Weddingbee boards

So we recently switched to a new venue for our wedding/reception, a local parks building, in part to have a little more control over the costs and in part to be a little more creative with the food.

The boy's ideal reception involves street carts serving dinner (we live in an area where these are very popular right now, so there are a lot of choices). I don't want to do just this since it would make for a pretty quick reception once people had tried each thing, but it seems like it would be a fun way to mix things up a bit if we paired it with a cocktail hour with more traditional passed and table appetizers, followed by street carts featuring local food, followed by coffee and dessert. (The venue has a large patio that we are permitted to use for this, so there's plenty of space.) The plan was always to do a casual cocktail-style reception with a buffet, so that doesn't change. There is also a major plus: we are on a tight budget, and the proposals for doing the main dishes with the street carts are about a third of the initial catering proposals we got for this portion of the meal.

The catch? The parks department has a preferred catering list, so our primary contract needs to be with one of these caterers. They have okayed our unusual plan provided we get one of the preferred caterers to agree to it and to be on site throughout the event. (Their main concern is that the caterers they've trained be the ones who are opening, setting up, and closing the facility.) So we would be asking the primary caterer to prepare and serve appetizers, bartend throughout the evening, and prepare and serve dessert and coffee, plus do the setup and breakdown and handle any associated rentals of glassware, dishes, or the like.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever mixed-and-matched caterers like this or has suggestions on how to handle this unusual setup as we request catering proposals. Obviously we need to be very upfront about it, and I'm fully prepared for some of the caterers to turn us down, especially if they only do one event a day. Just not sure whether to explain all of this right off the bat, or instead specify what we do want their proposal to include and what our budget for that part is, and then have the longer conversation later in person with the caterers we're most interested in. (I'm worried about wasting their time if they know they won't do something like this---but I also suspect it will be much easier to "sell" the idea in person.) We will hold the insurance for the event regardless (standard for the venue) and the street carts are licensed/insured just as if they were restaurants (some actually are), so I don't think there's a liability concern for the primary caterer---just a loss of the business that they would otherwise have gotten for the additional food. 

Any ideas on good approaches? Is this totally nuts? Thanks!

I don't know about the logistics of the caterers, but I just want to say that we are strongly considering doing something similar.  After our JP ceremony last year (which we did early for immigration purposes) we had a small party and had the creme brulee cart come.  It was a huge hit.  I think it would work really well for a larger party. 

That's such a cool idea! I haven't seen anyone in my area do that before! I wouldn't even know where to start - my in-laws are hand-making our food! Good luck though!

@historienne---We actually considered the Creme Brulee Man too! :) Decided in the end to go the ice cream/cupcake route for dessert, though we may still ask one of the local spots to bring it in a cart. (Fortunately it is normal at this venue to outsource dessert and sometimes coffee too, so we're on solid ground in that arena at least....)

No insight on working it out with the primary caterer but just wanted to say I love the idea.  I have been to a rehearsal dinner like this (although all the food stands were by one company) and it was a great way to get people mingling and it was fun to sample all the different items. 

so much good ice cream in the area!  if we don't end up in the city (we are torn between weekend o'camping and super-urban event space) we are at least going to have an ice cream sunday bar with our favorites from each of the ice cream spots in our neighborhood.  mmmm, salted caramel!  mmmm, olive oil!

if you feel comfortable posting the info, i would also be interested in which vendors you end up going with.  i've got my eye on some favorites, but more options are always better!

We actually had the same debate (between heading up north/camping sort of event and a more urban event). Ended up with a little of both---doing it in our city (which was important to me, since we get to bring people from our lives together in a place that's important to us) but in a regional park space that's a little more serene. We started off planning to do it at a favorite restaurant, but it just got too expensive (although in the abstract, it was a much better deal dollar-for-dollar---we just decided we couldn't justify spending quite that much).

Our event is still a ways off, but as we figure out vendors I'm happy to share. I know on the ice cream front, the boy is already eyeing the salted caramel and roasted banana in particular, assuming we can work out the logistics of getting it to the East Bay. ;) (If not there are two popular spots near us that each have their own carts, which is fun too.)

I can't be of much help, but I absolutely adore this idea! I hope it all works out!