Sit-down dinner reception help?

new2saving

Hi Everyone,

I don't know where I would be withouth mse forums advice but I've got another question.

I've managed to get a venue for £100 room hire for the reception. The room is fantastic, comes with it's own staffed bar and seperate toilets with disabled access everywhere. Another forum has provided mse decoration ideas which makes the place a charm.

The problem I have is I have family travelling from all over to come and I would like to provide them with a proper sit-down meal (staffed) not a buffet, I also have quite alot of elderly and disabled guests so the idea of asking all the other guests to carry plates etc for them, well to be honest it is just a logistics nightmare (and it'd probably be quite uncomfortable for this involved too). The venue does not include any food service only bar so I need to provide outside catering but with quotes of over £1000 just for buffets no waiter service I am now really stuck.60 guests for the meal (although 10 of those are children). Any ideas?:eek:

jtr2803

What about something like a fish and chip van and then asking Ushers to bring the food in and serve it to guests?

Caterers are expensive, I wanted an old barn but catering was such a lot of money we had to give the idea up. A hog roast is another good idea which works well. In order to cut the cost down you might need to go for something like that rather than a 3 course meal.

74jax

Could you not go for a hot buffet with 'main meals'. Like a pot of Chilli etc, then hire in waiters?

sexybabe1982

We went to a wedding where they did a hog roast for the meal, which went down a treat! A local butcher did it, but there are lots of firms specialising in it so might be worth a look?
They did fresh hog roast barns for guests with stuffing etc and for veggies there was a pasta option. Was really nice and lots of guests commented on it.
An other idea is a BBQ? People could always help themsves then sit down or have chefs bring round to tables,

Pinzy

Are there some friends of friends that might be willing to help out just for the dinner? Me and a few others played "staff" for a friend of a friend's wedding. She'd pre-made courses but did curry so it was relatively simple (I say relatively - only 2 plus sockets worked in the marquee so we had the hot cabinet on one and had to swap between microwave and a light to see by on the other!) She paid us £100 each but we were there for 12 hours, if you just need people to serve dinner it'd only be a few hours.

Thriftygifty

Depending on how involved you wanted to be i've heard people recommend getting students from catering colleges for staff.

We have the same problem as you. We arent going for a hog roast as I dont like the smell and it's still alot of money. We really wanted a BBQ but the logistics of cooking it was a nightmare we went and saw a chef at a pub and that nearly came to £1000 so not an option for us! But if you have someone who can BBQ that might be good but I was worried about the raw meat and cooked meat.

We are thinking about having a mini buffet but on each table so people dont have to get up but a straight forward one but with really good local food and are having 2 friends who were attending the evening coming to the day to lay it out whilst we are at the church and paying them.

The other option that we looked at were pizza but artisan pizza, there are mobile companies who come with pizza ovens and cook them on site they take 2-3 mins per pizza as the oven is so hot they can then serve it to the tables.

To sum up catering is a nightmare! We still havent sorted what we are having and we are getting married in the next couple of months eek!

[Deleted User]

Maybe this is the time to call in favours from family/friends! Do you know anyone with connections to caterers/restaurants/pubs/deli/food shops?

It may be cheaper for you to 'hire' a few friends/helpers for a few hours and buy all the food in yourself.

What is your seating plan for 60? do you have large tables?

If so, how about laying each table with simple (but nice) cold food like local fresh bread rolls, butter, lovely salads, sliced ham and tasty cheeses? like a cold lunch/dinner buffet per table?

You could have your wedding cake made as dessert and maybe ask all the older children coming to help you serve it - each table could have a jug of cream to go with it (in my experience, children love 'helping' in this kind of role)

ladymarmalade

I agree with the hog roast idea...they can be expensive from pricey venues but are excellent value for money if you source them from a butcher yourself.

punkgirlyuk

I'm having a pizza oven for 60 guests with salad for £500. I'm not having it served to the guests though as they are all capable people. However i would ask work colleagues/friends who i wasn't too close too (other wise they may ask why they werent invited lol). Or the idea of students. You could use Gumtree to put an add up, pay 3 people £20 each for an hour and a half work would still work out fairly cheap
Let us know what you decide to do