is/has anyone made their own food for their reception?

We are doing it, sort of. my fh's friend is trying to start a catering company. ours will be the first wedding. but it will just be him and his girlfriend. of course because I am overly controlling I will also be helping prepare food. I am also making the cake/cupcake tree because I am acake decorator on the side.we are having about 100-120 people. we are having salad, green beans,pulled pork sliders, taco bar,and mashed potato bar.

I am as we are on a tight budget. We are making sandwich wraps, chips, dip, pies, and mini pies.

We are. We are having a taco bar and my future in laws will be making half the meat and my family will help make the other half. My aunt is also helping us make Spanish rice and beans. We will also be making salsas and other sides.

I am making all of the desserts. I've got my pies started and then I'm going to make cookies early next spring. I couldn't fathom paying a caterer for dessert when I know I can do it myself. It just takes a lot of preplanning.

It helps that the majority of my bridesmaids are also my neighbours so I'll be borrowing their ovens for a few hours the day before.

There's a reason caterers charge what they charge... They are worth it. People don't realize just how much goes into trying to produce great food for a formal occasion until they are in way over their heads and it's the last minute before their event, at which point I usually get a frantic phone call from a host willing to pay whatever I will charge to fix their screw up. I own my own catering/baking/event planning business, and there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm doing my own cake or catering. I do not want that kind of stress in my wedding day, nor do I want the stress of interviewing service staff and not having a head chef in charge of the kitchen and staff on the day of if I cook my own food. Celia really hit home with me when I posted something similar. She told a story of having a photo of her decorating her wedding cake in her wedding dress. That's definitely not a photo I want. I'd much rather hire one of my competitors that I know does food and quality service much like what I produce, and let them handle all of the stress of the day so I can sit back and enjoy my family, friends, and most importantly, my new DH.

World of Whimsical I agree with you.

It's ridiculous if you think the food is all they're charging for. Really, you want to worry about food on your wedding day? I cook for birthday parties and stuff, I couldn't imagine preparing, cooking, transporting, setting up, making sure there is enough, etc etc etc on my wedding day.

I totally understand why caterers charge what they charge, for many that's not the point. in the end it just wasn't worth it to me, and a hirered caterer wouldn't have worked out anyway.

I belong to a group where I assisted in cooking for around 60 people on a regular basis. when I've prepared dishes and food for potlucks for goups I belong to I never cook for less than 30.

it all depends on what you are used to.

myself, I would never take on the entire project- I'd have no problem providing the food for the wedding as long as I had others cooking and bringing things in.

I'm making my own wedding cake, or at least decorating it myself. mainly because I would be broken hearted and unhappy if I didn't. it's too important to me.

I just attended a backyard wedding for about that many people and it was a barbeque! not one person complained or thought twice about it. people were not attend to be impressed with food, they were there for the honor seeing two people they cared about exchange their vows.

have you considered a potato bar? seems a lot of people have been happy with that.

I'm a cake decorator/baker so I'll be making my cake

Not sure where you are having your reception, but you may want to check with them to make sure it is okay. Some won't allow people to bring their own food and cakes. Health code, needing food to be prepared/served by someone who has the appropriate licensure, and all that jazz

We had a casual wedding, by the way (I had no desire for a formal one - too stiff for me).

We didn't have officially catered food.

We had a friend (who has won barbecue cook-offs) smoke brisket and turkey on-site (he brought his smoker on a trailer and began smoking early that morning) and then we took care of the sides - beans, potato salad, and cole slaw. We had everything set up in chafing dishes/warming dishes (warm for the meat and beans, not warm for the potato salad and cole slaw), had two lines, etc. No one bitched about it not being professionally catered - hell, people are STILL talking about how wonderful the food was and how it was the best wedding food they've ever had.

Our venue was 100% ok - in fact, our venue came with nothing but a building, sound system, tables/chairs, bathrooms, and a kitchen for us to prep.

We aren't making our own food, but we are cutting costs by doing some of the work ourselves. Casual backyard wedding with. We contracted a local butcher shop and deli.and are getting pulled pork and roost beef for sandwiches and some bulk salads. I have some friends who are going to make sure everything stays full. I originally wanted to grill our own meat, but in the end realized I'm not a professional and was worried about making sure things were safe for my guests. I think the only thing we will make ourselves is fruit salad. My sister's MIL and my aunts wanted to make bars in addition to cake so I'm letting them do that but our reception is more like a family picnic with.yard games and I bonfire later with hotdogs and s'mores.

FH and I won't be cooking but a few family members will. We're having a park wedding that's very laid back and around 60-70 guests. Our food will be chicken, hamburgers, a mashed potato bar and other things like that. I'm very picky when it comes to food so even if we got it catered the food choices would still be the same.

Thank you everyone for your input. Before this gets out of hand I would just like to clarify a few things:

1) I know I would be paying caters for more than their food. I know I'm also paying for piece of mind and to be able to relax on my wedding day, but for the amount that most charge per plate/tray (depending on what you get) is a little much on a very tight budget. Also after going through about 100 caters websites, I have found that they all serve a variation of the same gross formal wedding food.

2) I am allowed to bring outside food to my venue. I can use their fridges, but not their stove/microwave. The guy told me that I can have crockpots if I wanted though.

3) It will also be a serve yourself buffet style, as I'm not inviting any children to my wedding. I don't see the table getting too messy or someone burning themselves on a crockpot.

3) I'm having a very casual luau wedding, so I was thinking chicken kebobs and pulled pork sliders and then just going to the grocery store or wherever for the salads/sides.

4) I did look into alternative caters, food trucks, pig roasters etc.. but my venue will not allow that for fire safety reasons or parking lot space.

Did you look into just normal restaurant or "fast food" catering? A lot of them supply the casual food you are thinking of ... think of a bbq restaurant, or sandwich place, or chicken joint. They are usually a little cheaper than wedding caters and you shouldn't have to worry about fire safety or parking space like you would with a food truck.

I would love to have a caterer and not have to do any of that work, but it's just not in our budget. So we're doing our own food.

Pork BBQ--my mom is making ahead of time

Mac&Cheese--will be picked up that morning from a local restaurant

Green salad--make that morning, prepped the day before

Cut fruit--cut up the day before

Brownies--made by my sister Thursday

Ice cream--3 gallon tubs from local ice cream parlor

It will be simple and casual but delicious, and my family and his will both be helping a lot, so it will be do-able.

If you don't want to make your own food, Walmart makes delicious huge subs for very reasonable prices.

I will be making my own food for my renewal. It will be close to 150 ppl. I have a lil help with family and friends. Looking forward to it bec we is some good cooks. Plus the ones helping dont mind they all came to me and told me they will. It does save alot of money and im on a tight budget.

I catered my own wedding and I would never do it again AND I was a pro caterer at the time. i didn't get to relax at all. I still had to direct my staff. It was no fun, and I can tell you that even doing it myself, it didn't cost much less than hiring someone else.

Food prices are insane; i made pulled pork just for my family this week and the pork shoulder was twice what it was last week. Bacon is 7.99 a pound.

Your venue may not even allow it; most of the venues I work in require a certificate of insurance and a health department certification. You are also talking about summer; heat; food safety issues.

Gross formal wedding food? Yep...that's a great way to endear everyone here who either makes it or is paying for it.

We are doing it ourselves. We are having several kinds of homemade soups and meat and cheese trays.

My family and friends are all helping out in cooking so we didnt have to cater. Pulled prok and chicken, green beans, corn, mac and cheese, baked beans, potato salad, au gratin potatos, pies, cake, smores bar, popcorn bar. I think it will all turn out =)

Here is an alternative you may have not thought about. We had a "drop off" buffet by Ruby Tuesday. I found 4 "drop off" buffets in my area. Two did country cooking, one was a Mexican restaurant (which sounded amazing) and Ruby Tuesday. We went with Ruby Tuesday because the food sounded more "wedding" appropriate. They cooked, packaged and delivered the food. They also brought disposals (napkins, plasticware, plates) but we had nicer stuff that we used. It was SO much cheaper because gratuity and all the additional fees were not added. We were thinking of catering ourselves, but it seemed like so much work. We had all of the following for less than $10 a person and the food was fantastic!

*New Orleans Seafood

Spicy, broiled tilapia topped with sautéed shrimp and Parmesan cream sauce.

*Chicken Fresco

Fresh, grilled chicken topped with tomatoes, lemon-butter sauce, and a splash of balsamic vinaigrette.

*Chicken Bella

Fresh, grilled chicken topped with sautéed baby portabella mushrooms and artichokes with Parmesan cream sauce

*Sliced Sirloin

Grilled to your liking and topped with barbecue sauce

*Made-From-Scratch Garlic Cheese Biscuits, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans