Pizza for the Reception Dinner??

How will you keep the pizza warm? Or anything served cold, cold? Even if you offer to pay the pizza delivery person, he may not have time to help you set up, he is on the clock so he can't take 30+ minutes helping deliver. If you can't afford $10 per person at least for catering, I just wouldn't serve food at have your wedding during a nonmeal time or cut your guest list.

So I'll start off by saying we totally considered having a pizza bar/buffet at our wedding, but sadly (I'm still sad about it!) it didn't work out because it was a local guy (not an actual catering company) and his insurance only allowed him to do pizza and I couldn't find anybody to co-cater with him to do appetizers, salads and pastas We ended up going with someone who is going to do food stations for us: tacos, pasta, sliders, etc.

So while I do think pizza can be a fun idea for a more casual reception, I wouldn't do it through a chain pizza place like pizza hut. I'm just thinking of presentation...I wouldn't want pizza hut pizza boxes at my wedding, but that's just me. What we were using was a food truck and the presentation was nice where they had metal stands they set the pizzas on.

You're going to get a lot of people on here saying that if you can't afford food for your guests then cut down your guest list. $1,000 for 100 people is $10 per person which is not at all bad and pretty much the lowest you are going to get no matter your location. BBQ & Pastas are usually your least expensive catering items. Have you checked into Olive Garden catering? I've heard good reviews of that being used. What about a local BBQ place? I know the company we are using for our reherseal dinner catering does a bbq meat & 2 sides for $9.50 a person and that is with them coming to setup and clean up.

Here is what our pizza bar was going to look like:

I totally understand weddings can get expensive but $1000 for 100 people is not "out the wazoo". That's $10/person and that's almost what a typical fast food meal can cost, let alone having people who are delivering the food, setting up and cleaning up.

Hopefully your contact can be close to your budget for the pizza truck! We were quoted $1,500 for 200 people w/ an $800 minimum though regardless of the number of the people.

$1500 for200 people is GREAT!! But $1500 for 100 people isn't bad either. You have well over a year to pay for it. Also, if your friend has a food truck why not hire him to do the food. I am on a budget myself, but sometimes you will end up spending more money and time trying to cut too many corners. Start shopping around. You have plenty of time. But if you can find catering for 100 people for $**** that's great! if you're trying to spend less than that you may just want to have it at a non meal time and do a cake and punch reception. Good Luck

We actually rent a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment so no yard space at all and definitely not enough bathroom access for all of our guests if we had a house with a yard, my first choice would be a backyard wedding to cut costs . However, since we don't have that option, we have found a local venue we love that provides plenty of space and bathrooms for everyone, so thankfully no porta-john rentals will be needed. I have the entire wedding planned from 5pm-9pm right now (ceremony from 5-6, cocktail hour from 6-6:30, and reception from 6:30-9), but maybe moving it up a little earlier in the day would be a good option if I can't make cheap catering work. Like you said, a cake and punch reception.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm going to ask my friend about catering. She may offer me a good deal! We can spend up to $1500 for catering; I'm just trying to do it in the cheapest way possible while still offering our guests the best quality possible. Catering may be one thing we just can't cut corners on, though, like you said. I have found so far that there are a few areas that are worth it to pay a little more for better quality in: the venue, photographer, DJ, and dresses/suits. At least in my (limited) experience with wedding planning thus far. I'm thinking I might just have to add the food to that list, as much as I would like to save money.

Thanks for the feedback!

Sorry! I thought you were having it in your backyard. Good idea not too (rentals = add up, including bathrooms).

How cool!! If you don't mind me asking, how much is it going to cost you to have a food truck cater? Will your guests pay for their meals or do you pay one fee for everyone to be served?

Where in NC are you? I"m in NC as well