Food on a budget?

I do not have any suggesting, but I do want to say that caterering is usually the bulk of your budget. So I would try to trim somewhere else if you are having trouble finding something in your current budget.

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Our entire budget is about $5000 with about $750 to photography and $1000 planned toward catering so yeah. Our venue is $700 including music, officiant, reception, and ceremony, our DJ is $500.

$12 a head is pretty cheap. Catering by BBQ, Mexican or Italian restaurant (like Olive Garden) start at $10 per person.

Do you really have a dancing crowd, and will you be serving alcohol? If not an overwhelming “YES” to both questions, consider skipping the DJ and put that money to catered food. 😊

If budget is really tight, and your guests are local, you could consider doing a 2 pm wedding then you can offer a “cake & punch” reception.

I’m not trying to be mean but $12 a person is a great deal the cheapest we found around my area was $40 a person.

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We are providing two bottles of wine (one red, one white) for each table and a champagne toast. The DJ is also a friend of my FH's, really only need him to actively DJ for an hour or two (do the first dance and daddy daughter dance and such) but he charges $100 an hour and we were going to hire him from 5-10pm and have him run a playlist from like 7-10 but he won't give us a discounted rate on that. I don't know. But that's a good idea. Seriously considering using my very charismatic baby brother as an MC now...just need to get ahold of some sound equipment of my dad's that's in consignment....good idea. Thank you.

I would probably lean toward a pasta bar type set up, though you don't want buffet so I'm not sure how you would execute. But you could have first course of salad with a choice of noodle (gluten free or wheat pasta), choice of a marinara or Alfredo sauce, and choice of chicken/meatball/maybe even shrimp or no meat. I would think this would be relatively easy to make ahead of time and pretty accommodating to all sorts of dietary needs as well as affordable.

View Quoted Comment This is what FH and I are doing so that we can put our catering budget into other things

What about brunch? I'm not sure, I haven't looked into it at all, but I feel like breakfast foods are rather cheap, and since you don't have any vegans, I think that could be easy to accommodate all diet restrictions.

Publix caters for a very good price! Good luck

My fiance is allergic to gluten, so we just axed all gluten with a taco bar.
Possibly doing pulled pork in case people dont like tacos.

I agree with others that perhaps rearranging your budget or inviting less people or having an earlier reception where you don’t serve dinner are better options. $12 catering is a steal. On your current budget, you are hoping to spend less than $8 per person. I don’t think that is enough for a dinner.

I would recommend saving a bit more if possible or cutting the guest list. Catering should be about 30-40% your budget.

Honestly, if you're looking to spend less than $8/pp on catering - you're going to need to look at other (and more creative) options. You're not just paying for the food cost. You're also paying for the event staff and tip/gratuity.

Some alternatives include: 1) a cake/punch/appetizer reception. Not popular with a lot of crowds, but if you communicate it clearly, it should work well 2) Some food trucks can get you that cost per head, but you're guest list is too big for just one food truck or people will be waiting in exceptionally long lines. 3) Depending on your region and culture, a "potluck receptions" may be doable. I wasn't going to go that route, that would be incredibly tacky to my crowd, but is really popular with my co-workers. Apparently within their culture (some intercity Philly neighborhoods) it is really common! 4) Backyard BBQ reception.

All said and done, our menu ended up being about $60/pp. Which was way more than anticipated. Originally we were looking at $20 from the same caterer. But after trimming so much off of other line items (venue, decor, dj, alcohol, cake, etc)., we decided to upgrade our food including appetizers, side salads, and hot/cold beverage options. It was definitely the right choice. Everyone definitely talked about how great the food was!

Does your venue allow you to bring in any food you like? If so, I'd suggest looking into a nicer grocery store to do your food and have it picked up/delivered. Not sure what chains you have out in Arizona, but here we have Sam's Club, Martin's, and Wegman's which all make very delicious food,

https://www.wegmans.com/content/dam/wegmans/pdf/catering/summer/Wegmans-Catering.pdf

Creating a mock menu from Wegman's based on your original menu selection, the cost for 130 people would be $1,246 compared to the $1,560 that you'd pay with your friend. Here's the food I chose for you:

-Sliced Jerk-Style Chicken Platter (GF)

-Ready to Bake Cheese Lasagna (Vegetarian) Couldn't find a GF pasta option but you could always ask

-Signature Whipped Potatoes (GF and Vegetarian)

They've got plenty of other options for you to pick from. This quote is still $250 above what you're hoping to pay, but do keep in mind that this number is a worst-case scenario as you are likely to have closer to 100 guests.

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Our venue is our church and their reception hall. I'm confirming that we'll be able to use the kitchen at the reception hall, but we should be able to.

That's a great idea to check out grocery stores - I think we have Sam's Club out here, Costco, Basha's, Fry's, Safeway, and Albertson's. I was going to check them out for our cake. Thanks so much!

I would look into Olive Garden, Chilis, etc. I don't think making the food ahead of time and then having to re-heat it is a great idea and can take a lot of time and/or make someone sick. I'd definitely try to get foods that someone can bring in hot to serve immediately. Olive Garden, Chilis, etc. are all about $10 a person. I know you want to spend around $8, but you may need to change your budget a bit to accommodate. They may deliver to you, but otherwise your friend/caterer can go pick it up all ready to go and serve immediately. You can certainly do your own appetizers with grocery store stuff, we did Publix trays pre-arranged for us. This was affordable but honestly when it comes to your wedding day the easier the better. Check into Chipotle, Moes, and other fast-casual places. I know you don't want tacos, but again when you're working with a minimal budget you have to get what you can afford.

$12 is such a deal! Especially for the food items you’re wanting (which sound delicious and hit all your marks for diet restrictions of guests you mentioned!). Unfortunately catering is probably going to be the most expensive part of your wedding. Worth it in the end though. I noticed that you didn’t mention drinks, alcoholic or non alcoholic. Don’t forget to factor that into your budget, as well as paper products, silverware, etc.

Do you have any food trucks around you? Also try looking on thumbtack for caterers. Or drop off catering from a restaurant

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Glad to help!

You could also just think non-traditional foods (breakfast for dinner, hefty appetizer meals, pizza bar).

We decided to have a morning wedding with a brunch reception. Brunch food is a ton cheaper so we are able to provide several entree options and sides to our 75 guests for about $1,100. Plus, all our alcohol will be sparkling wine for mimosas, white wine, and beer which tremendously helps costs.

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I totally did not want you to provide specifics! I was just trying to suggest an alternative since I think what you are trying to obtain is going to be really hard. At $12, that is a really good price. Our rehearsal dinner is coming to that and for 35 people, it is still about $700 dollars after taxes (and this was totally not even a budgeted cost as we added it on after the fact). I am not trying to be mean and I understand things are cheaper in different places, but I think wanting to spend $8 on a plated/family style meal is a little out of reach. My rehearsal dinner is still a buffet meal. You should try to do something really simple. If you want family style, maybe look at a good Italian restaurant in the area.

For music, you can also try to rent some speakers and play off of a playlist yourself if you have access to the music. I get not needing them the whole time, but also think if you want the DJ setting up in the middle of the reception.