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Depending on what time of day the reception is, you could definately get away with less food. A Saturday night reception is a lot different when a Sunday afternoon one!
@AirForceWife78: It is on a Saturday afternoon/night at 6:00 pm.
I don't see anything wrong with a pasta and salad dinner since you are on a budget. I think you can present it nicely in chafing dishes and it will definately stretch your dollar. You could even do a pasta bar theme with different types of pastas, sauces, cheese etc.
I vote pasta! Cheap bbq usually isn't good and good bbq isnt usually cheap! Pasta you can have a few different options, a red sauce, a cheesy/ creamy, maybe some with meat, some veggies to go on top, ect where it looks super classy but wasn't $$$. We had spaghetti and salad for our RD and fed 35ish people for like $60. And we are hearty eatters, this wasn't scrimping either. The biggest portion of that was the bread and the hamburger for the sauce.
Pasta can be done cheaply and well. We had a local Italian place cater VERY reasonably--choice of lasanga, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmigana, eggplant parmigana, and lasagna, with salad and rolls. It was a HIT.
@chasesgirl: Ditto, you said it perfectly!
OP: I would love pasta and salad:)
i say pasta. it's filling, can be fancy and budget at the same time. supplement with nice rolls and salad and maybe some flavored butters - you can make them yourself i you like - sundried tomato or garlic or herb, etc.
our budget is $6k, so i hear ya!
I see nothing wrong with pasta! Most people love it and it's filling. With lasagna you can prepare some a week or two before and freeze. Also start stocking up on coupons there's usually some for pasta! It will help!
My brother and sister in law did pasta, bread and sald for theirs. It was delish, everyone loved it!
Thank you all for the input. I am just worried about people thinking we're cheap or trashy.
I like the idea of a pasta buffet type spread. My FI wants fettucinni alfredo and I love lasagna so I think if we do several types of pasta and sauce choices plus a meat and a veggie lasagna hopefully everyone will be happy.
Thanks again for easing my fears ladies! :)
I would be happy with pasta or BBQ. I think the other bees are smart in suggesting pasta due to it being cheaper.
Pasta is fine! I do think you need to serve dinner for a Saturday evening wedding, so the finger food only option really won't work.
Pasta is fine! I do think you need to serve dinner for a Saturday evening wedding, so the finger food only option really won't work.
I wish more people sserved pasta at the weddings I go to! I think that is an absoutely viable option and we were considering something similar until FI's parents decided to pay for the caterer. Good luck!
That sounds fantastic! Man, I generally prefer lasagna or ravioli to the normal meat/potatoes. You might also want to consider making gnocchi. I made some for just me and FI and ended up having leftovers for like 2 weeks (and wasn't able to finish it all). I'd try it a couple times beforehand, to get the hang of it, but it'd be relatively inexpensive, super quick to heat up, and could be mixed with different sauces if you go with the pasta bar option.
I voted BBQ!!! I'm Italian and I looooooove pasta. LIKE OMG LOVE IT. But there's soemthing so fun about BBQ at a wedding! :D
I love pasta and salads at wedding receptions! It's good comfort food and in all honesty, I don't like when people serve fancy foods at receptions. Give me a good salad and a pasta of some sort and I'm one happy SOB.
If your poll was filet or pasta, I'd still pick pasta! Love it. Just have a few options and make sure it is served hot.
well I am BBQ biased since that is what we are having, but I love the pasta idea, too!!
If you're cooking it yourself, with BBQ you can do a little more prep work whereas with the pasta you may be cooking a lot of it down to the wire and out on the tables. Just something to consider!
I voted BBQ but provided you select/marinate/prepare the meat - which can be too much if you have limited people who can help you with that...
At a Saturday night wedding, people will be expecting dinner. I'd go with pasta/salad/garlic bread - filling and delicious!
I *love* the pasta bar idea! If I were a guest, I'd be in heaven, and I would not think you are cheap. :)
I don't think it's a faux pas to serve anything (edible) at a wedding. Good food is good food!
My mom and I made all to food for my wedding...we had a taco bar. I made carnitas and ground beef, homemade fresh salsas and, keeping it class, queso. I bought most of the food at Sam's and spent around $600 for 100 people, but could have easily spent less.
Personally, I would prefer pasta or bbq to finger foods.
Thank you all for the response!
My FH and I have decided to do a pasta buffet with lasagna, fettuccini, angel hair, and 2 kinds of ravioli. We are also planning to have marinara, Alfredo, and vodka sauces along with salad and garlic bread.
Hopefully, this will please our guests! :)
Our venue is doing our catering but the only "affordable" option was the pasta station its $7.50 per pseron and they get to choose between 2 options, and it comes with a ceaser salad and garlic bread. Im excited about it, and it is under $400 for our 60 personn wedding!
I think a good idea would be chicken broccoli and ziti. It can be considered fancy and you can really stretch it out by cutting the chicken up smaller and adding more broccoli. Plus it can be made a few days ahead of time and still be delicious
I don't know (or care) what's "faux pas" at a wedding and what isn't. It's YOUR DAY, your money, your party. We're also paying for the wedding on our own and having a low budget awesome-fest. (To me, $4500 is an unimaginable budget. Ours will be under $1000.) Yeah, it's a pretty unconvential, funky wedding, and both of us have been married before (although I never actually had a wedding, so this is special to me). Anyway, what I wanted to say was, I voted for BBQ, but I'd be totally fine with any of the options you proposed in your poll. (I'm a southerner, so BBQ is common and yummy around here!) You wanna know my low-budget menu? Pizza. Yep, we're serving pizza (prob from Pizza Hut) for a number of reasons. A big factor IS cost, the other main reason is that about 1/3 of the guests at our wedding of about 100 will be under the age of 10. We're also doing a salad, rainbow fruit skewers, nachos and cheese, and cookies. The reaction from anyone (invited or not) that I've mentioned it to has been, "Hell yeah! Best wedding food ever! I hate sit down dinners/crappy buffet food." Bottom line, serve what you like, what YOU'RE comfortable with, both as a dish and budget-wise, and if they don't like it, screw 'em. ;)
I voted BBQ! I love BBQ in any capacity. That includes hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. I feel like everything tastes better if you throw it on a grill.
I don't like pasta that much. I find it boring most of the time. I don't know, I've just never been a fan unless it's pesto. Maybe it's one too many weeknight meals with marinara sauce. That being said, I'm in the minority with the psata thing.
@VideoGamer: I love your choices and I think it will be fantastic, can't go wrong with pasta!
I love both pasta and BBQ, but my favourite is BBQ, it's so much fun. We normally have a couple of BBQ get togethers with friends every summer, and I always just have burgers/sausages with buns and a pasta side with some salad (normally a plain leaf one and a potato one). It's nice and cheap enough, but I suppose it depends on how many people you have...
We are having a backyard ceremony/ reception and are planning on serving 3 types of pasta dishes as well. It is less than half the cost of any other meal available. So in order to be able to provide a meal for everyone; that's what we are going with. I hope our guests won't find it faux pas!
We are also in the same situation with the tight budget of $4500 for 100 guests. We have decided that we are going to make all of our own food (luckily we have alot of family that is willing to help with preparation!) Our menu consists of Beef on Weck (we are from Western New York so this is a staple!!!), pasta salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans, and a few fruit & veggie trays! I don't see anyone complaining about whats served as long as it tastes good!!! My budget breaker right now is a DJ which we are going back and forth on.
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Some background on our wedding: My FH and I are basically paying for the wedding ourselves. My parents are not financially or physically able to help out much. So we are doing an almost totally DIY and small budget wedding. I'm talking a $4500 budget.
We do have 100 guests because my FH and I both have HUGE families. And to be totally honest, I only have $400 budgeted for the reception food so I am planning to go to Sam's to get food in bulk. We have chafing dishes left over from my sister's wedding.
My question is, is it a faux pas to serve lasagna or ravioli at a wedding reception? Or should I stick to a finger food type reception?