Tips for Catering your Reception on a Budget
Usually one of the biggest parts of a wedding is the reception after the ceremony. It is customarily where the speeches take place, the dancing, and of course the eating! The spread of food at weddings range from small finger foods to elaborate four or five course meals prepared by famous chefs.
Determining how and who will cater your wedding is a daunting task for even the most food and budget savvy individual. There are some tips below that will help you out if you are looking to cater your reception on a budget because more money saved on the reception means more money for the honeymoon.
Make sure to use this list as a starting point. Always do research and ask around on how other individuals have had a budget-friendly wedding reception not catered byMcDonald'sor theWal-Martbakery. Perhaps the list below will joggle something in your mind and you will be able to find better ways to have a budget-friendly, catered event. Just use the list for what it is: a tool.
Tip #1: Canvas Family and Friends
Most likely you will be inviting family and close friends to your wedding; unless of course you are just having a small wedding or don't have any friends or family; which in that case this tip isn't for you. If you do have friends and/or family and don't feel humiliated by asking this; ask someone in the family or a close friend to pay for catering the wedding as their gift to you. If you are having a large wedding, or want a more expensive caterer, ask multiple family members and friends to pitch in. Of course this will lessen the amount of gifts you have to unwrap but it will ensure you have food at your reception!
Another way to utilize your family and friends is to sift through them and find the ones you know how to cook the type of food you want and see if they will pitch in and help you out. If anything this will provide a more personal feel to your wedding and everyone always says that food tastes better when it's made with love! Of course if they don't want to do it for free, you could offer to pay them and more often than not the cost to you will be far less than that local catering service.
Tip #2: Look at Local Restaurants
Many people who look to catering their reception immediately go to theYellow PagesorGoogleand search for catering services in their area. Unfortunately catering services are generally more expensive then looking at the restaurants you frequent on a regular basis.
Most restaurants likeOlive Garden,T.G.I. Friday's,Chili's, and even local restaurants have catering specials that will fit perfectly well for a wedding reception. If the party is small enough the reception can even happen at the local restaurant; which saves you from clean-up as well!
Even if you don't want to have to worry about paying for the crew that goes with the food from local restaraunts, you can actually just have some family members or friends go to the restaraunts and pick up the food for way. If you want to take it even one more step further, you can just have the reception at the restaraunt and get the food and venue for one package price.
Tip #3: ThinkSam's Club
Now this tip isn't meant for you to actually go to Sam's Club (which you can do if you want) but it is to get you in the mindset of how you would be when you would shop at Sam's Club. Basically here you are thinking of more quantity then supreme quality. Simply put, you need to think of quality foods that can be prepared well but en mass to help reduce the cost.
The groom might be quick to jump to chicken wings and French fries but these really aren't the traditional reception foods. Think more like pot roast instead of filet mignon and whole roast chicken instead of individual chicken breasts. Of course neither of these foods are customary reception foods either but try to remember that if you think of foods that are cheaper to cook, it will be cheaper for your caterer to prepare them and thus charge you less.
Tip #4: Shop Around
If you insist on going with a caterer or can't find anything else but Tom and Gina's Catering Service, then make sure you do your research. Like any large investment or decision in life, you need to make sure you shop around. Just because your friend said a certain caterer was awesome or that they were horrible; don't rule them in or out just because of their opinion. Everybody has different experiences with caterer's and maybe, just maybe your friend caught the caterer on a bad day.
Shopping around is key in picking the food for your reception. Feel free to tell the caterer's that you are doing that and you might be surprised that a few of them might try to give you a discount or two to entice you into picking them. Think of it like finding your perfect automobile. The food needs to taste right, look right, and most importantly be the right price in order for you to drive off with a caterer in the bag.
Tip #5: Less is Better
Everyone has seen the movies where wedding receptions last nine or ten hours and the food just keeps pouring out onto the plates for every quest; which there happens to be like 500 of them. For the average couple getting married, this just isn't feasible. You need to remember that more isn't necessarily better. People aren't going to the wedding to get gourmet food atGolden Corralportions, but are going to celebrate the union between you and your new spouse.
When it comes to food on the reception remember the mantra that "less is better." Go with two courses instead of four or five. Go with one side and a salad instead of two sides, a salad, and soup. The people are not going to leave your wedding saying, "Geeze. I wish I had more food." If people do say that, then you shouldn't have invited them in the first place.
Tip #6: Finger Foods Over Large Meals
The last tip that can be thrown your way if you are looking to have a wedding reception and are sticking to a close budget, is to go with finger foods instead of the full meal. Finger foods make it easier for everyone to mingle and dance, free money for alcoholic beverages and a better band, and allow people to eat how much they want, when they want to eat it.
Finger foods can range from crackers and cheese to lobster rolls, shrimp cocktails, and mini sandwiches so really you have more options with finger foods then you do with full meals. This way you have a variety of food, its generally quick and easy to make, and more often than not, the cost of these types of food isn't so high; unless of course you pick high-end foods. Just remember that a reception on a budget can happen, you just have to be smart.
