Food Ideas

Hey! You should really hire a caterer. You dont want to have to worry about this on your wedding day. Cooking for that many people is a lot of work and you dont want to have to deal with that and you shouldnt ask family to do it either.

Do BBQ catering you can usually get it for a good price. Good luck!

Look around on the forum, OP. This topic is literally talked about almost everyday. The answer is always a hard NO. You don't want friends and family cooking for you and it is also very unsafe and can lead to severe sickness and even death. Do it right and hire a catering company. Your guests will thank you later.

ETA: look into Italian or BBQ to try and keep costs low..maybe you have a favorite restaurant in your area that caters? Explore your options!

Hi Penny, welcome to WW.

Please do a search for self-catering on this site. Basically self-catering is a terrible idea for a number of reasons.

Not necessarily the same as "self-catering," but not restaurant catering either: buy large amounts of prepared food from a grocery store, like in the deli section. Fried chicken is pretty easy, with a variety of pasta and potato salads, rolls, etc. Then you just have to warm them up and put them out. But I agree, you don't want to be up the night before cooking food for 100 people. Call the grocery store ahead of time and preorder it as well.

My friend cook their food. It worked for them however she had a lot of help. Her menu was fried chicken (this was the only thing catered -Walmart), bake chicken, green beans, house salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, baked ziti, fresh mixed fruit. Good luck!

Yes I have a lot of help also, many of my church family is willing to cook and they cook about once a month for 100 to 150 people. My FILs want to help it was actually them that brought it up

Rachel, how to they keep everything at food safe temperatures? Are you going to trust them to know that? It's not just "heating and putting them out". You need to keep warm foods warm and cold foods cold. Also servers and waitstaff.

If there is a food related illness, guess who is liable?

Still no, Penny. Don't make your friends and family work at your wedding.

They make chafing dishes, I think that is how it's spelled. The ones like the catering companies use.and our venue has two stoves and two ovens

It is really unsafe to self-cater. It is extremely hard to keep that amount off food at a safe temperature And if people get sick you are liable for it. Also, who will be watching the food to make sure that people aren't sticking their fingers in it or bugs aren't crawling all over it?

You can easily do BBQ or Italian food that is catered and it is pretty cheap.

Churches, community centers, and family reunions have large, non-catered meals all the time. Usually people don't die from them. I'm assuming this reception will not have servers or waitstaff based on the fact they want a "self-serve" food option. I would hope if somebody got sick at my wedding from food, they wouldn't sue me, but a lawyer and the CDC would probably have to figure out who was liable (just the same as if it happened at a restaurant- it could have happened at any point up or down the line from time of procurement to time of placing on the table).

Food is every couple's biggest expense, which is why the size of the guest list must be created around the budget you have, not the other way around. This is your wedding day. You are asking guests to dress, travel, possibly lodge, bring you a gift, and commit their day off to the biggest celebration you're likely to ever host. They'll never say anything to your face, but what they aren't expecting is a salad and home kitchen created big pasta dishes that helped you keep the costs down and the guest list up. You should cut your guest list and serve them professionally prepared meals.

Besides the etiquette issue, catering is not an amateur's job. When you're feeding 100 people with pasta, it's not as simple as throwing boxes of pasta into boiling water and stirring pots of sauce. There's a reason caterers have to have licenses, certificates, and inspections -- and that has to do with food safety. You guests are entitled to enjoy pasta that was professionally prepped, cooked, handled, delivered, reheated, and served. Besides, a professional will be able to offer meal suggestions that accommodate those with dietary restrictions, and it will taste far better than anything a home cook could create in such large proportions.

"Churches, community centers, and family reunions have large, non-catered meals all the time. Usually people don't die from them...". Usually? That's good enough? Maybe just a light case of food poisoning is worth keeping the food costs down...

Well here's one instance in which "usually" didn't help:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/health/church-potluck-botulism/index.html

And yes, investigators can pinpoint where the outbreak originated. Finding the exact dish that was contaminated takes a little more time, but they can find it.

We could also find examples of people getting food poisoning from restaurants and catering companies. I'm just saying that that isn't a guarantee of safety or quality.

And I meant literally it would take a lawyer and food control expert to discover where contamination occurred. It's a huge process, whether from a pot luck or a school of e.coli outbreak. And any number of people could be held liable.

My point was there are plenty of good reasons to go with a caterer, but fear mongering of the guests isn't one of them. Every situation has a pro and con list that the couple needs to decide for themselves. If catering isn't an option for whatever reason, there are alternatives.

*However, I still think you don't want to self-cater your own wedding. That sounds like a miserable experience. But thinking outside of the box might trigger some better suggestions.

Food should be the biggest expense of any wedding budget. It should be anywhere from 30-60% of your budget.

Besides the previously mentioned potential health issues, I would recommend not having friends/family work on your wedding day. Sure, they say they want to do it now, but the day of the wedding will be hectic enough, and stressful for everyone. There's enough to worry about, besides needing to worry about the food. Plus, unless you want it to be sitting for awhile (6 hour old pasta that's been sitting in a heating dish does not sound very appetizing to me), you will need people prepping/cooking during your ceremony. I would hate to have people miss out on my ceremony (the important part of the day) just to make okay food because I was too cheap to hire a professional.

Look into local Italian, BBQ, or Mexican restaurants and see if they cater. Those are usually the cheapest options if you're worried about your budget.

@awkwardtobe Yes, this makes sense and I agree completely!

@Rachel - yes lawyers and experts (and sometimes juries) will have to duke it out regarding ultimate liability. Meanwhile, you are paying for the said lawyers' and experts' time to do so, which will cost you way way more than just catering the meal. Your friends and family will sue you if your wedding is self-catered. We live in a very litigious society, and I see it happen all the time.

@OP - Who is potentially liable and footing the bill for lawyers and experts is the difference between self-catering and professional catering (licensed and insured for just this purpose). In addition, the risk that a self-catered meal will not be prepped or kept safe for consumption during the event is much higher than with a professionally catered meal. Why would you pass that risk on to your guests just to save some money? Plus, even if they offer, you should not make your friends and family work on your wedding day. Don't you want them to have a good time? Isn't that why you are spending money and effort on a reception - for your guests to enjoy themselves?

^^ yes

I semi-self-catered one of my birthday parties for about 50 guests. Semi self-catered because it was a cocktail party so I didn't actually cook from scratch, it was more replating platters, frying or baking pre-made food. I spent hours doing this though. Was exhausted by the time the party started. And smelled like oil (or maybe that was my imagination).

Would literally never ever throw a party for that many people and cater my own food ever again.

And never for a wedding, cos you want to spend those hours getting ready and enjoying your day.

When we chose our venue, the first thing I did was cut 20 guests so that we could afford to cater for everyone.

If you have your heart set on cooking the whole day, and the risks that everyone else has mentioned or will mention haven't changed your mind then I would suggest looking on pinterest for recipes..

Not touching this one as it cannot be saved. I'm out.