Last minute food changes

I am so sorry you are experiencing such a stressful situation so close to your wedding day! My suggestion would be to find somebody else to cater ASAP. Call local restaurants- they are most apt to be available on short notice and are usually more affordable. Cooking for 80 people for your wedding is going to be insanely stressful and will ruin your experience. It will also mean you will likely have to ask your guests to work for your wedding, which is never a good idea. And, most importantly, this raises some huge health/safety issues! Food has to be prepared and stored in a very specific manner, and also kept at a specific temperature in order to maintain safety standards. You don’t want you or your guests getting food poisoning from the food you cooked! And if you are having your wedding at a venue other than yours or somebody else’s home, there are likely restrictions against this. I would get on the phone and reach out to local restaurants ASAP!

I dont know what kind of menu you were planning on with your daughter catering them, but I would see if she's still willing to help you prepare food if you pay for the cost. A pasta bar is cheap and easy as pasta is usually about $1 a box and feeds 4-6 people. Its gonna take a ton of dishes and work, and then require someone to set up and serve/ clean up on wedding day. If you were already planning on that, no problem. However, if you were planning on being hands off, I would look at chain restaurants and grocery stores that provide catering. Most likely it'll be much cheaper and they'll be able to turn around a pre-set menu on a quicker timeframe.

Depending on the vibe of the wedding, pizza is always an option too!

Best of luck, I hope you have a beautiful wedding day!

Don't try to cook for your own wedding, yikes! Too stressful. I agree, see if your daughter will still do it if you cover costs. You could even pay her a little to help her during her financial troubles. Or call local restaurants or order some pizzas

I’d find the cheapest catering option available. You’re at risk for contamination, food poisoning and a ton of stress doing that yourself. I promise pizza is a safer option that cooking yourself. BBQ, tacos, pizza, etc. don’t be mad at your daughter, if there’s one single place you want to spend money it’s on professionally and safely cooked food.

As PP said, don’t take this on yourself! I don’t know how far out you are from your wedding, but chain restaurants like Olive Garden can take 80 guests on no problem with less than a week’s notice. Even grocery stores like Whole Foods and Publix can work with you. Your local Mexican, Thai, Chinese and non-chain Italian/pizza shops are also good bets. Everywhere is short staffed so you may need to give a bit more notice than in times past, but I promise this is still a better bet than doing everything yourself!

Please don’t cook. Most venues don’t allow anything that is not from a licensed caterer for food safety reasons.


Call up the places you go on date night and have them prepare trays of food to drop off. Hire staff from thumbtack.com

How do you feel about BBQ? Because that would be easiest if you can’t find a caterer. That would give it a more informal vibe though and I’m not sure what you’re going for. I’m doing that for my “I Do BBQ” Rehearsal Dinner and it’s estimated less than $1000 for 100 people at our favorite BBQ place. They didn’t cater, but they said we could put in a super big order. Check with your venue if this is an option or if it actually has to be catered.