Dinner Ideas

Sterno burners under chafing dishes. You can find everything at Target or Walmart

Do you have room in your budget for a caterer or restaurant to handle the hot “main” dishes and then you can supplement with the cold sides? Chaffers and sternos definitely keep things hot for 2-4 hours but then it would require you or someone close to you to still cook the food and get it there. If you have a Gordon Food Service store near you, you could easily buy a bunch of cold appetizers and side dishes to serve such as salad, rolls, fruit, vegetables, cold salads like potato, egg, pasta, or macaroni.


If the hot dishes aren’t in your budget you could look into doing cold sandwich rings or a build-your-own sandwich style bar where you have lots of varieties of breads, meat, cheese, and toppings.

View Quoted Comment Depending on the caterer and venue restrictions, you may not be allowed to supplement anything yourself. Most venues require a licensed caterer which home cooking is not. If you hire a restaurant or caterer, they will have an exclusivity clause in the contract so that they are not held legally accountable if your guests get sick from the supplemental food they did not provide.


On a budget, restaurant drop off is your best bet. It’s dirt cheap and filling while staying within legal requirements.

I highly suggest looking into very low cost catering options. My friend recently had a taco bar, it was a great hit and didn't cost them too much. Even if you provide pizza - I would allow someone else to take care of the keeping warm of food and setup, etc. The potential cons outweigh saving a bit of money.

A food truck could be an option! The generators can be noisy, so take that into consideration for placement.

I would strongly suggest to go the catering route not only for the peace of mind, but to avoid food borne illnesses from not being able to keep food at the proper temperatures, and to gauge portion sizes and transportation logistics.

I agree with others on this thread that you don't have to have the most expensive catering options, but, food is an important detail that people will remember.

Ways to keep costs down catering and food wise can be:

-You can find quality paper or plastic dining plates and utensils. Most people will pay no mind to disposable items so long as the food is good.

-You can opt for a well-known caterer like Chili's, Chipotle, local (but well known) BBQ places or restaurants that use seasonal ingredients.

-Stick to at least two options for dinner: A beef or chicken entree, but having a vegetarian option (other than just salad) for guests who don't eat meat. Chicken will tend to be less expensive, but steak usually wins the crowd. Since you are having a wedding at a barn, fried or baked chicken, steak, and mashed potatoes will go a very long way, and are cost-effective.

-Avoid fish as it tends to be expensive the further inland you go, and if it does have to be shipped, it is typically frozen, then thawed for preparation.

-If you are serving alcohol, you don't have to have the most expensive wine, champagne, or beer, but do invest in quality spirits. For example, it is more apparent if you get a cheap tequila or sub-par whiskey.

-If you are serving hard alcohol, opt for a signature drink or signature drinks and find out how much alcohol is needed in the batches.

Highly recommend a caterer, deli or restaurant. Doing it all yourself is exhausting and involves way more than you anticipate. But if that's the only option. I d get nice wraps and heros, a bunch of different salad, ie Mac salad, potato salad, bean salads, green salad, shrimp cocktail rings, focacia breads, charcuterie boards,fried chicken isn't the worst if its cold, lemon grilled chicken fruit salad, tomato and mozzarella skewers, gazpacho soup. I d think like nice picnic) summer BBQ party vibes for the food . Happy planning!

I went to a wedding like this and they served barbecue foods. From what I remember it was grilled chicken, mac and cheese, green beans, and other foods like that. The bride and the groom actually went to culinary school so they made the food and brought it to the venue. Get food heater trays. Some work with actual flames and there are some that are electric if you have access to outlets.