Burgers as a main course!! Yikes!

What? Do you mean for your wedding?

Don't self-cater. Hire a caterer with a license and insurance.

View Quoted Comment Yes for my wedding. Why no to self catering. I’m trying to learn so sorry if I sound dumb..

I'm all for nontraditional wedding foods because honestly wedding food is often so predictable, boring, and safe. That being said as a vegetarian, I just think burgers won't cover all the dietary needs of your guests. You also mentioned having a smoker. Are you planning on self catering? I would not suggest that but another affordable alternative would be hiring a BBQ style caterer for the big day.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your feed back. I am trying to learn the ropes. Planning a wedding is not as easy as I had anticipated lol

Honestly I feel like food isn’t so minimal compared to the rest. It’s a stressful event. Make it easy. Burgers are good. We thought about doing a hog roast bbq for our country wedding. Simple and easy. If you have a theme and it fits go for it! I think dessert is More important 😂

I personally think burgers are fine, I would just also offer a chicken option for those that might not like beef. I also don't see a problem with making the food yourself except for the work involved with it. I'm on a tight budget myself and my fiance and I love barbecue, so we are using sonnys barbecue for catering.. Its much more affordable than the typical wedding caterers in my area. So that could be an option for you to look in to.

Do a search on self-catering on this website. There should be lots of threads with the reasons why self-catering/potluck are bad ideas.

1. Food safety-keeping food at proper temperature

2. What if your guests get sick? Are you going to cover lost work time/medical expenses?

3. Don't make your friends and family work at the wedding. The reception is meant to be a thank you to your guests for witnessing the ceremony. It's you hosting them. Not the other way around

4. Do you have an industrial kitchen?

Those are just a few issues.

View Quoted Comment

First of all it's kind of rude to ask family members to be in charge of cooking when they should just be enjoying your wedding as a guest rather than stressing about the food. Even if they're used to cooking for smaller family events, depending on your number of guests cooking for 50-100+ people is much more difficult than what most people are used to. Another big factor is that professional caterers are trained in food safety and have food handlers licenses, whereas with self-catering there would be a greatly increased risk of food poisoning. The last thing you want is your guests getting sick and you or your family getting sued.

We are having burger bar. Our caterer is providing beef, turkey, Portobello mushroom, and chicken.

I don't think the burger bar is bad at all! I think sliders are a cool idea, unless you're having a really fancy wedding, then I think its a bit strange. Agreed with PP, hire a caterer.

I am considering doing a burger bar myself. There is nothing wrong with burgers but make sure you have a professional caterer.

It’s rude to ask family to work on your wedding.

Why would you serve burgers and risk giving someone food poisoning? There was a story earlier last year about food poisoning over the summer, it happened during a cookout and 5 people died.

Do not self cater. Hire a pro.

ETA: serving burgers is fine but have a PROFESSIONAL do it.

No qualms on burgers, except just think of the mess factor. Ice never eaten a good burger that wasn't super messy. People generally dress up for weddings and may not want to eat such a messy food. Some nice pizzas might be a good option and will be easy to bring in!

Perhaps sliders as a regular burger may be too messy. Also, hire pros.

Echoing all of the PP's who are saying don't self cater. To answer your question though, I also think burgers could be messy to eat. Maybe hire a caterer who does BBQ. That would be inexpensive

A burger bar is fine if you have a caterer do it, make sure you have enough options to cover all dietary needs. Also if you have a "huge" smoker, i think you can do better than burgers... what about brisket, or smoked chicken, or ribs?

I agree that out of the box food options are fine but definitely have a caterer do it for you.
If it were me I would do a couple slider options (beef, lamb, veggie something like that) but have a few other options too. Maybe grilled chicken and grilled vegetables and some side dishes.
Use the vendor tab to see what caterers are in you’re area and who can provide the menu options you like.

I personally do not want to eat anything larger than an hors d'oeuvre with my hands at a wedding. There is nothing wrong with it etiquette-wise, but there are plenty of inexpensive catering options that aren't messy. Agree with others that if you do this, make sure your caterer provides chicken & veggie options. As PPs have mentioned, self-catering is really unacceptable.

We did a burger bar that offered beef, chicken breasts and portobello mushrooms. You need to make sure that you have sides that will fit dietary preferences/restrictions. We had salad, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. This is something that needs to be handled by a pro. You do not want someone slapping a bunch of beef on the grill then tossing it into a table to just sit before your guests eat. There are affordable options. Family doing it is not that option.