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We hit a huge deal with this area. For $34.50/person we're doing a cocktail hour with simple fruits, crackers, veggies, and cheeses plus dinner which includes a carving station with roast beef and mushroom gravy, chicken marsala, and lasagna (this we're doing ourselves ahead of time), salad, rolls, steamed asparagus, garlic and chive mashed potatoes, and mixed steamed seasonal veggies. We're doing buffet style. Our wedding is very casual so our food is not fancy by any means. We wanted food that was our personal favorites and would leave everyone full and jolly! We're planning on doing an open bar and champaign toast but have no set cost on this yet. Our venue allows for us to purchase all of our alcohol and hire a bartender. This will likely lead to less options for our guests but lower our costs a bit.
@ValerieJene1022: That sounds great! I feel you on the full and jolly. As great as it sounds to have fancy food and all that jazz, some of these catering companies put like a sliver of meat and two carrots and asparagus on these plates and call it fancy. It annoys me. I've literally eaten wedding food in like 5 bites before. It might be my voracious and greedy appetite, tho, haha.
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/would-this-fill-you-up
This is from a year ago and since I'm too lazy to rewrite it, here's the link. I listed what we served (#22) on the thread. We paid $70.pp and had plenty, so if you're finding those prices in your area I'd jump on them!
@smyley: Wow! that's what im talking about! I guess im gonna have to pony up the dough.
Our food is from our reception hall and is about 62pp (including tax). I wish I could do it for $30. Have you considered having a grocery store cater it? Like safeway or wegmans? I would loooove to have had wegmans cater our wedding actually. I'm originally from upstate NY and its kinda like going home every time I go into a store. I read about a bride in on of the 'real life' series here on weddingbee that had wegmans cater her wedding- I was jealous :)
@Aubergold: If I remember, you are doing your wedding at a church hall right? Can you bring in any caterer. You should totally be able to have Mex, Italian, Chinese, Supermarket, Sam's club or a mixture of all of these at your wedding for fairly cheap.
@heather25: Yep we can bring in any caterer, which is nice. I was hoping for a caterer which is all inclusive (linens, glass ware, dinnerware, etc) and was fine paying over 100pp when our guest list was 150 but then in laws got a hold of it and said "150 is too small, 250 is better". Im like how are we gonna feed all these people without it being pizza!
@Aubergold: LOL Gourmet pizza. JK even though it is a valid idea.
OK, my thoughts: Catering all cold hor'douvres yourself. Pre-wash and cut all veggies, cheese, etc. or buy it at Costco. Hire a few needy restaurant serving teens to tend to that stuff. Hiring a local restaurant to do a hot stuff buffet style dinner (which your Olive Garden recruits can manage to serve). Hire a local bartender to serve your alcohol (small fee and tip jar). I have seen people do BBQ for $10 bucks a person. You could certainly serve Italian, Indian, or a number of foods for that price too.
As for linens, what are you working with? How do your room and tables look. If they can go uncovered yay. If not, what is the theme/colors of your wedding. Shop the Christmas sales for cheappppp tablecloths and chair covers. I was in Walmart 4 days ago and they had platinum rimmed dishware on super sale. I am talking about 12 dinner plates for $9. Flatware can be purchased on the cheap at any number of stores like Homegoods or National Wholesale Liquidators.
Rentals can be expensive and I cannot imagine paying $1 for a fork I have to return. If you want basic serviceware, I would just buy it. Then you can resell it and recoup some money or you can donate it and get a tax deduction.
My one caveat to this whole Quasi-DIY is that you have to have sufficient help. I would never suggest that a bride cater her wedding if that means cooking in her dress or cleaning up. Get people who are looking for extra work (and who are experienced and responsible) to help you.
@heather25: thank you! you are too sweet! I will definitely consider that; I never thought about buying utensils. And the whole room will need to be covered. Sigh, this wedding is gonna be some work! Better be worth it. I have a ~33k budget and I still feel like Im scrimping on everything.
We paid like 26 bucks a person for salad, rolls, prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken parm and a dessert bar. The food was amazing! We added a fruit and cheese spread and passed a few appitizers around via buffet service.
Ours is coming to around $24 per person, right now. Tentatively on the menu: cheese and spreads (6 different spreads) and crackers. We'd like to have shrimp, but it's pretty expensive, so one of the spreads will be a shrimp spread (my point is compromising). Hand carved ham and turkey, romaine and brocolli salad with red wine vinagrette, a potato bar (sweet and white) crossaints/rolls, sweet tea fountain and a chocolate fountain (fondue or whatever you wanna call it, lol) with fruits and other goodies :) It's certainly nothing extravagant but it suits us just fine! It's not final yet, but you get the idea. My reception is at a vineyard, so the wine and beer are not included in that price, as it is paid for with the venue rental.
Since you're in DC, and are trying to keep to a budget on food, I'd totally recommend trying to work with a restaurant as opposed to a "wedding caterer". When I wasn't sure where our wedding was I looked into Rocklands BBQ - their food is seriously good and they have lots of different catering options based on how much or how little service you want to come with it.
Just a tip but if you are trying to fill people up for less, make sure the appetizers and food you go for are filling. Pasta dishes are inexpensive for cocktail hour and filling as are mashed potatoes as a side dish.
We're paying about $22 pp. They are getting a cocktail hour with appetizers. Dinner will include a salad, tri-tip and chicken, roasted red potatoes, green beans and rolls. Our caterer also includes drinks- water, tea, coffee, etc.
Shaved Roast Beef w/Au Jus sauce
Fried Chicken Drummettes
Oven Baked macaroni & cheese
Garden Salads w/ Thousand Island, Ranch,French, Italian dressings
Dinner Rolls
Seasoned String Beans w/potatoes
Chicken Rice Prioleau
Shrimp Prioleau Rice
Kernel Corn
Fruit Display
Fresh Brewed Ice Tea (Sweet and Unsweetened) Lemonade & Water
This is costing us around $28 per person. We are doing a buffet but the catering company will be setting up the buffet, serving guests, and breaking it down once the reception is over. They also work with a mobile bar service (we are having a tent reception) but I haven't received that final estimate yet. This is in Charleston, SC.
@Aubergold: Ours was about 21.00 per person. We had four different kinds of salads, chicken, salmon, buns, veggies, potatoes etc. that also included bottomless punch and coffee/tea service!!1 yum yum! OH and pavlova with fresh fruit for dessert and a fresh fruit platter for later in the evening!
dinner.jpg (67.9 KB, 23 downloads) 1 year old
Goodness you guys are seriously awesome. SERIOUSLY.
@gcwest: thanks for the restaurant tip! That is great!
@Treasure43: that sounds yum!
@Sundrop: I feel you. for me it doesn't have to be extravagant (well, no pizza or like chips or something) but plentiful!! I dont want to pay 50/ person for some frou frou 3 inch piece of steak au poivre on my plate
@bride2beIn2012: yes starches (and alcohol, haha)
@Running Elley: sounds yum!
@JamaicaBride: Im jealous!
@Baileyh: see that's what I'm talking about! a nice and full plate!
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So after the photographer and alcohol, food is the most important thing to FI and I. But it seems like all the food we like is like $75-80pp just for the food. I guess it's cause we want a few passes apps, a few (a lot) of stationary apps, a salad, at least 2 entrees, as many sides as possible, a pasta, champagne toast. Basically we want a lot of food and it is killing us budget wise.
I see a lot of brides with food around $30pp or less and was wondering what your menu was. I don't want to waste a whole bunch of money if it's unnecessary, but I also know that every single wedding I've been to I was starving (and agitated as a result) and I don't want my guests grumpy cause they didn't have enough food. A lot of FI's college football friends are invited and lord knows those little appetizers cheese in a blanket thingys wont do the trick for them.