Cheaper to hire a caterer, or provide self prepared food for reception?

I haven't done much research, but we are preparing the food ourselves as well because (we assume!) it's cheaper. Some things to consider though are if you will have to rent serving trays,food warmers, etc., as well as what type of food you are providing (we're doing a lot of pasta, which is inexpensive). A portion of the cost of catering is the people you are paying to do the work, so that by itself leads me to believe it is cheaper.

It is definitely cheaper to buy the food and have family do the preparation. In general, you can assume that the cost of a caterer will be about three times the cost of the food involved.

However, do think through the logistics. You need to make sure there is some way to keep the food from spoiling even before the reception starts. You need a way to keep hot food hot and cold food cold during the serving process. If you are having the food plated, you need someone to do that. If you are having a buffet, you need someone to keep an eye on it and replace dishes when enough of them has been taken so they look unappetizing, if something from one dish gets dropped into another, etc. You need some way to collect dishes and get them washed afterward. And the complications of all of this go up as the size of the party increases. So if you are having a wedding for 250 people, the techniques you use for a family gathering of 50 people just won't work.

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I guess if you're calculating cost in dollars and cents, no, it's not cheaper to have it catered. For my 45 person wedding, it would have cost about $900 for all of the food, and $125 for someone to attend it on our day. And our catering is going to cost $1375. But if you look at the stress, the man hours, and the potential risk, it is worth it, at least in my case. I just went on grocery store websites and found all of the food prices, and added in about $100 for like seasoning and extra stuff. I honestly don't even know if I over or under calculated the food, because it was a bit difficult for me to determine how much was needed to feed everyone. In the end, when I saw that I was only saving a few hundred dollars, I began searching for a caterer. Good luck with this!

Also, will your family members want to miss part of the ceremony, for example, because they are off preparing food for the reception? Even people who are normally willing to help may be less willing under these circumstances.

I'm not saying not to use family members to help, if they are willing. But do think through all the logistics, not just the cost.

We started off with the idea to cater ourselves with help from family... after crunching number it turned out for us to be only $3 more per person to have it at a restaraunt and they would cover all beverage charges... This also frees up my whole family to enjoy the day.... I felt guilty putting them to work and them possibly missing an important moment at our wedding or reception to worry about food and guests.

Katie- the only thing that made me even think about this is exactly what 2d Bride and Candi B are saying.. yeah the cost maybe cheaper but Id have to consider servers, warmers etc and making sure there is enough food etc... I just dont want this as a big piece of stress once that day arrives and my FH wants me to check into says it may be worth to just pay it so we can enjoy the day....But idk I think that will be a task for me over the weeend..Checking pros and cons of both...Thanks Ladies!

I would say depends on what you serve and how much you spend. Honestly that is a lot of stress on you and your family. Is it possible yes but I'm sure not recommended. I know their are some caterers that won't charge you an arm and a leg just do some research and price out how much it would be to hire a caterer. See if it's worth the couple hundred dollars you might spend with the caterers versus mom and aunt and cousins and maybe you cooking the night of and the day of on your wedding day.

I agree jennifer...i guess as the time is getting closer Im becoming more and more obsessed about everything lol..And this is a big one! Thanks

@Future Mrs. Riley I definitely know what you're saying, I've thought about it a lot and even though it would be nice to be catered to, we personally can't afford it. However, it's not like we're going to a fancy event hall and hauling in crock pots, we are having a laid back, at home, backyard reception so for us, it works. So consider your venue, too.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

I would not do it no matter the cost. You can find the caterer that is not going to be significantly more expensive than what you can do yourself. And not having the stress is definitely something to take into account.

Some brides on here have managed to get catering at less than $10 per person. I cannot even have a dinner party at that cost. So it could come up to a couple of hundred $ more than what you can get the food for. That would definitely be worth saving up so that you can truly enjoy your day. How many guests will you have?

I can totally understand! Thanks! @ Katie

We are doing our own catering for our 175 guest wedding, we believe it will be cheaper and we are selecting foods that can be made the night before and if anything heated the day of. Since we have big cooks in our family, heating ware is not uncommon so we have about 6 crock pots, and 3 large warmers to use to keep everything warm. When calculating everything that we wanted and the amount per person we came in around 500.00 for everything for our buffet style dinner.

For preparation we have many family members in the town we are having our wedding in and they all have large kitchens, they are making it the night before and bringing it to the venue. We left about 30 minutes of time in between the Ceremony and Reception for selected people to set up the food before we let people begin to eat.

However we are considering hiring a few individuals to assist us but this should only cost an addition 200.00.

For comparison in price....For us prep- at most 1000.00, for cater at least 2500.

Wow Travis's Girl thats a huge difference!! Are you have lots of pasta? i hear lots of people whom are self-preparing are going with pasta.

Jennifer--I can relate to that as I know how my MIL is she will constantly be at the food area trying to make sure everything is ok and I dont want her to have to worry about things like that.

Mrs S- I plan on have about 100 guest

Actually we are only having two pasta dishes, everything else is salad, rice, chicken, veggies, fruit, rolls, and a few other things.

We are doing mostly Indonesian food, because that's what my FH wanted.

That sounds perfect! Sounds like you have everything under control! @ Travi's Girl

I am also considering doing it ourselves, we are having a very casual wedding and would like to serve cook out style food. (Hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, etc.) Most caterers have been expensive and do not offer the types of food we are looking for. I might look into hiring somebody to cook during the ceremony so none of my family have to worry. I do get the feeling though that some of the guys might not mind manning the grill instead of sitting through a mushy ceremony though, lol! If I am buying all pf the food how much would be fair to pay someone to grill it on site for us?

What's the cheapest thing to cater for your own wedding