bbq + white wedding dress = recipe for disaster???

Is there a way to do BBQ but like...classier? Like, not having finger food style food. Personally, unless it was a very casual backyard-style wedding, as a guest, I would probably be a little thrown off if I was served a plate of ribs or chicken wings and had to eat with my hands when wearing a nice cocktail dress. Like, can you have a chicken breast glazed with a BBQ sauce or something like that where it's still the BBQ flavors but knife and fork friendly?

View Quoted Comment

The venue is kind of rustic (historic firehouse) so I do think BBQ would make sense there - and I do think it is knife and fork friendly (we definitely get silverware). The package includes wings (dry rub) mini "ribbies" (not sure what that is) pulled pork and brioche buns, haystack onions (onion rings) corn on the cob, mac and cheese, beans, and what I think is cole slaw. It reads "rustic chic" to me - not the vibe I was going for necessarily, but I'm not mad at it. (Firehouse is a big selling point for fiance)

Our other options are basically breakfast foods (but we're probably not having a morning/brunch wedding, so it doesn't make much sense) or tacos (I don't want tacos) or some sandwich/salad/chip combo thing that comes with cookies and brownies that reads very "corporate lunch" to me. There was another option that was like "pick three appetizers" type thing which we could go for (was more expensive than the BBQ package)

There are options for custom catering but I don't even know where to begin with that. We were just going to do Noodles and Co. before we were looking at a venue that didn't let you bring your own food and I liked the Italian direction but this caterer's Italian options are too rich for our budget. I have considered telling her "this is our per person budget - what can you do for $X per person?" - but we just talked to this vendor today so...I dunno.

View Quoted Comment My cousin had a rustic wedding, and served BBQ. Each seating had a BBQ “kit” with a bib, silverware, and some sauce to take home. It was really cute, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food.


She also made sure there was enough non-meat side dishes, so us vegetarians had plenty to eat too

I am 110% going to wear a bib. "I paid too much to ruin this dress" have the caterers set some side for you that's not so saucy and messy that you can eat with a fork.

I have a pure white dress, Ryan and I WANTED smokey bones bbq to cater our food but they were too pricey (over $1,000 more than we wanted to pay) so we went a different direction sadly (no bbq just marinated chicken, mac and cheese and salad and baked beans and rolls)

View Quoted Comment I would go for the BBQ tasting and see how it goes. As long as it's knife and fork friendly, it should be OK. I was just imagining being served a large plate of saucy ribs and going "oh no" because I too always end up with food on my clothes. I don't even own a white shirt lol.

We are having bbq but will be doing not so much finger foods, the only thing would be the pulled pork sandwiches but with our venue being on our cattle ranch, we couldn’t see doing any other type of food. I am a SUPER messy eater and will be in a ballgown. So my plan is to try my best to eat bbq like you would on a first date! Does that make sense?? I definitely will be leaning way over the table so that way if I drop anything it will be on the plate and not on my dress and take small bites and have plenty napkins. Also I would totally not be ashamed to put a napkin on like a bib and over my lap too. Good luck!!

That is my fear and we want bbq. I was thinking if we did just have light sauce on my plate.

Didn't have bbq BUT i am on that same boat about being really a messy eater.

i definitely layered a napkin on my dress just in case. I STILL SPILLED A DRINK ON MYSELF THOUGH LOL. but whatever that weirdly slid off instead of stained

I don't love when weddings have messy or finger food food (even if tasty) but I have been to a wedding with BBQ (and one with build your own tacos, which seems like an accident waiting to happen) and the brides stayed stain free all night. I also went to a wedding with lobster and wore a bib and it was no big deal.

I say layer a napkin on your lap and wear a bib. No one is paying a ton of attention to you and taking photos while you are eating anyway.

Sounds delicious! I also vote for fork & knife foods: BBQ chicken, steak, the pulled pork is great too because it could be eaten with a fork or a bun. I looove wings & ribs but as a guest or bride I’d skip at a wedding. The sides are great (I’d do corn kernels instead of corn on the cob).

I’m doing bbq at my wedding and now that you said something about an apron I might actually get one for myself! I’m also a messy person and I think people will love the fact that I’ll wear an apron! They know you don’t wanna get anything on your dress and there’s no harm in it! Laugh about it! Thanks for this idea!

If I had thought of wearing an apron, I totally would’ve done that at my wedding. Like you, I tend to spill on myself every time I wear something white and it just so happens that I love red wine and red dishes! We actually bought a special bottle of Chardonnay for me so that I would drink white wine at the wedding and not risk spilling it on myself :-)


I’ll bet you can find a really classy and pretty white apron so that it’s not obvious that that is what you are wearing. Just make sure to take it off before you get up from the table! Knowing me, I would leave I it on and walked around reception with it until somebody caught me.
I am a fellow klutz, it blows my husbands mind that I run into things when I have a clear path around it.

Oh man, I totally get that fear! We aren't doing BBQ, but we do have a couple of things with sauce that I'm fairly certain I'll accidentally drop on my dress at some point. I'll be honest, if we were doing something with the potential for a massive mess, I would legitimately cut holes in a trash bag and wear that while eating. I have no shame in that, and would definitely rather look ridiculous while eating than ruin a dress with sauce. I like PPs ideas of a nice apron, and definitely think your idea of going to the tasting in a white shirt is a solid plan!

If you search "wedding bib" on etsy or "I do BBQ bib" on etsy, there are awesome, hilarious bibs. I would rather have a few funny pics of me wearing a bib stuffing my face with bbq than to skimp on sauce, not get what I want, or to get something on my dress! An apron is also an awesome idea and I bet you could customize to say whatever you want or make it look however you want!