Food at a wedding reception

lucy_w86

Because we have such a large yet close family, we are looking at around 80+ people at the wedding breakfast.

I have looked at wedding receptions and they all seem to have their own menu. Looking at this, it is quite costly.

Can you find places where you have your own caterers which makes it cheaper?
How did other people deal with such a situation?
What about children and catering for them if you have a set menu?

I am getting really worried now. The cost is going to be £££££££££...and then there is the buffet in the evening...!

ahhhh

ckerrd

If you hire a church hall, social club, golf club hall, etc etc you can usually get your own caterers in.

Hotels will want you to use the in house facilities.

One thing to watch out for is the cost of drinks. Once went to a wedding where people were so appalled at the cost of drinks they stopped buying them and a miserable time was had by all.

newlywed

We hired a village hall and asked all the family and local friends to bring food to contribute towards a buffet meal. That way everyone gets to pick their own meals - kids included.

We had salads, pasta, various sandwiches, vol-au-vents, bread, cheese, quiche, pizza, and all kinds of picnic type foods.

The hall had a kitchen attached with tea urns etc (friends helped out with making tea) and we went to france for the alcohol so there were no additional charges etc.

Norma_Desmond

Also I did hear, that if you're looking for catering quotes, don't mention that it's a wedding - just say 'party'

funky-footprints

We hired a building for our wedding reception and evening party.

The caterers were family friends so dad had a bit of a discount and as he is a farmer the beef for the meal was home grown, that reduced the catering bill by half. For the evening we had hot beef rolls, again my fathers own beef which was realy special.

Growing up in a village, the local pub did the bar. Though the bar was free at the reception courtesy of my dad. We sourced the wine for the tables ourselves, we found the corkage fees ridiculous, but dh in the end found a fantastic firm.

We had a set menu and the only one to complain was my nephew who only eats 'sausages' and mashed pototato. But that in my eyes was his parents fault and i wasnt faffing about having something special done for him. Though we did write on the invitation to let us know if there were any veggies.

There was a choice then of 4 deserts. Rhubard crumble with custard, rhubarb crumble with icecream, volevants or just icecream ..lol !!!!!

x

swampduck

When my sister got married there was a set menu, but the kids had Chicken nuggets and chips!! and Ice Creams!! I'd rather have the chicken nuggets!!;)

Swampy

newcook

a lot of places tend to have their own menus because of health and hygiene - if you hired a suite in a hotel but got your own caterers in (or did the food yourself) and someone got food poisoning it would be difficult to determine who the blame lay with as both parties would blame the other.

Becles

The children at our wedding just got a smaller portion of the adult meals, and they really enjoyed them.

The hotel also let them have a mouthful of sparkling wine in champagne flutes so they could join in the toasts, and they thought that was great!

MJMum

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evilwitch

I had a sit down meal where the kids got a smaller portion of the adults food. In the evening had a hog roast which was done by the same people who catered the earlier meal. It was lovely and worked out at under £2 a head including rolls and the pig and accompaniments.

super41

MJMum wrote: »

If you are looking to keep the cost down on food, then a buffet is cheaper than a sit-down meal. If you get married later in the day, then also you can just have the one buffet, rather than, as many people choose, a sit-down meal AND laying on buffet food in the evening.

We did this and it worked really well. Think weddings can drag on a bit otherwise - especially if you're at the main reception and have to hang around for an evening do. We hired our local Masonic Hall for about £60 (10 years ago). They did the catering for it, me and my Mum negotiated the menu, and had a cheap bar. We had a cold finger buffet, but a really nice quality one with not just the run of the mill things, so people could help themselves to what they wanted. Also I didn't want that whole top table sit down thing as I find it stagnates conversation and relaxation. Followed the whole thing with a ceiledh (sp?) by a local band (cost £150).

I really enjoyed my day, people raved about it (and I don't think they were just being polite I think its cause it was more like a party) and it came in at a very affordable budget.