diy food for reception.

Where in CA are you?

The greatest city in the history of mankind. Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.

Saaaan Deahgo! (Mister's fantasy team is named The Channel 4 Newsroom Team).

But I'm not selling food. So i don't have to be certified. I have no employees.

This is almost exactly what I did, without the salad, I had multiple trays which I prepared with family the day before so no tray was out for long without being pulled back and refrigerated. It was great, people liked it, it was simple and the whole thing cost less than $300 for 100 folks. (My mil wanted to make salads, but I dodged that repeatedly).

well I am assuming the owner of the franchise was certified, but I was not nor had a food handlers card. and still my comment was right. you don't have to be certified to serve food. i said serve not sell.

These are simple enough items that don't cost very much so it probably wouldn't be hard to buy them from the local grocer or the supplies. And it would cost so much less than trying to cater these things. You have my vote.
Also I used to work for a small town family grocer and had to make the pasta salads, but we used a family recipe and made in small batches like you really would at home. Delicious.