Planning to make sandwiches for brunch/afternoon reception. Any advice for timing/prep

Self-catering is not a good idea. Logistically, you'll need all the storage to keep everything at food safe temperatures, someone will need to serve and clean up after, you'll have to do it shortly before the event... And on. In addition there is food safety liability. I doubt that your venue would allow that, many don't. I would look into having sandwiches delivered or something. If you can't afford that, then think about lowering the guest list to a number of people you can reasonably afford.

View Quoted Comment I’m in grad school for the next two years and so only one of us will actually be able to put wedding money away consistently. We chose two years out just so we can, in fact, save as much as we can/are willing to spend in order to afford things like food and photography but even then that goes so far unless people offer to help pay for the wedding or our income changes. We’re not going to drop double figures on this wedding.


I’ll look into local BBQ alternatives for price comparisons and other cheaper catering avenues.
Thank you for your input.

View Quoted Comment I agree with others... self-catering is not a good idea. I'm just curious what a "fall-related" sandwich is. Are you thinking something like turkey with cranberry sauce? There are tons of sandwich shops that do that style. Something else to consider...I also recently went to a wedding that had pizzasfrom a local shop delivered and it was a huge hit!

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Pizza is a good idea! Honestly also think about guest list size and what you can afford to host. You can host a small number of people beautifully on a limited budget.

If you find BBQ for $10 pp, please drop that gold info here lol. But I'm in Texas and everybody is real proud of their bbq.


Do you have family and friends willing to make the sandwiches? Like everyone is saying, the logistics are going to be a struggle. But for only 50 people, who are mostly family and close friends, I think it's doable with help. However, you first have to make sure they are happily willing to do so. What kind of fall sandwiches are you thinking of? You could go with fillings that go far like pimento cheese. You could have the wedding in between meal times and make them finger sandwiches. And then don't forget about the potato chips and beverages too.

No. Please don’t serve your guests DIY sandwiches. It’s over 2 years away. So, I’m sure you’ll have enough by then to simply order from a local deli. Or you might be better off with doing a simple and sweett “cake and punch” reception since it’s early afternoon.