Catering issue

And I haven't met 3/4 of FH's family, nor has he met a lot of mine.

I know that even if we start the reception at 2pm, people aren't going to be ready to leave before dinner time. It's really going to turn into a huge family reunion and we love the idea of that. (we want to spend as much time with them as possible since they'll be traveling so far)

HERE'S MY QUESTION: what would you do in this situation? would you:

1-cater yourself

2-limit the reception hours so it is over before dinner

3-see if a restaurant in the nearest city (again, 2 hours away) can cater

4-change venue

5-see if there's any local people who offer catering (like a food truck)

I would look into a food truck or I would find a different venue. Self catering is really not a good idea, and if the venue won't let you use their restaurant or their kitchen area it doesn't sound like the perfect venue.

I would do everything you can to try to find a caterer who will come to you, Im sure if you contact places you will find someone.

Whatever you do, do NOT self-cater.

Yes food truck is a great idea if there's more than one (since they take forever). If I were you, my second option would be to change the venue altogether if possible. That dilema is a prettyyyyyy big deal! I think food and drink are more important than how beautiful the venue may be.

What about coming into the resturant and your guests have a select menu to choose from. Would work for me. I think any resturant knowing they are going to have X amt of people for a sit down dinner would work with you on that.

I'd go with option 4 or 5. Self catering is NEVER a good idea and there is never a good excuse for doing so.

How do they expect people to hold events there if you they don't cater and don't have at least a prep area? New Venue.

We are getting married on a farm and we found a caterer who has his own catering truck equipped with everything he needs from ovens, stoves, etc. You can find a caterer that offers something similar just have to do some research. Food trucks are always a neat idea too!

CHANGE VENUE. Easily.

The venue is the least of your concerns. No matter how nice the venue is, if the food is bad, no food, or no A/C etc, it's a deal breaker.

2 hours isn't that far for a professional catering company. That's why they are professionals. They have equipment to prep food off site, and then properly store it, transport it, and then heat it when they get to your location.

It would be harder for you to self cater to keep the food at a proper temp since you have no access to the kitchen. Self catering is always a bad idea, but in this case its even worse, because you won't even have a kitchen to cook in.

Option 1 is 100% not an option.

my pick is Option 3,5,2, then 4. 1 is not an option.

Many caterers have a truck and they come on site. I am only about an hour and a half from the place that is doing my wedding and the event home has a huge kitchen but they insist on using the truck.

Option4 or 5. They don't sound like a professional venue. Have you asked what other weddings have done?

My venue doesn't allow cooking onsite either.

My caterer is cooking onsite, they will arrive before the guests to start cooking, and by dinner time, the food will be finished. They have a portable gas and pan thingy to cook the food.

There are other options, you need to keep looking.

I did a quick search and found this company. They have all kids of prices on line too. would they be close?

http://utahcelebrationscatering.com/menus/hors-doeuvres.shtml

What have other events done in the past? This sounds extremely odd, the venue should at least provide a bit of insight. I would honestly change venues.

I have seen catering businesses that have a truck and equipment to cook and store food properly on site. Keep looking and make a lot of phone calls

Or as PP stated... get a new venue

(I have to get back to work so I might not respond right away after this comment.)

Let me preface this by saying that this is my first experience with anything involving catering. I've never been to an event that has been catered before so I don't know any of the ins and outs about it. I love supporting local businesses and would absolutely prefer to do that, but I wanted to see what all the options are. I didn't know if using small time businesses was also frowned upon even if they had their own way of heating and preparing everything.

The venue is perfect EXCEPT for this issue. This is the one and only thing that scares me about booking it (they don't allow bookings until June) We did not know it didn't cater until recently. They used to offer catering but had stopped offering it after I initially inquired about it. That's why I'm here asking about options to see if we should even try to stay at this venue. When I first called the venue to find out more about them, they stated that they did catering and also allowed outside catering. I sent her an email a couple days ago asking about their catering options and got a response last night that they can no longer offer catering but they still allow outside catering.

I do not want to DIY cater. Too much stress and too many risks...which is why I'm asking this question and why I'm willing to face the wrath of WW members. I would rather change venues than DIY cater but I wanted to explore ALL options before changing venues and figured y'all would have ideas that I didn't think of.

Felicia- My family is renting out all the cabins in the area and a couple of the cabins have professional grade kitchens which is what another family member suggested to prepare everything...but that thought absolutely scares me. So many things can go wrong! In my eyes, it's not an option.

FB99 - I never thought about asking them. I'll definitely give them a call on my break and see if they have any recommendations.

Melissa - there are a number of local small communities nearby. I know that there's a steakhouse, Wingers and Pizzahut in one of the local towns and I think there's a couple of Mexican restaurants and a pizza place in another (holy crap, I forgot about the Mexican restaurant until just now...I think they might do catering!) The venue is near the town I grew up in, and I'm planning on going down again in a couple weekends to look around and see what all is there and who does catering.

Svetlana- I love love love that idea! I'll have to see if that's even an option, because if it is, that's bloody brilliant!

MNBride- it's an old lodge that has a huge ballroom/reception hall in it. It's mainly used for local church dances and family reunions but they do offer it out for weddings.

Kristin- they would be about 3 hours away from me, but they might be an option, thank you! I'm going to look more into them to see if it would work!

catlady5x- I just found out that they no longer offer catering last night so I'm kinda in a panic mode. I'm going to have to do more research and see if I can find any local catering companies. So far the only things I've found have been restaurants that cater.

What do other people do there? Two hours isn't that far for a pro caterer.

I'd change the venue.

Do not cater it yourself, ESPECIALLY without a kitchen.

I don't know how formal you'd like it to be, but you can find a BBQ caterer that will bring in a big grill/smoker and cook everything outside on that. That's what I'm doing. If you haven't booked yet I'd also look at other venues if you're getting stressed. All inclusive venues are usually the easiest because there's fewer moving pieces and surprises, but it is possible to bring your own caterer to an event and have it be great.

We're in a venue without a kitchen (old hangar) and found quite a few caterers with options. Some prepared some things in their own kitchens and were close enough to deliver food in containers that keep food hot, some prepared some in their kitchen and then prepared other items on their own food trucks, and others were entirely cooked on food trucks. We found event caterers and restaurants with options.