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

I worked for Applespice Junction for a little while, and we did drop offs too. That's a great idea, but DO invest in a couple of servers to keep things moving along.

It isn't the worst thing in the world especially since you are having a fairly small wedding. I suggest getting friends/family to help and sticking with a simple menu.

Pasta Bar, Taco Bar, Good Ol' Chicken Wings, Meatballs, and Veggie Tray...Those things are easy to make in advance and easy to serve buffet style.

Our family is making the food for our wedding. Each family member is making 1-2 items each. We are having BBQ pulled chicken sliders, pasta salad, potato salad, vegetable trays, macaroni salad, red skin potato salad, buffalo chicken dip, cocktail meatballs, Cheeseballs, and taco dip. Oh and cake of course. For our drinks we're having tea, water, punch, and strawberry lemonade. I think it's gonna be great! Our wedding is at 2 and the reception will be from 3ish to 4:30 or 5. We wanted the food to have a picnic feel. We are expecting around 100 people.

My fiancé' is making his making his famous peach tea and I am making my famous sangria....Buckets of it lol

I would love to save the money and do it myself. However, I don't want the stress of having to cook for 100-120 people. I don't have dependable people to help cook either. I found a caterer for $14 a person. It is southern food (i.e fried chicken, baked chicken, salmon, mash potatoes, green beans and more) this also comes with fruit and veggie tray for cocktail hour and punch. I will be adding in a couple of other things for cocktail hour.

Being this is my third marriage and his second, we are going very laid back on the whole event including having a potluck style reception of guests bringing side dishes versus gifts. we are supplying meat and beverages however. then it will allow the guests to be more involved with the wedding

I am going to comment more on this. some people.just dont get stressed. I just dont see what everyone is doing that they will be overly busy, my opinion, I will bake wednesday and thursday. decorate cake & cupcakes on friday. we will prepare food thursday. I will decorate the hall on friday morning. then around 430 do my hair and makeup. put finishing touches on the decorating before people come. and then at 550 (ceremony starts at 6) I will put on my dress. I will have plenty of time. I think to if you have plenty of helpyou will be fine.

I am doing a cake and punch reception! We are having our wedding way late in the evening (not at a meal time) and we will have the invitations state "Cake and Punch reception to follow"

My wedding will be at 11:00 am and the church reception will start at 11:45am. I am serving ham and turkey sandwhiches with an arrangement of different breads and rolls to choose from. Potato salad, coleslaw, and chips. I have hired a barista to offer frappes and smoothies. I will have punch, water, and coffee also. There will be cakes, cookies, and pies. I will make meat and cheese trays the night before so all the ladies from my church have to do is take them out of the fridge. Same with the salads they will have to put them in serving dishes. The cookies and pies will be store bought. I will bake the cakes on Friday and assemble and icing them Saturday morning before wedding. I have tons of help and it should go pretty smooth. Second reception is 100% catered and taken care of NO STRESS!!!!!!

@Jessica T it still seems like an awful lot to do on the day of your wedding. Between my DOC and her team and my girls, all I'm doing is sipping wine and waiting for my cue to come down the aisle! Otherwise it would seem any old day or regular event if I did all that jmo. Even if you can't afford to hire out, at least get some family and friends to do it all.

I dont know what DOC stands for.

but to me its not alot of work. I have lots of help. like I said in my 1st comment itsmostly fh's friend and his girlfriend. but if I didnt keep myself busy I would be bored anyways. our ceremony is not till 6. so what else am I going to do all day??

@Jessica, go get a massage, sip wine, hair and makeup, sip wine, hang out with the bp, sip wine... lol idk, just personally it's just one day where I'm taking a full day off and just relaxing and having a good time and same goes for my fh. I guess some people find enjoyment in doing things themselves. JMO though so doesn't mean much

eta: DOC is Day of Coordinator

I'm like Jessica. I did so much of it the day before and the of - and that was fine with me. I'm also not the relaxing-for-a-whole-day-while-someone-else-puts-together-my-party kind of person. Plus my friends helped so we had a great time putting together the venue the day of.

I could never ask my family to work their butt off for me while I sat there and watched.

Your family does not want to work on your wedding day. Trust me.

I couldnʻt imagine doing our food, it was chaotic as is.

With a bridal party of 24, 200 guests, and a venue that's an hour and a half away, I guess we'll just have to put up with the "gross formal wedding food".

I am doing my own catering so-to-speak. Basically, we are making the majority of the food and we hired some help to serve it which was way cheaper than hiring a full catering company. We are doing chafing dishes and food that is easy to prepare/freeze ahead of time and then reheat. Our menu consists of Southern Barbecue...slow-cooker barbecue beef, southern fried chicken, and black bean salad. We are having coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, and baked macaroni and cheese for our sides. The coleslaw and potato salad will be bought in bulk at Costco, Sam's Club, or BJs. The barbecue beef will be made a week or two before and put into the freezer. The chicken we are buying at Harris Teeter (I think). The day of the wedding I will not be stressed out as again we hired people to handle setting up and heating up the food. Please keep in mind it is our church social hall so we have a large kitchen and two stoves to use.

I am not a big drinker. I dont like massages I wish I did. I onky have my girls as the bridal party. And well to be honest my wedding is pretty much 95% DIY and I am way to over controlling to let someone else set up. They wont do it the right way. Haha. My daughter is doing my hair and I will prob do my own makeup. Not doing that till like 5. So really with a 2 year old I will have to keep busy anyways, so this works out for us.

Wow, okay. I don't understand why people are getting so offended by "gross formal wedding food". This is *MY* opinion. I don't like pressed chicken, roast beef or turkey. Which are the general basic catering options. I *PERSONALLY* would not want these things, even if I could afford it. It's your wedding, do it however you want. If these are the kinds of things *YOU* like, then have at it. Don't get so up-in-arms over what some stranger on the internet says about your choice in foods.