Can't Afford A Cater!! Wedding In Six Days

Honestly, if you're buying all the food and have your own servers then you're really paying $1200 for someone to cook your food. I think that's ridiculous. I would gather my closest friends and family and ask them to help with the food prep.

The ceremony is at a good time so they can do it in the morning. They can prepare most things the night before and just cook it in the morning. I think it's totally doable and you'd save a lot of money. I wouldn't shrink the menu. Just have each person make a plate.

Wish you the best.

I would look at ur catering agreement and see what penalties u face if u back out completely & get food elsewhere. If u lose a deposit or more then I'd talk to the caterer, tell him u has a family problem & only have $600 available right now and ask if he can do something for $600 instead or if he would mind a payment plan for the balance. I think this close to the wedding her rather make some money it even money now & more money later than make nothing.

If you can get out of ur catering contract with no issues then look for local places that serve what you like and ask them about a catering option. If it isn't a chain they'll be super happy to help work with you if given enough advance notice. I know some places that don't deliver but will deliver if it's a big enough order. I would call around now to find out who can offer what. The plus on this route is you don't have to buy the ingredients. You could feed an army with some of the catering orders FH & I have done for $400 or so (lasagna, chicken parm, baked ziti, hoagie trays, salad trays, paninis etc). Also if it is small family owned & a place u already go to they might cut u a deal.

Good luck & don't worry it'll all work out.

To be honest at this point, I would just call in a large order to a restaurant like Olive Garden or Sweet Tomatoes. Pasta goes a long way! How many are coming to your wedding?

I"m sorry. What a bummer. I am having friends and the ladies of the church do my food. We are doing appetizers and desserts. No hot food.

Hope you work something out.

What NG said......

But if you have a contract with them it will have to be paid either way.

Put it on a credit card and pay it off immediately with your cash gifts.

If you have good credit, try opening a credit card that has a 0% introductory rate for 6 months or a year. I know Wells Fargo offers a credit line for a year with 0% interest. Do that & then pay it off asap.

I agree with the pasta and is the 1200 PLUS the cost of food that you are buying? If you are buying it the amount should be FAR less that's too much!!! Thats what people pay for someone to buy the food AND cook it! I know for us there is a genghis Grill near by they just started doing catering they quoted us 525 for 75 guests and it came with a ton of food. (Mongolian if you have never heard of them.) Anyways there are options out there.

I wouldn't recommend you take a loan. I would do finger foods that you can prepare yourself. Go to a wholesale grocer, and pick up stuff like Lil' Smokies, Drummets to make a variety of wings(Garlic Parm, Hot Wings, Buffalo, Reg. Fried etc.) of course your Meat & Cheeses trays, and whatever else that would fit your budget. Everyone would still have fun. This is just an idea.

I almost did the spaghetti factory. I decided to cater it myself and buy my food at Costco. You could look into doing either. If you are near spaghetti factory, it's about $600 for 40-60 people.

Before we figured out my catering situtation we we're going to have each family member bring a dish. (I have a pretty big family) but they were all willing to help anyway! I had a cousin do this as well & it turned out perfect as long as you have places to keep everything warm. I know it would be short notice for your family but its an option.

Credit Card?

We decided to let popeys to cater iur wedding. They are charging ous 250.00 its alot of chicken and biscuits and 7 sides. I thought it would be higher but wr can afford that. We wasnt on any contract with the cather. I like all yalls idea. Thank you somuch for the advice. I will let yall know how it goes.

Soon To Be Mrs. Dunn, I'm glad that you guys were able to think fast and arrange getting the food together for your guests. It still sucks though that #1 your mom didn't come through with the money as promised and #2 that your caterer would even charge you $1500 to cook when you're already providing the food. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I pray everything else comes together.