Self catering reception - success stories?

Maybe you should just do it to prove us wrong?

I have cooked a 4-course meal for 150 people. We had access to 6 ovens, 6 stoves, 6 food processors, etc. There were 12 of us and it took several days of planning and prep work (to figure out cooking times, volume of food, etc). It took us all 12 of us, 6 hours on the day off to get all of the food out on time. None of us were experienced chefs. The food was nothing to brag about.

Do you have access to multiple ovens? How will you keep all of the food warm? Do you have experience with large scale cooking? You can't just take a recipe for 10 and multiple it by 7 and cook it for the same amount of time. Does your family really want to spend their time doing this? It is surprisingly hard to coordinate all of the food coming out of the oven at the same time and keeping everything warm.

If you really want to self-cater, I recommend no more than 30 guests.

PS. My friend self-catered part of her wedding and we all got food poisoning. Her mom made mini-cheesecakes that sat out for 4 hours before they remembered to serve them.

My soon to be sister in law just self catered half of her food.....we rented a hall so we did all the decorations and clean up and everything in between.....she did get some of the bigger main foods from a catering service but the salads, sides, deserts, kids food, or extras like rice, veggies, etc we did ourselves.....and she didn't have anyone to maintain the food during...we did that for her....it really wasn't bad. Like I said the main meal food came from a place so the stress of the main food not being perfect wasn't there. However we put her wedding together in month...so only 85 people were there.

I've been to self-catered weddings and other large functions and NO ONE got sick. I've been to professionally catered weddings and other large functuons where a number of people got sick. Bottom line, plan plan plan and plan some more. Self-catering for some reason is a hot topic here, so if you plan to do it, just plan accordingly. Story done.

" Here is a quote from one that I love: "We also wanted to cook for our guests because it seemed like a real expression of our hospitality, and hoped it would shrink the sometimes overwhelming grandeur of a wedding reception into something familiar and personal: a party where we were the hosts, not the guests of honor." Isn't that lovely? "

But you are not cooking, you are having your family do that for you. And the reception is to thank your guests for coming to your ceremony (if you are having one, hope not because you are already married, and your guests don't want to watch a play). So they will go to your reception and get warm deviled eggs, yummy!

If you wanted all these people to celebrate with you, why didn't you just take the time to have your guest see you really get married? Throw a backyard bbq, no wedding dress (unless you like to play dress up), no ceremony and properly host your guests. Your guests should not have to spend any money on food or alcohol at your wedding...I hope you don't have a cash bar, too. I bet you have a honeyfund also...

That quote is just BS. Can I start drinking yet?

And just for the record? No one getting sick is not 'success'.

So you would leave a review based on a personal experience and not a professional experience with a business? Ok. This is a public forum so I'm not sure why you are upset about people leaving comments with their OPINIONS.

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What we decided to do is to 50% self-cater.

Let me explain:

we are having 70-ish people on my FMIL's property. The house has a freezer room and a combi oven.
Our reception is a sweet and savory brunch and we will organize it as follows:

Sweet - entirely made by us
We are both expert bakers and I will be taking a year of classes leading up to the wedding. We plan on making a wedding cake, pies, petit gateaus.

Savory
Hot food - we will hire staff to make food on the spot

It's brunch so eggs, potatoes, sausages etc.

Room temperature/cold - from our local bakery
We'll order bagels from our local bakery and have them displayed on a table with cream cheese, salmon, onions etc. so people can choose what they want.

Coffee bar

It will be buffet style but we will have two servers per table making the plates.

It is really important for me to cook at least part of the reception food, but you need at least some servers.

View Quoted Comment Honestly I'm thinking of doing something like this. Frankly catering is a ridiculous expense and I literally feed 40-100 people at a once month meal anyway. It wouldn't be my first time and it isn't as hard or as hazardous as people seem to think would the appropriate forethought and planning and refrigerator space.

This is not a wedding succes story but a similar amount of people. My mom made all the food for each of her kids graduation parties which had over 100 guests. And we werent the only ones. Everyone in my high school had simple crockpot food that their parents made. Im sure there are tons of people on here can also think back to their graduation parties and I highly doubt all of them were prpfessionally catered. Definitely simplify though! You will want to focus on getting yourself ready on that day. Think crock pot sandwich meat. Nice rolls. Party potatoes etc. Only do easy stuff because it can be stressful on the big day but if you have a plan in place and you are determined to do it, dont let anybody cut you down for it. Also i have a few friends that have done potluck style weddings. If your friends and family have eaten homemade food at family reunions, graduations, etc. I dont see why a wedding would be any different except that it probably would be stressful if you do it all by yourself

This sounds stressful! You'll want to focus more on the food than getting ready. Maybe a local bbq place could cater something similar for a modest price?

Most of my family weddings have been self catered and have been totally fine. My Auntie and Mum love cooking and are really good so they did most the food with some help from other family members. And then they got some people from their church who helped to help serve and clean up