Catering or potluck?

@MirsMinor14 - I think you're going to do great in these forums. You took the advice with grace!

@Mariah - LOL. Is your wedding a charity event?

"Catering is expensive and not everyone wants to pay for it." You mean YOU don't want to pay for it, so you're making your guests work and pay for the food they bring? Wow, glad I didn't get an invite.

This is a joke, right? Because it's Friday?

Never potluck. Always cater. Glad you've seen the light.

100 %Catering! Don't do a potluck. Don't make your guess bring food to your wedding.

I forgot the other persons name was Mariah..I was wondering why everyone was disagreeing with me when I said to get it catered. Guess I'll have to do a name change!

@MrsMinor14 don't take advice from Mariah H. Lol glad you are listening! Catering is definitely the way to go

Don't do a potluck!!

Have professional catering done. If you do a Potluck, you highly risk things like food poisoning, so it's safer and better for your guests for catering.

Listen, I love my mom's macaroni salad, but I'm not having her bring is as a damn side dish for my wedding...and everyone pretends to like my grandmother's potato salad at family dinners, but I'm not making them carry on that charade at my wedding.

@OP, glad you decided to go with catering. Kudos to you!

My brother and sister in law had a mix of both. My uncle makes the best jumbo meatballs, and my mom is from Germany and makes authentic german potato salad. Brant and Katie had the main entrée catered, but asked Uncle Pete and my mom to make their signature dishes as the sides. They wanted these family favorites at their wedding and it turned out great. Their caterers were nice enough to even serve the sides no charge. If there is some family dish that you LOVE and want at your wedding, then do what you want and ask that family member to make a bulk of it as their gift to you. It's YOUR day, do what you want. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Bottom line, there are no real "rules" to a wedding. Every wedding is different.

@Jess? As a caterer, I got requests to serve everything from Aunt Mary's clam dip to grammy's rice pudding.

We never did it. Our insurance people would have a coronary.

There are solid 'rules' to a wedding. One of them is that no one croaks or ends up puking all week.

It is a courtesy but not a rule. Yes that would SUCK, but there aren't laws against things you can or can't do at a wedding.

^^^Actually, there are laws that make you liable if someone gets sick.

Yeah, actually there are. They are called health department and insurance requirements. Choosing to ignore them doesn't mean they don't exist....kinda like global warming....or evolution....

Pretty sure caterers have this rule to cook/handle/prepare food properly so no one gets sick/dies and they don't get sued.

I see this dying thread is coming back to life!

Kathleen made me crack up.

I went to a potluck wedding 15 years ago. Yes, they're still married. Yes, they're happy. But many of us are STILL talking about it. And not in a "Oh, it was a gorgeous day" kind of way. Don't get me wrong - I stayed and supported and gave a present and all that, but bowls of chips and dips and macaroni salad did not fill me up.

Yes when the food comes from the caterer. I'm talking about food not from the caterer. Why would the caterer be responsible for that food if they don't serve it? I'm not saying all caterers will serve food that isn't theirs, just that theirs did and it turned out great.

I don't know why my post got flagged because I personally thought it was hilarious and very accurate. Anyone who has ever been to a church potluck knows the pain of too much anonymous protein and ugly casserole.

As a caterer, (and I was one) we are responsible for everything served under our agency. If you bring it and I serve it, it's my responsibility. And my reputation.