Catering Woes

Hard for anyone to predict without knowing location, guest list size, etc. Generally, "heavy apps" are more expensive than a traditional buffet or plated meal.

Just to put it in perspective, I don't think your budget will work. We got quotes for 80 people, for buffet meal with cocktail hour, bartender, linens, everything. That quote was around 7k. Another food only quote was about 4k? I've been browsing menus a lot, and I agree that heavy appetizers are not much cheaper

I'm paying $1600 for 60 guests (not including drinks) . Heavy apps were much cheaper to go with for me, and I could give the guests more options. The general rule is to budget 3 or more heavy apps per guest. I'm offering bacon burger sliders, chicken tacos, carnitas mac and cheese, potato skins, Caesar salad, and roasted brussel sprouts. So I've budget for each guest to have multiple of each main dish.

And I'm getting married in March, also

In my opinion, yes. That is an EXTREMELY low budget. Typically heavy appetizer/station catering cost more than a traditional meal if you get enough for people to actually be full. If you are having a semi-formal/formal wedding and want nicer dishes, I'd plan on no less than $6,000 depending on your area but probably more like $10,000.

Your proposed budget only allows for $15-20 pp, and if you back out standard taxes and service charges from that, you're probably talking about $11-16 pp for food and a beverage. That is not very much, in relation to standard wedding catering. I agree with others that your budget is probably unrealistically low (unless you live in an extremely low cost area). I'd guess you could have a cake & punch (non-meal time) reception that fits within that budget. I don't know where you are located, but just the reception related costs (venue, food, beverage, etc.) for daughter's 100 guest wedding were about $20,000. Yes, we are in a relatively high cost area, but that price was pretty consistent across 10 venues.

Not sure where you live but I live in a relatively low cost of living area and I went with bbq buffet which is extremely cost effective and I still paid ~$3500 for 70 people. Heavy apps and carving stations are typically equally priced or slightly more expensive than traditional meals because of the extra staffing and handling involved so I would probably expect to triple your above budget unfortunately.

That is definitely too low of a budget for 100 people especially if you plan on serving alcohol. To put it in perspective we paid $7,000 for 90 people. We would have paid more if we didn't go with buffet style. For all of the food you want even just as appetizers you would need to reevaluate your food and drink budget.

Thanks everyone! Our catering budget does not include alcohol since we can BYO at the venue- we are buying wholesale keg beer and crates of wine/champagne.