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Devoted November 2019

Can i cater my own wedding?!?

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Tessa, on December 19, 2018 at 2:19 PM

Ok, I am struggling with the food for our wedding. We need dinner for 28. So far I cannot find any caterers that will do a Saturday wedding without at least a 40 person minimum. I've been searching for months and that is the lowest I've come across. The only options I have found are drop off or take out. Which would mean I would need to hire servers anyways to plate, deliver, and bus the food. So can I just make the food ahead and have servers reheat and serve day of? Am I out of my mind thinking I can cater my own wedding? The only options I've found that will cook and serve for this small of a group are private chefs that are asking $150-200 per plate. That's way beyond my budget. Any ideas for me? I'm not scared of cooking for a group, we host large family get togethers all the time. I just want to be sure to hire servers so I can relax and enjoy my guests. Any ideas or thoughts for me?

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Devoted November 2019
Tessa · on December 20, 2018 at 10:36 AM
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HayMrsO, great advice. Thank you for sharing! It might be worth it to just pay for the extra meals to get the full service and food in one package. I live in San Diego, which is a mega wedding town, so I understand why the local caterers have minimums. Any other wedding in town on a Saturday is going to be 150+ people (my sister in law had a home wedding just like we are and it was over 400 people!). Can't put a price on sanity, right?
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Dedicated November 2019
Nita · on December 21, 2018 at 7:26 AM
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All of those issues are covered by hiring a restaurant to cook the food. The restaurant is now responsible and liable for food safety and allergies. And the professional chefs at the restaurant know how to properly cook the food and avoid any cross containmination with allergens. As someone with food allergies I would not eat at a wedding that wasn’t catered by a professional chef that knows how to avoid cross contamination, the risk is just way too high.

The restaurant will also have liability insurance which will kick in if god forbid anything was to go wrong. Once you factor in the cost of good liability insurance that will provide you the coverage you need if you decide to cook yourself I’m sure you’ll find that self catering is not much cheaper than having a restaurant cook for you.
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Expert August 2019
Tris · on December 21, 2018 at 3:01 PM
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Where are you getting married?
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Devoted November 2019
Tessa · on December 21, 2018 at 9:15 PM
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We are getting married at our church and having the dinner reception at our home after.
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Expert August 2019
Tris · on December 22, 2018 at 8:35 PM
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I'd say go for it then! That sounds really nice. Your group is small enough and it makes sense. You could always get some chafing dishes and sternos to keep everything hot.
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Dedicated February 2020
Augusta · on January 5, 2019 at 5:27 PM
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You can get catering at Olive Garden. It’s buffet style and you just pick it up. Ends up about $12-$16 per person
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Savvy October 2019
Keji · on January 6, 2019 at 4:02 AM
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Look into local people that cater. When I asked around I learned about independent chefs that do event catering so they can accommodate small size groups. My best friend is having some family members who are great at cooking handle the food for her wedding so there are ways to make it work!
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