Self catering reception - success stories?

1. asks for advice

2. gets advice

3. does not like advice

4. insults everyone's reading comprehension

5. has huge balls

hope everyone is caught up now!

Before you tell US to comprehend what we're reading before posting, you might want to do the same. Just sayin':

"Further, my husband wants does NOT translate to we are self-catering so try to comprehend what you're reading before posting and quit spell and grammar checking me; it's a forum message, not an essay I'm writing here."

wuuuuuuut?

And if your balls are bigger than any of our "MAN'S" you might want to get that checked out. I heard they have ointment for that.

Everything that has been said has been constructive.

Self catering = bad idea

Large Balls = not a indication of strength, intelligence, stamina, mental capacity, kindness, rudeness, thoughtfulness, or anything else.

ETA: Five stars!

Oy vey. My family have self-catered for large showers before (my sister's baby shower ended up with 50-60 people there) and it's SO much work. You won't have time for hair, makeup, other logistics etc, you'll be stressed and rushing around instead of calm and focused on your guests. Don't do it. Get a local restaurant or grocery store to cater it instead, with a few staff to watch over everything.

Honestly, I just find this funny. Thanks for the morning entertainment OP. Have fun with your food poisoning.

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FSS. Don't do this. Yes, I did. But I was a chef marrying a chef with an entirely pro staff, a commissary kitchen to prep and a full pro kitchen to serve. We had the venue for three days and cleared out catering schedule.

And it sucked. It didn't suck for the guests; they had a ball (65 of them), they are everything in sight, (this was close to 20 years ago with mashed potato stations, tons of handmade passed hors, carving stations, a pasta station and more chocolate than anyone needs to have.

They loved it. For us? Not so much. We were working insanely for three days, I decorated my cake in my gown, and the local media (who covered it) sent a war photographer in to cover us. I should have taken that as a hint.

Normal humans, who think catering Thanksgiving for 20 is just like a wedding for 60 are hallucinating. Your wedding day, no matter how casual, is a festival of time stamps and little fires that need to be put out. Like how do you keep everything hot/cold/upright (in the case of the deviled eggs). It's not for the faint of heart, but since you have balls and clues, go right ahead.

And not everyone eats ham

And one person isn't enough to put this together for you

And your family is not going to want to work on the day, no matter what they say now.

And I see you're going to 'read your own vows" too.

Please send me an invite.

" I was asking which are for success stories, not the bitter, angry, immature repeatedly stating what I've already read!"

"Immature?" Oh dear.

I'm in WWLaura's boat. I went to a self catered wedding in my friends backyard. She ended up married and I didn't get sick, but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that i didn't eat anything that could have made me sick. I stuck with the fresh fruits and veggies and avoided anything with egg product (even though the French toast/maple syrup shooters were adorable). I even stayed mostly away from the pastries, save for the blueberry muffins (which were actually store bought and just displayed prettily). Needless to say I was pretty hungry when I left, but all in all, I'd say it was a success for me. I can't speak for the other guests, however. I didn't hear about anyone getting ill, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Also, the kitchen where all the food prep was happening was right next to the porch where all the food was on display. I kept looking through the window and the sliding glass door and feeling really bad for the groom's cousins, who were working the entire time. I'm pretty sure they missed most, if not all, of the ceremony because they were trapped in the kitchen cooking.

@Carly for the win!!!! I freaking love it! Bravo, bravo!!!! Lol

Okay, hun, go ahead and make sure to come back and update us all on how good your warm, bacteria filled deviled eggs were! Oh! Also, let us know how much fun your sister in law had, too! It's going to be fabulous gurrrl!

And for the record, OP, you can find an internet article to prove anything from the existence of the Loch Ness Monster to Drumpf's qualifications to be president (sorry, couldn't help it) to the link between vaccines and Autism (there aren't any, by the way).

But yes, if it's on the internet, it must be true.

Damn Carly thats some nice memeage

OP be like

I did all the cooking for a brunch the day after my brother's wedding (not the wedding itself, mind you). It was approximately 20 people, and IT SUCKED for me. I didn't get a chance to eat anything myself, let alone enjoy the day with the newlyweds or get to know the other side of the family a little better. Then, guess what comes after all the cooking and eating? That's right: the cleaning up.

Just Say No to Self-Catering

ETA: Just saw you're last comment about starting an event planning business. Good on you!!! I just still feel like you'll have enough other things to worry about on the day of your vow renewal; I personally wouldn't want to add meal prep to my day.

OP, here's something constructive: Don't do it.

I've catered (with staff) for upwards of 100 people. It sucks, it's time consuming and you run around trying to make sure everything is handled safely and done on time.

I've also done event planning. Guess what, you need staff, you need time, you need caterers. Don't cater your own wedding. Scale back on other things and go to a restaurant, get cheap bbq, a food truck, anything!

.

Ok, confession time.

My wedding was self catered.

We have a friend who is a chef, who told us that he would be doing the food. (he didn't really ask us or offer...it was literally a "So, what am I cooking for you" statement.) No one got sick. (he is extremely well versed and practiced in food prep/storage, etc.)

Everything was delicious.

HOWEVER.

Would I do it all over again? Fuck no. Absofuckinglutely not. This is why I haven't EVER till this day said that we self catered. Because it sucked. Not for me, my day was great. But my DH did a ton of prep work that morning, and they had issues with the grills not starting. He was so stressed out until our first look...

The amount of stress that it put on him, I would never in a million years recommend doing it, even if you have a chef friend to do the actual cooking. Anyone who has to work the day of your wedding or vow renewal should be a paid vendor, not someone who you want to enjoy the day with you. Friends and family should be there to eat, drink, dance, and celebrate with you. Not worry about deviled eggs sitting out getting hot and gross.

Don't self cater. At best, you or your guests doing the prep work are going to be super busy, stressed out, and miss out on a lot of the good stuff during the day.

At worst, people will get really sick.

It is SO not worth what you think you're going to save. Its REALLY not.

Can I be the person to say if you're going to self cater, would you think at least about serving something better than what they serve at the Elementary school on Tuesdays?

OH OH OH!!! And then there was the time the mother of the bride called my catering company to cater the wedding the NEXT DAY because the future groom's brother, who was a chef for a major restaurant, had passed out drunk in the hammock with literally no prep being done for the wedding the next day. On which he did the same thing.