Pot Luck Reception

In my opinion, I would prefer an affordable catering option over a potluck. As a guest I dont want have to worry about cooking or bringing something. People will forget, not bother, or not bring enough. You then also run into the issue of needing to keep hot food hot, cold food cold and food hygiene standards. In a post covid world I’m not sure how many people will feel comfortable with communal food and sharing with lots of households. Not to be a downer (sorry!) but if you’re having more than like 15 or 20 guests I would get catering. You could find a local restaurant that does BBQ or Italian and have servers to avoid lots of people touching everything.

I think it depends on the size of your wedding and how well you know your crowd. Where im from (rural MN) I know my aunts and uncles would be more than willing to contribute something.

But i would many opt for a self catered buffet or something. Pulled pork, mac and cheese and buns even would do. We had to cancel our big wedding but if we were to have it we were going to do a taco bar from our local Taco shop. It would have been $4 per guests. Maybe look into something like that? I just think that a pot luck would be more stress than its worth.

Also just another idea - for my "COVID" wedding in June we will be having a food truck come to us, that way no one will be touching everything and contact will be limited. Its also a rather cost friendly option

In my opinion I wouldn't want a potluck depending on my guest to bring...thats to me is tacky but that's my opinion. Like the PP said there are affordable cartering companies to where instead of having 5 options maybe 3 basic ones that's just an example

I agree with Nefetera, pot luck receptions are tacky. Your guests should never be required to bring their own dinner, to your wedding, that you are hosting. On top of that, there is a major food safety issue with this. How will you keep the food at the proper serving temperature the entire time?

There are several affordable catering options (Italian, Mexican, BBQ) you can look into to prevent having our guest cater your wedding for you.

Agree with PPs. If you can’t afford to host your guests, have an intimate ceremony with the number of people you can afford to host OR have a cake and punch reception at a non-meal time. Not only is it tacky to expect your friends and family to provide the food for your event, but it’s a huge liability.

View Quoted Comment All of this. Well said.

Oh my lanta at the judging on this. It’s not that we can’t afford it, nor that we “expect” our guests to bring something. We were just looking for a way to include everyone in our day. We were also going to ask everyone to bring a hand written recipe with the dish so we would have a keepsake and make a recipe book from the dishes we had at our wedding, but I’m sure that’s too much & tacky as well.
We have a full catering kitchen at the reception site, so keeping the food at the correct temperature wouldn’t be an issue. I appreciate everyone’s opinions, but definitely didn’t expect to be called tacky for considering a dinner style that I’ve grown up on my whole life.

I think there's a good chance you could make it work, if this is a backyard wedding I think this would work out well, you'll be surprised about the lengths some people will go. I remember planning a pot luck reception for my boyfriend that turned 21 a few years back, and we had so much food brought in from Panda Express, someone even cut up some fresh watermelon, and of course you have that one guy who always brings the drinks. It was great, we had so much food leftover and was able to take some home.

View Quoted Comment Some people on this forum can be very "harsh", I don't think a pot luck reception is really that bad and honestly, I love the idea of making a recipe book from all the dishes you had at your wedding.

View Quoted Comment The recipe book is a cute idea. It could also be great for a shower. The reason that it is considered tacky to host a pot luck reception is because you are asking all of your guests to work for your wedding. They have to buy ingredients, spend x amount of time making the dish, and then transport this (probably large and cumbersome dish/tray) to the wedding. Also, depending on the size of your wedding, chances are they are not going to make enough for everyone who wants some of that to have, so if Grandma made some mac n' cheese and I'm 30th in line but she only made enough for 25, I'm out of luck. Unless you are having a backyard reception, a wedding works differently from other parties people attend. I have no problem bringing a dish to a friend's summer bbq. I do have a problem bringing a dish to a wedding.

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People can be VERY judgy here at times. I think it depends on your guests and your social circle. It might go better if you talk to a few of your closer friends and see if they are willing to help with the actual food, and set a menu with them based on what they can do. If money isn't the issue, maybe offer to buy the ingredients for the food for them?

Also it depends on the size of your reception. I think this could work just fine for anything under say....30-40 people. But over that, the work you're asking of your friends increases exponentially, and going with a caterer, or even catering take out from a favorite restaurant would be less stressful on everyone involved.

Then just communicate out to all the guests about bringing a copy of their favorite recipes to make a keepsake wedding cookbook with. I LOVE that idea, btw. I love, love, love cooking and baking, and trying new recipes, so this is an idea I might steal for my re-scheduled wedding next year!

BTW, I'm doing some thing similar this year for our reduced wedding (we postponed the big re-do wedding and reception to next summer). We're literally just doing a cook out in the backyard for no more than 30 people, and I'm asking a few friends/family to help man the grill. Though we're planning to provide the food and at least some of the booze to celebrate with.

We wanted to do this for our wedding but, unfortunately, listened to the opinions of others and decided to just use a caterer. We are now paying $42 a person for 130 people. Plus gratuity. Plus taxes. Plus a service charge. I’m very much wishing we would have stuck with what WE wanted and not listened to the opinions of others. It is not tacky whatsoever. You do what YOU choose!

My FH's cousin had a potluck reception and I think that it worked out great!

The recipe book idea is super cute.

Unless you live somewhere where this is a theme, I'm not sure I'd go with a potluck reception. If you're looking to cut costs, maybe do heavy appetizers instead.

As an option if you're really wanting to go potluck, suggest bringing a dish instead of a gift. I'd still be worried there wouldn't be enough food. If you have a core group of friends / family that are willing to pitch in and cook that's another option.

I think nowadays there are plenty of options out there for an economic budget friendly and fancy reception

Potluck bridal showers are common (where guests bring recipe cards with the dish), but I have never heard of a potluck wedding. Depending on your crowd, this might work with a micro-wedding of say, no more than 10 people maximum. If you're having any more than that, I'd opt for an affordable caterer. I personally think that a potluck wedding is tacky, but it's not my place to judge you. I would be very worried about guests with food allergies at a potluck style wedding, since you don't know how dishes were prepared and what is in them

A potluck reception would be different and low cost but how would keep everyone's food hot or cold during the ceremony? I would suggest looking at other options. Good luck

I think in the year of covid a lot of guests might not be comfortable with this. Traditional buffets are having to change to cafeteria style right now as well. I think a lot of people are extra cautious about sanitation and safety so going with a restaurant caterer might be a better idea.

View Quoted Comment We have a full catering kitchen available at the reception site.

View Quoted Comment O ok, you also may try polling a few of your guests to see how they would feel about doing a potluck