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Dedicated May 2019

diy Buffet

Candace , on April 18, 2018 at 9:38 AM Posted in Wedding Reception 0 28
Do y’all have any tips on a DIY buffet? We wanted to get our reception catered but sadly that won’t work within our budget. I was thinking of doing a buffet but I wouldn’t know where to start! Has anyone done this or been to a wedding that has?

28 Comments

Latest activity by AJ, on April 18, 2018 at 6:09 PM
  • Jessica
    Super May 2019
    Jessica ·
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    Not to be a downer, but this is not a good idea. Just think through the logistics first of all. Who's cooking? Where are you keeping it warm? Who's setting it up? During cocktail hour while your family should be with you taking pictures? Is your family working during your wedding? You have a TON of things to stress about the day of your wedding. Cooking for everyone should not be one of them. Do you have any restaurants you and FH like that would cater cheaper than an actual caterer? BBQ and Italian are typically more cost effective options. Can you cut your guest list to be able to better afford a decent meal for your guests?


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  • Yoomie
    VIP October 2018
    Yoomie ·
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    You're not going to get much support for self catering on this forum because of food poisoning concerns and making your friends/family/guests work at an event your hosting. If there's a money concern regarding getting a licensed cater, cut your guest list so you can afford to properly host.
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  • Munchkin9218
    Master September 2018
    Munchkin9218 ·
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    Food and venue should have been the first two things you budgeted for. DIYing food is extremely hard - especially for a big wedding. I would suggest looking into a BBQ or Italian caterer as those tend to be on the cheaper end. Even if its just like Olive garden or Shoprite or something. You won;t want to be working in the days and hours leading up to your wedding, and you wont want family to miss out on special moments or spend the entire day of slaving away to get the food ready.

    Plus most venues won't allow you to cater your own food without liability insurance. Which can cost more than just getting the catered food would.

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  • C
    Dedicated May 2019
    Candace ·
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    Our venue is great but takes up a majority of our budget. They are doing our decorations, DOC, photography, and DJing. The only thing that they don’t do for us is catering. I’ve priced local restaurants but in our area to feed 100 at a wedding it is costing around $2000 before tax. My brother is a culinary student in high school and mentioned that he and some of his classmates could cook and serve for us so that is in option that I hadn’t thought much about but it’s there.
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  • Munchkin9218
    Master September 2018
    Munchkin9218 ·
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    Do not ask your brother to cook for you on your wedding day. You will want him around and participating - not stuck behind a stove missing your ceremony/first dance/ any other important moment. Also - culinary students (Especially HS Culinary Students!!!) or not you would need to purchase food for 100 people and all the equipment which is not going to be any more cost effective than you finding a reasonable caterer. Plus you will need liability insurance - which is not going to be cheap.


    I would suggest cutting your budget in other areas to find the money to feed your guests. Decor/Attire/flowers are all things you can easily scale back on as they do not affect the guests experience.



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  • OG Kathryn
    Champion May 2016
    OG Kathryn ·
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    Please dont do this. $2000 for 100 guests is a great price. Look into BBQ or Italian. They tend to be the cheapest.

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  • OG Kathryn
    Champion May 2016
    OG Kathryn ·
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    Also, HS culinary class= no experience whatsoever.

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  • M
    Super October 2018
    MaltedMilk ·
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    We went to a wedding a few years ago where the groom was a professional chef. We never saw him, once, at the reception. The bridal party was in the kitchen, helping. The rest of the family was putting cans of soda and beer in ice, running around setting things up. The reception was at the groom's uncle's house on a lake. The groom was in the kitchen the ENTIRE time, apparently being a bit of a "groomzilla." Then it took too long to serve, we ended up leaving early. We did get a nice photo of the two of us, though......

    Please - don't DYI or self cater. Hire the pros.

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  • Lauren
    Dedicated August 2018
    Lauren ·
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    I went to a wedding and they ordered pizza from the yummy local pizza shop. It’s not the fanciest and it puts dietary limits (gluten, dairy, etc). But I love pizza so I was thrilled to see it was pizza instead of meh-tasting catering. And, bonus, the coordinator was paying attention to levels and was able to simply order a few more boxes of pizza when she saw it was going to be low. They had it delivered right as the ceremony was ending so it would be fresh.
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  • M
    Super October 2018
    MaltedMilk ·
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    Please please please in all that is good and holy - do not trust high school students for YOUR WEDDING. I am sure your brother is a great guy but.......high schoolers? FOR YOUR WEDDING???

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  • Mrs. Sponge
    Master April 2018
    Mrs. Sponge ·
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    Cut your guest list down if you can't afford to feed that many people.

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  • Chantelle
    Devoted September 2018
    Chantelle ·
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    I second what everyone above said, but wanted to mention something else. My fiance's dad owns a restaurant/catering business which catered my future brother in law's wedding. It was by far the most fun wedding I've been to, but they (my brother in law and his wife) regret having his dad cater, despite the rest of the wedding being a blast. My FH's dad even had other people from his business doing the catering and serving, but of course he was worrying about the food the entire time, even during the ceremony. Please don't self cater and let your friends and family (and yourself) enjoy your day!! There is SO MUCH that goes into catering that people don't realize, especially for a large group.
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  • Mrsbdg
    Champion August 2017
    Mrsbdg ·
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    My best suggestion would be cut from the budget elsewhere. Shorten your photography package. Cut your DOC. Cut the dress budget.

    Also cutting the guest list down to about 50 people will help your budget too. Do not try to self cater and don't hire someone with literally zero experience to attempt to cook for your wedding.

    Good luck.
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  • Mrs. Fall Bride
    Master October 2016
    Mrs. Fall Bride ·
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    No, I've never been to a self-catered wedding, that's not a thing where I'm from and I'd never even heard of such a thing until WW.

    Cut your guest list and any decor until a caterer fits into your budget. That's the only answer.


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  • S
    Savvy November 2018
    scarlett ·
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    What about doing just a classic 1950s style "cake and punch" reception? You might need to change your time to after lunch or after dinner (like 8-10pm) and just spend a few hundred dollars on a really nice dessert table with all kinds of cakes and cookies and decadent treats and champagne/soda!! It can be really really beautiful!



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  • C
    Dedicated September 2018
    Chellie ·
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    Does your venue have a kitchen, at least? Gather enough chafing dishes to keep the food in and more than enough fuel containers - that's what's keeping your food hot and you don't want those to run out.

    Borrow slow cookers from friends and family. Your easiest bet would be a type of slow cooked meat - flavorful, tender, start it the night before and cooks without needing constant attendance.

    Roasted herb potatoes. Loaves of bread. A salad bar. Appetizers like a cheese board, fruit and veggies platters, premade things so you won't have as much to worry about.

    Set it up buffet style and have your brothers high school friends act as attendants - keeping the piece and neatness, slicing bread (provide gloves!!), refilling the salad containers, and such. Pay them. High school kids are brats (I used to do culinary in high school and now I help the instructor with events and wow, some of those kids are something else) unless they're getting paid for it. Have your brother act as supervisor for his classmates, but don't have him actually work the day off.

    No matter what, if you self-cater, your family will have to help. You cannot do it on your own. Everyone on WW is so against self-catering and I cannot believe someone actually had the audacity to use the phrase "making your family slave away". That is such an infuriating sentence.

    My family self-caters. My tias and tios and cousins come up days before big events like this and insist on helping. Half the time they don't even mention they're coming up early. They just arrive with slow cookers, family spice mixes, 24 pack of beer, and a question of "what do you still need to buy? I'll send Jackie while I get the meat tenderizing." That's what family is for. Some people's families aren't like that.

    For the sake of not having practice in self-catering and it being your wedding, ask around local restaurants too. Some of them are only starting out their catering and won't charge as much as the big names. The restaurant I work at catered an event for 80 people last month and charged them $650 for a cheese board and hummus/crackers appetizer, two choices of entree, salad, a complimentary glass of wine, and bread service.
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  • CBD to Be
    Expert June 2018
    CBD to Be ·
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    Local BBQ or even Olive Garden are popularly suggested alternatives to self-catering! Best of luck.


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  • AllieB25
    Expert October 2018
    AllieB25 ·
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    I went to a wedding that had a self-catered pasta buffet. My friends and I took one look at it (the bride's mom was serving some kind of cream sauce out of a tin foil pan that didn't even have a heating source under it) and left to get ourself a meal at the nearby Panera Bread and came back after for the dancing. (Side note: their first dance was to "pure imagination" from Willy Wonka that their friend sang on a karaoke microphone).

    Self-catering is a bad idea for all the reasons people have listed above. Anyone who tells you otherwise is someone who is trying to convince themselves it's a good idea, too.

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  • RZ_ToBe
    Master July 2018
    RZ_ToBe ·
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    Setting aside the fact that DIY food is not a good idea, think about the costs. By the time you set everything up (plates, silverware, heating elements, transportation trays, food, condiments, ect), it'll cost you about the same as an Italian or BBQ caterer and take a lot more effort. It's no fun to be hurrying in the kitchen the day of the wedding with a very tight schedule, regardless if it's a guest or yourself cooking.

    There's so many safety issues and risk of the food not being up to par or even done in time to add to the stress. I understand money is tight, but keep looking. There's a good caterer within your budget out there.
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  • B
    Master April 2019
    Brittany ·
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    Okay, the first dance thing got me Smiley laugh thanks for the much needed lol at work

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