Taco Bar

I think a taco bar is a great idea. Are you talking about what to serve, how to serve it or what you want to serve though?

I attended a wedding that had a taco bar and the line was pretty long. I remember there were only 2 chefs heating the tortillas and cooking the meat. Besides from the obvious (have sides and drinks at the end, have more than 2 chefs for a 150+ guests wedding), maybe have a sign that says what meat and sides are available. Have the plates ready on the chef’s side so that guests aren’t awkwardly holding onto a plate only to hand it to the chef to hand back to them. These are small things but could save a lot of time in line

Limit meat options to save time and money. Maybe have the meat and tortilla portion pre-plated/served and make sides and topping buffet style? Or limit topping by making specialty tacos, with certain preset ingredients. Congratulations and good luck on your special day!

If your grandma has years of experience in this and is a caterer, then she would be your best resource.

I’ve seen some posts that talked about having the toppings on each table or having multiple food sections. We are trying to see if some family friends will let us pay them to heat up the food, transport it, and set it up. So I like the toppings on each table, but I’m not sure how to make it as easy as possible for the people we pay.

I went to a wedding that had a taco bar and it was the best!! Everyone was so happy! Everyone went up table by table. I'm not sure if that was planned or if it just happened. The wedding was small, so no one minded waiting. Maybe you can have two food stations set up so there's less wait time? I guess sit depends on how many people you have.

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Agreed! If Grandma is a licensed caterer than she should be able to answer all of these questions and give you advice, you should check with her.

I will implore you to rethink using your Grandma as a caterer though. It is unfair to ask (or allow) family to work at your wedding. She should be an honored guest who gets to relax and enjoy the ceremony. Unfortunately, your Grandma may miss the ceremony completely because she is too busy cooking and preparing for your ceremony. Also, I'm not sure how old your Grandma is or, how long ago she worked as a caterer but, it is a lot of strenuous work and she may no longer be able to take on this task (even if she insists it will be fine). Mexican/taco catering is generally very affordable I'd price out local caterers and see what they offer and how much. It may end up being a similar cost to purchasing and cooking the food yourself anyway.

She isn’t going to be working it, we will hire people to serve and set up. I just have her guidance pretty much. Also, the catering quotes I have gotten so far are about $9 per person. That might be reasonable for some, but we don’t have that kind of money since we still have to find a photographer as well. So catering isn’t an option for us. We are thinking of having a meat station with soft shells prepped with meat, separate toppings station, and a separate queso and salsa station. I was just looking for set up ideas what maybe we hadn’t thought of. I got the separate stations idea from a different post on here so I figured I’d see what else everyone else could come up with. Trying to think of means of transport that will be easiest for our servers. Our venue is outside and doesn’t have access to a kitchen. Just electricity. So the queso will be in crockpots and warm food in chaffing dishes. Cold food will be in dishes as well probably chilled with ice someone.

I'd check places like Costco & Sam's Club for cheaper deals on meat & veggies! I assume ground beef would be a good option, you could buy chuck meat and it would be cheapest? Then I'd look into cheap veggies too for fajitas?

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By the time your buy all your ingredients and supplies (serving dishes, etc.) and hire people to serve and set up, I can't imagine how your costs are going to be under the $9 pp the caterer quoted you. Even if grandma is "just providing guidance" this is potentially a LOT of responsibility for an older family member. Add in the outdoor venue, in June, without a kitchen (e.g., ability to store food and keep it at the right temperature, access to running HOT water for cleaning/hygiene, etc.) there are SO many red flags here. And, if I understand one of your posts, "hiring people" means paying friends/family to reheat and transport food (even if grandma is a licensed food handler, how is she going to supervise what other people are doing in their homes/cars)? Read this blog (http://boundbyfood.com/the-wedding-taco-bar-150/) about the work and cost (ingredients alone cost $6.15 pp in this example, NOT including all the supplies, access to bbqs [for cooking the meat], AND the author/cook had access to a full-kitchen, on-site at the venue) to better understand how much work & expense is involved at a venue better suited to this than yours. I get it. You're trying to have the nicest wedding you can within your budget, but I think, at the very least, you need to do a lot more research. If you need to cut costs, you (and your potential guests) might be much better off cutting your guest list, so you can serve those who attend food that is prepared by a professional caterer. It would be much better than having your friends and family running around like crazy and/or someone potentially becoming ill from food that isn't prepared/stored/served correctly. Good luck!