, and had budgeted £400 on it based on prices we had seen online. However, the approved caterers offer a hog roast on their list of choices.. but it's £12.00 per person, and a minimum of 100 people! Which is obviously 3x what we can afford.

I had hoped that if we provided a cold buffet in the evening, thus not using the kitchen, it would get past the approved caterer issue - a friend of a friend recently had a 60th birthday party at the venue and they did their own catering, so I figured it should be ok?...but sadly not - I guess wedding contracts must be different to other event contracts they issue.

MrsDrinks - good luck with your own catering, it hopes it goes well.

Thanks again for replying, sorry to have wasted your time

x ohara

Luella-14_2

I don't think it's crazy, ambitious maybe but not crazy.
My mothere did the same for a birthday party she held a few years ago, about 100 guests. It was a similar ploughman's style buffet and worked really well. She also included large batches of pasta salads which were made the day before and things such as spanish tortillas. I think as long as you have a fair few trusty helpers with you to take full responsibilty it's achievable.

x_missymoo_x

Ah sorry to hear you can't have your own catering! I hope you can sort something out that will suit your budget

ohara09

Hi Luella - thanks for your reply, I think we may have crossed posts with my bad news about not being allowed to do the catering

x_missmoo_x with hindsight I don't think it would be doing the catering which would make me mad, it's the trying to balance all the books for the whole wedding budget which is driving me stir crazy!I am getting so stressed about it and it's months and months away still, I just hate the thought of how much money the whole day is costing and desperate to save money

Thanks again for getting back to me
xx

Lollie79

Just a thought but I would try and find out details of your friend of a friend and question the venue on allowing them to cater there own party, but not allowing you to cater yours!!

HTH

purple.sarah

It's unfortunate that there seems to be one rule for a party and another for a wedding at some venues, that's why we made sure to book one that allows self catering, approved caterers are often more expensive. I would negotiate with the venue and ask them why the friend of a friend was allowed to self cater and you are not.

ohara09

Found out the reason they let the other party self cater is because they signed the contract ages ago (even though the party was recently) and it's only been since the start of this year that catering has been done exclusively by this one caterer.

Ho hum - it is disappointing.

Thanks for all your replies though :beer: