Self catering?

Self catering as in making your own food for the wedding? It's never a good idea unless you're having a tiny guest list, like 10 people. If it's more than Thanksgiving dinner, leave it to the professionals. Even still, Thanksgiving alone takes days to prepare, and you don't want to be doing all that work on your wedding day. Plus the food safety liabilities and everything is just not something you want to deal with, nor do you want to put your family to work.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the advice

I think this really depends on (a) your wedding (Is it formal? Is it casual? Have you got a big guest list?) (b) your organisation and (c) your budget.

For me personally, I am a pretty decent (hobby) baker but I opted out of making my own wedding cake because I knew that the money I’d save on making it myself wouldn’t be worth the stress it would cause me (or the risk that I stuff up and am left without cake). Catering the entire wedding is a whole other ball game.

If it’s a small and casual wedding, it probably is a good idea for you if you’re ok with the task that it is, but if your wedding is more than that, I would look at a professional caterer.

Not worth it, hire a professional.

Self catering is a bad idea even with 2 guests. Also the only place you can get away with an unlicensed caterer is your own backyard. There are so many things that can go wrong: no time to cook, food safety issues, etc. Just order corporate catering drop off service from your favorite restaurant if cost is a concern with staff rentals on thumbtack.com

I put on a huge thanksgiving dinner every year and a Christmas party every few years and love every minute of it, but it is hard work!
Even professional caterers have staff to do their own weddings!

Unless your guest list is in the single digits, I think it's definitely best to hire a professional. Even if you're an awesome cook, too many things can go wrong and it's so much more stressful for everyone involved. If you're worried about cost, see if you can find venues that let you use your own caterer. Supermarket catering like Whole Foods, for example, is much cheaper than most options and can still be delicious!

We had 90 guests. Wedding was at church backyard. And our food was sort of self catered. We went with this decision due to finances and because we really wanted my husband's cultural cuisine.

My husband prepared food that was possible to make two days in advance. Friends made salads the day of. We hired a food truck owner we know to barbecue. We ordered rice from a local restaurant.

We had friends help with set up and serving (buffet style). And everything worked out great. It was a lot of work but we would do it like this again any time. And our guests loved it. I know on this forum self catering and asking help from friends/family is usually advised against. But for us and our crowd it worked great and we got so many compliments for our wedding.
Happy to answer more questions if you are still thinking about this route. It's totally a know your crowd thing. And be realistic about how much work it is. You don't want yourself or your closest ones to be standing in the kitchen for hours on your wedding day.

It's not worth it. None of your guests should have to help on your wedding day, and that's what will happen with a self-catered event.

Keeping the food hot, keeping it full, and keeping the area cleanish is a whole job in itself. Not to mention the food prep and all of that.

There's a ton of liability in cooking the food yourself and it's just not worth the hassel.

View Quoted Comment Yes, this exactly!