Food on a budget?

I would look into BBQ catering or Italian catering. I believe both offer very affordable prices, even if you go to an Olive Garden or a small mom and pop shop. You will likely get a discount on apps too and then you won’t have to worry about the platters either.

Or cut your guest list until you can afford catering. Start your guest list over and invite in circles. My husband and I have very large families spread out over the US. We didn’t invite every single person because we felt we had to.

Do you have experience cooking for 200 people? Cooking for that many people and prepping it correctly and keeping it at proper temperatures so no one gets food poisoning is very hard. You will likely not be able to enjoy your wedding because your food will need to be monitored and served to all of your guests. Also you will need to be cooking the morning of your wedding. You can’t give your guests microwaved meals.

Most professional venues will not allow you to self cater due to liability issues. If someone gets violently ill, they can sue the venue. Are you okay with someone potentially suing you if they get food poisoning? Do you have the collateral and/or financial resources to either pay out or take on a lawsuit?

If you’re planning on using someone’s home as your venue, I have never seen the inside of a home that had enough fridge space and enough ovens to prepare and store food for 200 people. If your budget is super tight, it’s unlikely the home will have that much space. Same worries still apply, you would still be liable if anyone got sick.

My first thought is to reconsider the guest list and time of your wedding. 200 is a lot! Even at 50 dollars a head, which is very reasonable when you add drinks and hor d'oeuvres, is 10k. That's without a dress, a dj, a flower or a photographer.
Now, you may be sitting in front of your computer going, "Yeah, duh! That's what budget for 200 looks like! Now give me suggestions!" In which case I'd recommend thinking out of the box. Chipotle, Boston Market or some gourmet pizza are all great budget options.

Cut your guest list. Hosting your guests at the reception is where most of your budget should go. About half of your budget should go there. I get the big family thing. DH has a huge family...7 years later I am still meeting new family members. They do not all need to be invited to the wedding. We had 55 guests. Start with parents, then siblings and their SOs. Great uncle joe who you haven’t seen in five years doesn’t need an invite. We cut it at anyone we hadn’t seen in the last year or so. There was no family friction. If someone asked we responded with “We wish would could invite everyone, but we are having a smaller wedding”. Better to host a smaller amount properly than a larger amount horribly.

Cut your guest list until you can afford catering. Your wedding is not a family reunion. Invite in circles beginning with immediate family that you see often. You may have to stop there if you have a small budget like you said but a small budget will not host 200 properly.

I would say to cut your guest list at least in half... I know you said they are ALL close family and friends, but I find it hard to believe you regularly talk to and/or see every person on that guest list. What FH and I did to cut our guest list was think "has this person made a significant positive impact in our lives in the last year?" If not, cut them. You don't need every person you know to witness you get married. This is the best way to save money on a catered meal (and if you are having an evening wedding, you definitely need to serve a meal, not just food platters).

As others have already mentioned, I would suggest strongly revisiting your guest list and go from there. If you find that you really "need" to have 200 people, then you also may reconsider the type of wedding you are having to host your guests or go with more affordable buffet style catering. You may be hard pressed to find a venue that will allow you to cater in and honestly, unless you and your family/guests have experience with this and hold the necessary licenses to prepare food, then this could have disastrous consequences.

Change the time it cut the list, those are your options and you likely need to do both. I would be put off if I went to a cake and punch reception with 209 guests. That comes off as a gift grab. I went to a wedding like that over the summer over 500 invited and multiple card boxes around the room SMH. I still haven’t received a thank you note...but that’s another story!

View Quoted Comment All of this x100
There is no shame in waiting until you are financially able to host the wedding you want. All 200 guests included.

You do have a lot of options here but a large traditional wedding is not one of them.
- Elope
- Courthouse wedding with dinner at a nice restaurant with your immediate families (parents, siblings and their spouses, and extremely close friends at the most)
- Elope and then save for a large celebration.
- Courthouse wedding and then save for a large celebration.
- If you have a home church, get married in the sanctuary in front of 20 of your nearest and dearest and then rent out their rec space for a couple of hours at most for cake and light refreshments. (This can also apply to a small venue, like a B&B, if you are not religious.)

Girl if you’re wanting to do cheap and an evening wedding you should check into olive gardens create-your-own pasta bar! $125 feeds 10 people ($2,500) and that includes breadsticks and salad. It doesn’t include drinks- I would suggest budgeting at least $5k in food for a wedding of 200!

View Quoted Comment I agree so much. Self catering will not only be a nightmare but also dangerous to your guests' health.

Keep in mind that only about 2/3 of the people you invite will actually come. At least that’s what I have read anyway. We also have a tight budget and are serving bbq. Things like pulled pork, Mac and cheese, coleslaw and rolls. And some raw veggies. It’s possible to do food on a budget. You just need to do some research and find out which route is cheapest.

Thank you all! I forgot to mention that my venues for ceremony and reception are free and will let me cater. I love the idea of olive garden but the only problem is that the nearest olive garden is about an hour and a half away. Guests on my side are only family I have recently seen and who are close to me, but I'll have my FH look through the guest list with me again. Is it in any way possible that olive garden would travel? The nearest barbeque resteraunt who dies cater is sort of low quality.. Pizza does sound like a good idea if I can't cut my guest list any more. I'll have to discuss all of the factors with my FH and figure it out. Thank you all again!

View Quoted Comment 200 people is a lot to host on a small budget. Even though you say close family and friends you may need to evaluate who are the dearest to you. Some people think they need everyone they have ever came across to be there. Now is not the time to reconnect or feel obligated to invite everyone. Especially if you can't properly host. I went to a wedding and it had to be 300 people there not kidding. It was at my church and there was finger food after and no where to sit. We were literally on the bathroom waiting room. Then the bride had a private 100 guests reception after. It was a mess. Maybe have a super early wedding like 12pm 2pm the latest and have like a picnic theme ( subs, fruit and meat trays etc). You're not going to be able to have a evening wedding. Just ask some friends to meet you at a club if you want to party later on and pre game at your house. I hope it works out for you

Oh and olive garden does travel with a few of course and will set up. Check out the website

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Don't rely on this advice. Lots of weddings have super high guest turnout and you need to budget as if everyone that is invited comes.

Agree with others to call caterers and explain the situation but I find it soooo hard to believe that 200 ppl is your closest friends and family. It sounds like you are going to comb over the guest list so hopefully you can find some places to cut there. Good luck!

Hopefully you’re sending rsvp cards so you can have a better idea of how many will actually attend. But not every single person you invite will attend.

Food truck? Sandwiches? Mexican? Italian? BBQ? All fairly inexpensive catering options.

Cut the guest list or have your wedding in the afternoon when people are not expecting a full meal, only appetizers.

Taco bars are usually pretty cheap!

View Quoted Comment Exactly!

And it your hoping only 2/3 will come, figure out who the 1/3 your hopping don’t come are, and then just don’t invite them. You didn’t want them there anyway...

We built our guest list assuming everyone would come, and only invited the people we would be very sad if they said no.