Pasta Bar Hacks

We did a macaroni and cheese bar for around 40 guests for our engagement party (super stressful, but turned out great), and last Christmas we decided to do lasagna for around 25 family members.
I understand being on a tight budget, we were trying to stay around $5k for 50 people, but self-catering puts a lot of work on you and everyone you ask to help you in the days before the wedding and on the day of the wedding. Have you quoted buying trays of pasta from a local Italian restaurant? That was our original plan for rehearsal dinner, and for 18 people it was under $150.
I’m not sure how many people you’re expecting, but I definitely recommend keeping it simple. What will you have available at your venue as far as food storage and heating? Do you have chaffing dishes? What’s the plan for plates, cups, and silverware? Are you staying after the reception to clean up?Our caterer handles not only the food and drinks, but also all serving, dinnerware, linens, and cleanup. While we have some amazing family members that have offered to help with whatever we need, we want everyone to be able to enjoy the wedding and reception without worrying about being in charge of something. I love cooking, I thoroughly enjoy hosting huge holiday meals, and as stressful as it was I had a blast with our engagement party, but logistically between getting hair and make up, pictures, ceremony, more pictures... there’s just no time.Over the course of planning I’ve learned you either spend the time or you spend the money. Now that we are only two weeks out, I’m grateful for the place I decided spending the money was worth it over me being stressed last minute. You have to do what’s best for you, but be realistic about what you will have time to do, and have realistic expectations about who can and will be willing to help. Good luck!

Self catering is alot of work and depending on the venue, DIY food may not be allowed for safety reasons. Have a local favorite restaurant cater for a fraction of the price. They give you a ton of food for not alot of money without the bells and whistles that a wedding caterer upcharges you for and you may not want in the first place.

Have you considered a good truck? Might be cheaper than doing it yourself. Pizza truck for example.

I’ve been to a wedding where they did a pasta bar buffet, and it was awful. The pasta was sticky because it didn’t have sauce on it, they were trying to let people pick Alfredo or marinara. Keeping it warm was an issue. And the line… It took probably 45 minutes for everybody just to get through the line it was the longest thing ever just to sit down and eat and the food was cold at that point.
Have you thought about doing some thing like Moe’s catering, Panera boxes, or something like that? We did Panera box lunches for our engagement party and it was around $15 a person. Moe’s you can do $400 for 30 people but they have a ton of options. I would recommend doing something like that instead, and that way you don’t have your family working the day of your wedding

A pasta bar sounds really good actually! But like what everyone is saying I’m not sure how you’d keep it warm other than like a lot of slow cookers

I think pasta bars are cool and unique, however given the times we are in with Covid, I think that any type of “buffet style” where people are touching multiple utensils and standing over food wouldn’t be very safe and sanitary. Unless you were able to hire or have people serve the food to guests, however that would be hectic given it’s a “build your own” type situation.

I was 100% all about having a pasta station for my wedding. But the coordinator at the venue very quickly talked me out of it. She said it moves very slowly, which slows down the timeline of the evening, and it gets very hot, and over all, it really isn't worth it. She said unless I couldn't live without it, don't do it. Not sure if that helps you any.