Wedding Reception Food Ideas

What kind of vibe do you want?

What is your caterer best at? (Say you know they nail pasta, but haven't seen them do Southwestern...)

Are there price restrictions? (If you ask for steak, will they charge you more, or are they keeping the same price? Because that might indicate they are ok with cheaper ingredients.)

Do you have special dietary needs, or guests that do? Will they make special dishes for that, or do you have to incorporate that in your menu?

Those are just a few of the questions I'd have for such an open ended offer.

We did soul food: salmon cakes, macaroni and cheese, wings, chicken, greens, etc.

View Quoted Comment Our theme is vintage/boho! I’m not quite sure if there are certain foods that go with that lol.. they said $15-$20 per person depending on what we do for the meals..

We have an amazing caterer!
Appetizer- raspberry & Brie tarts (cocktail hr)
Spring mix salad- ranch or balsamic dressing Hawaiian sweet rolls- reg or honey butterChicken Marsala Beef peppercorn- horseradish on the sideGarlic mashed potatoes Steamed veggies Great- NOW IM HUNGRY!! Lol!

View Quoted Comment I LOVE SOUL FOOD!

View Quoted Comment THAT ALL SOUNDS DELICIOUS!!

Pick a cuisine and then go from there. Feels like that would be easier! For me I definitely wanted food from my culture which was Chinese and Vietnamese

View Quoted Comment Good idea!!! Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Thx! We got engaged last July & are getting married 4/3/21. We finalized our finalized our menu in January. For some that seems early but there are many reasons why we planned early. We live 2.5 hrs away from the venue & my fiancé is a firefighter. Besides his full time job, he does wild land assignments during the summer. That narrow downs when we can do tastings. Everything gets planned around his schedule & absolutely NOTHING is planned during the summer time. He loves summer time & the money is sooo good. He’s like a kid at Christmas & has been granted his Christmas wish when he gets the call!!!

What do you like to eat? What do your guests like? Do you want a formal plated meal or stations (a served buffet where each station is a different cuisine)?

Im really frugal so my fmil will either cook or we will be doing chipotle caetering.

View Quoted Comment Oh that would be easy!

View Quoted Comment That’s the thing! I love ALL food lol and I don’t mind if it’s buffet or plated.

View Quoted Comment NO the earlier the better!

We did breakfast because we decided to have a sunrise ceremony. Our first date was breakfast because my husband was working nights at the time.
Is there a favorite you and your fiancé share?

View Quoted Comment

...Where are you? Because where I am, that price wouldn't cover quality food. (It's entirely possible it would where you are, but I am from a very expensive area, where our *low-cost* option was $150/head.)

But I still would have a lot of questions for them. Some foods are more expensive than others, some are considered fancier, and then there's season, location, and ease of serving...

It all comes down to what would make you happiest, and what they can deliver best.

Still, any caterer who claims to be able to deliver *any* cuisine would make me pause.

View Quoted Comment Awe that’s precious! We honestly both love food. I would be just content eating salad lol.. so I know there will definitely be a side salad. However, we both love chicken!

View Quoted Comment We are from West Virginia. Our venue is very new in Webster Springs, WV and they do not offer catering there. So, we had to look around. There is a small catering company that is located in the area. They are very kind and we have had other people we know that have had them for their weddings. We do not want to spend $150 per person, nor $70 per person. We think it’s a little crazy to spend that much.

I spent about $25 per person and we had fantastic food! Don’t let others tell you it won’t be good just because of the price.
We did carving stations, turkey and pork loin. Then we had mixed veggies and a mashed potato bar with salad and rolls. I didn’t want typical “wedding food” like grilled chicken breasts. I felt like this was a pretty typical holiday meal and I love the feeling of gathering with family for the holidays and celebrating. I wanted to bring that to our wedding. Plus we got married 3 weeks after Christmas so this was a nice warm cozy meal on a cold winter night.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!! That sounds so nice. I mean, I’m honestly open to whatever! Just nothing too “fancy” because that’s just not us nor our families.