Food Expenses

$500 for 60 people of catering is a pretty good deal in my opinion. If we did our catering company for 60, it would be closer to $750. Depending on the time of day you're having your wedding, you could do heavy appetizers instead of a sit down meal!

$500 for 60 people is only a little over $8/pp. I don’t know what kind of meal you can get for $8 per person but that’s an amazing deal. In my area, you couldn’t even get fast food for that price.

View Quoted Comment It will be 3pm when it starts

You could just have a light afternoon reception with cake and punch. I’m doing a bbq buffet and it’s $15 a person, plus all our add-ons and non alcoholic drinks makes it $4,000 not including alcohol. With alcohol it’s $6,000 for 80 ppl.

I agree with PPs, $8.33 per person is incredibly affordable. Italian and BBQ are typically the most cost efficient catering options, but I'm not sure you'll find anything cheaper than $8 even in those categories.

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Our ceremony starts at 3 also with cocktail hour from 3:40-4:40 and dinner starting at 5. I would provide a meal with that time of day, especially if you don't plan on the reception ending until 8 or 9, most people generally have dinner by that time.

The wedding will start at 3pm. Really not looking to have dinner.

View Quoted Comment What time are you planning for the reception to end? If you don't serve a meal, you run the risk of people leaving early because they're hungry.

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Then bump your ceremony up so that your reception isn't at dinner time. 1 pm ceremony, 1:30-2:30 cocktail hour, 3-5or6 reception, then your guests can go get their own dinner.

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Agreed. Then you could get away with a few small food options during cocktail hour (so they have something on their stomach while drinking) and cake.

We are doing it from 3pm until 8pm. We dont want to spend a lot of money on this wedding. Our other option is just go on a vacation just us two and get married. Then wait 6 months later to do a reception.

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Maybe that would be a better option if you can't afford to host a reception at this time. You could also consider cutting your guest list to suit your budget.

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Well a Saturday wedding at dinner time is gonna cost you a good bit. I would either bump up your ceremony to avoid serving dinner or elope, I wouldn't let your guests go hungry. Would you plan on feeding them at a reception 6 months later or would you still not want to serve them a meal?

$500 for 60 people is a deal! Even getting catering from a local restaurant mostly likely can't beat that.

We would be able to do more later in that year. Or we could just get married and have a one year renewal wedding.

That is just for two meats. Meatballs and chicken. Not even sides.

I think if you want it to be a bit more casual you could definitely find cheaper catering ! Taco catering for instance can be cheaper.

I agree with everyone that that's a good price, and that if you're planning your wedding to last from 3 - 8, you really need to provide dinner or people will leave to get food. If it's not in your budget, I think an earlier wedding with a lunch/heavy apps could be an option, or even a cake and punch reception that's scheduled in between mealtimes. If you're set on the more traditional wedding, it sounds like you'll either have to dramatically cut your guest list or wait until you can save up some more.

Oh my goodness, $500 for 60 people?! That’s incredible!! We are having 50 people and it’s nearly $3,000!! If you have found catering that cheap, I would say jump on it! You aren’t going to find any better than that! Maybe find other places to cut money? Or cut your guest list? You could also see what it would cost to make food yourself. Or just have heavy appetizers instead of a meal

We are not serving a meal. Our wedding is at 2:00 and we are having a grazing table instead. This helped us save money and I think people will really enjoy it!