Self Cater???

Don’t self cater at all, no matter the guest count. You could seriously hurt someone despite the best of intentions and be liable.

I'm self catering too
My parents did it for my sister's wedding and now mine
We are having about 45 guests
Bbq chicken or turkey sandwiches
Then we are having sides like macaroni salad or pasta salad
It' really doable despite what ppl say
I think our venue has its own kitchen so making sides the night before store then there until reception
They also have hot cases for the hot food

What happened to the food truck??

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Wow. Nothing like questionable macaroni salad and my parents working all day during my wedding to put me in the mood to celebrate.

OP, please don't self-cater. You can get super creative with catering (I just learned that pizza buffets are a thing!) and it won't involve you or your family working on your wedding day.

View Quoted Comment The Mac salad can be kept in the fridge 😂

They did it for my sister' party didn' make it less fun

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Until when? How long will it sit out? Are there proper methods to keep it cold while it's being served? Any mayo-based salad can sit out for an hour and a half TOPS before it spoils and becomes a food-poisioning nightmare. Who made the salad? How clean are their hands? Did they make it after handling raw chicken? Was the celery chopped on the same board as raw meat?

-All questions I would ask as someone who used to work in a kitchen, while looking at your mac salad.

Also, just because you had plenty of fun at your sister's wedding doesn't mean your parents did.

This is coming from the heart please don't self cater for the following reasons

1. People can get sick, sue you for millions all to save a few bucks

2. Nothing like cooking chicken in a wedding dress,

3. After all is said and done you'll pay around the same price

Now alternative ideas

1. Get a caterer
2. Have olive garden, famous Dave's, pick upfood and deliver and cater
3. Have a brunch save a bunch
4. Consider dessert and punch reception

View Quoted Comment The Mac salad can be in the fridge until it' served put back in after it' served
My mom is making the sides and she isn' making chicken so the raw chicken will be like 20 miles away
Yes she is clean from a pet free house no kids dad is weird refuses to eat at resturaunts because whoever Sat at the table before him could be sick and he eats her food 😂😂
And I've worked in a kitchen too and in fact one of my bridesmaids used to be supervisor at a restuaunt, my MIL is supervisor in food service as well

I' not cooking chicken in my wedding dress
My FH is 😂

View Quoted Comment Fine points here don't forget if they prepared the pasta salad on a counter that someone had used peanuts on just before the oil can contaminate the salad and a person allergic to nuts can get sick and may die, what about pets nothing like dog hair in the pasta salad what if a toddler kid who didn't wash his hands sneaks a bite www do you know where toddlers hands go they go everywhere.

View Quoted Comment Hmm I was at hoss's buffet one day

I was looking at deserts table and I watched a little kid take the spoon from one of the foods....and locked it then proceeded to put in back into the food

I get nothing but harassment on these forums, but here goes...
We live out in the sticks and have not been able to find a caterer who would fix the kind of food we want, where we live (our home on 7 acres of forested woodlands is our venue), for our budget. So my fiancé, who is a chef, and I ( have my food handlers card from a previous job) are going to self-cater. We are having a smallish fête for 42, including ourselves and everything is make ahead. We’re going to buy a disposable pan chafing dish sets for the single dish and the rolls that would be better served warm. We already own a lot of serving ware because I collect it as part of my Mid-Century Modern collections and have an open floor plan so there’s plenty of room to accommodate a buffet. We have a separate freezer for storing some items prior to cooking and my fiancé’s brother and SIL have an extra, very nice, large fridge in their finished basement that they use for catering so we can keep some of the prepped food there and they’ll bring it with them. We’re emptying our fridge, eating dinner out for a few nights leading up to the wedding and storing a lot of food in our own fridge. On the day of, it’ll be a little hectic with getting things ready but I trust my fiancé to make it all come together.
I’ve self-catered many large and very large parties with an ex-GF, who was also a chef, and it is possible, especially if you plan well in advance, have a lot of make-ahead options, and are certain you have the necessary prep, cooking and serving tools at your disposal.

Good luck! And congratulations! (Btw don’t expect to get any support on these forums for anything you do that “different”.)

Some of my extended family decided to self-cater, because they had 7 daughters and didn't want to spend an arm and a leg each wedding. They did things like fruit kabobs, veggie trays, different types of sandwiches, rolls, and pastries, pies, cookies, and cupcakes. It wasn't a full meal, but the guests were reasonably fed.
They convinced me to consider that as an option for my own wedding. I opted out pretty quickly, because totalling the cost of the food plus time to prep it was cutting very close to a lot of the catering estimates we got anyways- and who wants to be worried about food the day of your wedding? Ultimately, you'll have to decide for yourself, but I don't find that it's worth the risk, especially since it doesn't save a lot of money and there's so many health risks involved.

View Quoted Comment I’m looking forward to your BAM. Not for the usual reasons.

I wouldn't recommend self-catering. The prep work and stress wouldn't be worth it on your big day!

Can you ask the venue who they recomm? They should usually have a list of preferred vendors that would include caterers. Definitely avoid self catering- way too much stress to do everything properly and too much liability.

Ugh recommend*. New phone, new autocorrect 😖

View Quoted Comment Really? I had an extremely non traditional wedding and got nothing but support from the forums.

I think you are mistaking people's concern for the health and safety for your guests for "harassment."

I just can't imagine any of my nearest and dearest literally saying to my face, "I value money more than your health and safety."

View Quoted Comment 🤔 I don't know about that. My wedding was non traditional in many aspects and I was never harassed about it. Self catering isn't a good idea, being told it isn't a good idea isn't harassment.