Food Ideas

And i am also very happy that there are so many well meaning people here that help with understanding the community guidelines. Sometimes i misunderstand and i think something was passive aggressive or mean but now i understand in this forum are just many people that really want to help and its called honesty and tough love.

Just have to say I've had plenty of catered food that was gross and gotten sick multiple times from restaurant food. When I catered a wedding with my mom no one got sick and the groom said it was the best mediterranean food he'd ever had, and him and his wife loved Mediterranean food and ate at restaurants all the time. I'm not trying to brag, just saying some us DO know what we are doing. My family all love to cook and eat what we make together. Not all self catering is pot-luck food made by people with 0 experience. Oh and also most catering places make a lot of the food ahead of time... even cake out of the freezer- gross!

Yep. Thank Jenna for supporting unsafe, cheap ideas. I don't know what restaurants SHE"s going to..... We have pretty stringent health requirements in NJ and NY.

Why do people post threads asking for advice and then proceed to ignore all advice that doesn't agree with their pre conceived notion of what they wanted to do all along?

Go for it. Make 100 lbs of mushy pasta and hope no one gets sick. You do you. It'll be fabulous.

See, just helpful and honest , not hurtful advice.

Jenna, I appreciate you weighing in on your hundred plus family get-togethers, but what I was far more interested in was your "if you don't like it, don't come to my wedding" theory. Again, I ask you, how can they know they won't like what they don't know about? Are you telling guests, via an invitation, that their food is being prepped and prepared by you, your family, and friends? Are you giving them fair warning that they'll be using port-a-potties, and inside plumbing is unavailable to them?

I'm being totally honest with you -- I might stay for an hour and have a glass of wine, but I will not eat food that has been prepared, en masse, by non-pros. Port-a-potties? Sorry, we're gone after the ceremony.

So, it stands to reason that if I knew, I wouldn't like it, and I wouldn't attend your wedding -- which is exactly what you're advocating -- but I'm asking again...why not just be up front with your guests, via a written invitation? Then, your wedding can live and die by your dictates. Please don't make me figure out, after dressing and traveling, what you already knew.

@celia Milton - cause she didn't ask advice on what she was doing- rather IDEAS of what things to do.

I"m not going to enable anyone who wants ideas for truly unsafe scenarios.

"How should I kill Grandma?"

"You shouldn't."

"But I'm going to anyway. What's the best method."

Yes Jenna and the "idea" of hiring a caterer has been offered because it is the safe, responsible, and respectful option (the only one)

Celia, you're being rude by saying that killing grandma is a bad idea!

I am a hundred percent with the self catering train, but not for that many people. If it were 25-40, I'd say do it. But since it's not, it would be likely easier (I'd say this only works for a backyard laid back wedding) to just order food from a restaurant in mass quantities. I saw a Pinterest wedding of a bride and groom who had a pizza bar. While some may call that too informal, I would kill for a pizza buffet. And you wouldn't have to cook anything. I do think the heating things in sternos would help keep the hot food hot.

Its very naive of you guys to think that your caterers that you're spending at minimum $9.00 a person for are totally and completely sanitary and doing everything 100% by ServSafe guidelines. Let me be the bearer of bad news and inform you that while they are doing some things right the chances of food borne illness is just as probable. I spent an 8th of what I was quoted for catering for 100 people by doing it myself. It is wayyyyyyyyyy cheaper.

Amanda...$9.00 a person...for a professionally cooked and served wedding meal? Where does that happen? Timbuktu? Hahahahahaha! Are you serious? Yeah, for $9.00 a person I'd expect the kitchen of Taco Bell. Talk about naive, lol

@ Rachael that was the cheapest price I was quoted in my area. That was for a corporate chain that would have more strict guidelines than say.... A privately owned caterer.

Oh, wow. Are you people serious?

Listen, I contacted food poison from self catered events- 3 times in my life. I almost died when I was twelve because I ate contaminated food at one party. Yes, it almost killed me. Do you see how careless that is?

PLEASE stop defending self catering. PLEASE listen to us. It's not okay.

There's a world where professional wedding catering is $9 a plate?

9.00 pp.....nothing says honored guests like 9.00 PP.

Wow....this thread...is just....wow.

Why would any bride go near a PP quote of $9.00 for a wedding meal? How??? And Amanda, you back up your position by saying you're referring to a corporate chain that has more strict guidelines than a licensed caterer? Oh, is that because state safety standards vary, depending upon which business is serving customers food? Come on.....quote the regulation that says one has to maintain pristine standards while the other can relax those standards...present the inspection histories of both this chain and a few private caterers. This is becoming absurd. Standards? Come on...it's a wedding!

And I'm still waiting for an answer to the question I posed surrounding the "If you don't like it, don't attend my wedding" mantra. Crickets...as I expected.

That was a corporate chains pricing. I didn't go with them.... I self catered instead Best decision for my honored guests and myself I've ever made. It all was perfect .

I didn't ask you to repeat yourself, I asked for facts about your $9.00 PP quote. So you self-catered, which makes sense since you were shopping in the $9.00 PP realm. Unbelievable.