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R
Dedicated April 2022

diy Food Help

R C, on January 5, 2022 at 9:40 AM Posted in Wedding Reception 0 4
My fiance and I both come from families and communities that cook a lot. There are a number of professional chefs on my side, even.
I have invite list with 400 names on it which os a ton.
But I don't want to have a catered feast of any sort. I came up with a pasta menu and broke down each constituent part into ingredients that would need to be bought. Rotini pasta, with a gluten free option, two sauces bought in bulk, pre-prepared meatballs or slow cooked chicken pieces, mushrooms or leeks and greens, and a few cheeses available. Plus fruit platters and garlic rolls on the side, ginger ale, root beer (fiance's fave), sparkling grape juice, or water to drink, and then sheet cake and chocolate punch for dessert. The way I wrote out the menu, it's on a spreadsheet with formulas that will allow me to know how much to buy of each thing depending on how many people can come. Still need to do formulas for how many crock pots and such would be needed. Has anyone done their own food like this? Our families love to cook and we'll have a good deal of kitchen space, and we're hosting at our church as an all-in-one venue. Where would I start testing the doability of this menu? How should I guage the willingness of a few cooking lovers to help with this? In both our families, and our church, family gatherings and fellowship gatherings always mean potluck. This isn't quite a potluck obviously, and we'll be paying for all the ingredients. But the church is equipped for this kind of thing, and around here we show our love and support with food. I tried to choose the easiest foods and methods to prepare. It'll still take a good chunk of time, but many hands make light work. Should I ask my aunt and great aunt about this menu? They're both professional cooks but also they're not my favorite people to talk to, they kind of intimidate me. Anyway... Thoughts? I'm really not prepared/wanting to cater at all. And this menu is way less labor intensive than hand smoking a hundred pork shoulders for pulled pork which is what my fiance originally suggested since his dad loves smoking pork. Pasta is typically seen as one of the easiest and cheapest wedding meals. Which it is, but I have years of experience elevating it to a lovely experience, so it wouldn't come across as tacky. I have many wonderings on this and not much time left. Less than 90 days... So yeah. Chip in with your two cents on how to make this work, please? Thanks in advance.

4 Comments

Latest activity by R C, on January 6, 2022 at 11:48 AM
  • Michelle
    Rockstar December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    If you search the forum, a huge consensus is against self catering and using guests as vendors. You and your family will not be able to enjoy the wedding day because you and they will be cooking and tied to the kitchen instead of witnessing the ceremony and reception. I’m speaking from experience at other weddings where I didn’t get to see the ceremony or sit down at the reception for more than 5 minutes total. Also, 400 guests is a lot for the current environment and not everyone will be comfortable among that many people indoors. Have you cleared it with the venue because it may not be allowed?


    Take the time and money that you would have spent on self catering and have your favorite local restaurant do drop off catering. Then hire staffing from thumbtack.com so guests can relax. Follow your gut instinct because you will never go wrong.
    If you want to have an event where everyone shares cooking talents, start a tradition of a family reunion picnic at another time that is not related to the wedding. You only get one wedding day that everyone says goes by in a blur so take the time to relax and enjoy it.
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  • R
    Dedicated April 2022
    R C ·
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    I appreciate you taking the time to reply to me.

    I'm not much of one to follow the consensus on something. I don't live in any big cities, and out in the boonies we do things a little less structured, a little less polished, and a little more organically. So even if the social circle of the forum says no, the culture of my church and our families is far more in tune with the idea. So I'm not really concerned about finding some way to not do it this way. Because this is my gut instinct. (Besides, I don't have a favorite local restaurant anyway haha.)

    I've been to many events done similarly. (Pretty sure my aunt's wedding was self done, so it runs in the family.) The concept is pretty simple around here-- put food in a slow cooker, plug the slow cooker in by the serving tables, then people serve themselves as a buffet. It doesn't really need babysitting. So the cooking can be completely done by the time the ceremony starts.

    We're going for a shorter wedding: 3 hours from the start of the ceremony to the end of the reception. That's time for people to mingle and eat before they get bored. That means the food won't be out for terribly long either. It also means that I'm *trying* to make it short. I'm not really trying to savor every minute. Just get through it. And if that means paying attention to details more than the experience, that's alright.

    Also, the venue is fine for the size. We estimate having between half and three quarters of our guests in attendance based on recent numbers from weddings around here, and I'm in communication with the event coordinator so if it were a problem she would have told me. Plus, pretty much all the people we're inviting honestly don't care about Covid. And if they are, then that's fine, they can choose where they're comfortable going, they're adults. Just thought I'd clarify it.

    Anyway, thank you again for taking the time to respond to me, even if I don't necessarily agree with your advice. It means a good deal that someone would take the time to share wisdom on a topic, even if it's just run of the mill for you. If you think to, and you know someone with experience in this, I'd love it if you could send them this way. Best of luck on your planning, and hope your day is going well. Thank you!

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  • Jacks
    Rockstar November 2054
    Jacks ·
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    Home cooking a meal for 400 people is not advisable at all. You’ll need professional gear and kitchen to get anywhere near what you would need. Have you checked liability with the venue? What about food safety and keeping everything to temperature? Who will serve and clean up?


    If this is because of budget I’d suggest a downsize to the guest list and hiring catering services.
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  • R
    Dedicated April 2022
    R C ·
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    Thank you for your input.

    My venue is a church that does this sort of thing all the time. Our last fellowship meal had close to three hundred people in attendance. It has a large kitchen and accomodations for self serving larger portions of food. The venue's not a problem or negative factor in food because it's not your typical wedding farm, it's a church that regularly hosts large events with lots of food prepared by individuals.

    Also downsizing the guest list isn't really an option. Believe me, I tried Smiley xd No amount of convincing, organizing, and chopping is going to get anywhere unfortunately. So I'm just working with it. We're having a muuuuuch smaller event more to my taste in advance. But there's no getting out of the massive guest list.
    As for those in charge of setup and tear down, not only are there people who make that their ministry at every large event the church hosts (read: fellowship dinners, funerals, weddings) but I'm related to people who just can't stop themselves from cleaning. For real. So I'm not concerned about during-and-after-the-event logistics because its been done so many times. I guess I'm more interested in the before-the-event logistics.
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