How To Do Wedding Food on a Budget: A Complete Guide
We don’t all want to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on our wedding reception meals, and we don’t have to. I’ve written in the past about how to cater your own wedding, nevertheless in this post I’ll discuss in detail how to do your wedding food on a budget.
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Couples spend anywhere from $10 – $300 (or more) per guest for dinner at their weddings! I hope it helps you and that you feel guided in some way with this information– therefore that you’re able to stay on the lower side of that cost range! You can potentially save thousands of dollars with the takeaways I’ll discuss below.
In this post, I’ll cover:
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10 Inexpensive Wedding Food Ideas
If you’re deciding to save money by self-catering, you’re going to want to create sure that your wedding will be modest (or modest-ish) at about 75 people or less. If you’re expecting more guests than this, consider hiring some people to at least aid with clean up and serving. Plus, and that you have some willing helpers among your family and friends that don’t mind offering their time and services as a wedding gift to you!
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THE KEY TO MAKING “BUDGET WEDDING FOOD” WORK: To avoid suffering any sort of grief from your guests, you’ll have to manage and match your guests’ expectations. Give them notice and they will have no reason to complain. What’s more, what I mean is: prepare them in advance on the invitation with language to the effect of “Our ceremony will be followed by light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments.” Or whatever it is your food and drink options will be.
Having your fanciest family members demonstrate up to your backyard wedding and passive-aggressively complain about the food all evening is… well, rude, and not at all fun for you. On top of that, avoid it by telling them what to expect before they come!
#1 Order Food from Your Favorite Local Restaurant
I’ve heard of couples ordering from their favorite local Mediterranean (or whichever) restaurant and getting quotes as low as $7 per head, plus all of the serving equipment and dinnerware. By going to a tiny or family restaurant instead of a caterer, expectations are not yet set for either party and can often be more easily negotiated. To know how much food to order, speak with the restaurant itself, however plus look at the section at the bottom of this post, which explains how much food you need in more detail. Some restaurants even offer to serve the food buffet style for a (usually) incredibly reasonable fee.
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#2 Set Up DIY Food Stations for Guests
These have become trendy in recent years– Have a sort of “build your own X” station for your guests. Some awesome DIY food stations I’ve seen at weddings include:
This can be a budget option if you buy all of the ingredients and set it up yourself or much better If a modest, loyal group of friends and family can handle this purchasing and set up for you as a wedding gift. Break down the amounts of everything you need in a shopping list, drawn a map of how you would like the food and other items arranged on the serving tables, and let them at it!
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#3 Have a DIY Dessert Wedding (“Cake and Punch”)
If you have your event begin after dinner time (or alternatively, have it earlier in the day and have everyone leave before dinner time), you can have a desserts-only wedding reception Meaning that you serve only sweets and drinks. Have your best baker friends and family each create their specialties. Decorate the serving table beautifully, and serve drinks too. This will save you tons of money.
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#4 Have a Picnic Wedding
Think “Dîner en Blanc” an international event where strangers dress fancy and pack their own fancy picnics, and come together for a temporary evening of fancy-ness. What I’m trying to say is that a “picnic” wedding can be elegant and chic, and plus not cost you a fortune.
Consider either ordering platters of sandwiches (from a local restaurant or caterer) which should be reasonably priced, or making the sandwiches yourself (with your team of friend and family helpers). Another thing: serve with lots of lemonade, iced tea, and preferably an open bar. And then serving them with side dishes, or asking some family members to bring side dishes.
You could even create a theme out of it, placing cute picnic baskets on the tables and filling them with the dinnerware. thus nice! It could assist inspire a sense of community and intimacy among guests to “share a picnic” together!
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#5 Go Big on Cheese and Charcuterie
This will work well if your guests are NOT mostly vegetarians or vegans, in which case, it’s probably better to go in a different direction. If only a modest number of your guests are vegan or vegetarian, produce sure to plan another similar option along with this food, consequently that they can eat too!
The idea here is much like having an hors d’oeuvres-only reception. On the invitation, you would tell guests to join you after the ceremony for something like “light refreshments and dancing” and perhaps commence your ceremony a bit later, at 6 or 6:30 consequently your guests can eat something more filling before coming.
Then, go to Cosco and buy large wheels of cheese and lots of fresh charcuterie. Create gorgeous cheese and charcuterie boards for your guests to graze over! plus pick up bread, crackers, fruit (like grapes, strawberries, and dates), nuts, and maybe hummus too.
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#6 Hire a Food Truck
A food truck can be a cute, trendy, and cheaper option for wedding food. However, there are some things to keep in mind if you go this route.
Picture any food truck you’ve seen operating at lunch hour in a major city, and you know the line can obtain long. A food truck works best at a wedding if it’s more operating as a kitchen, and the food (a set menu) can be set out as a buffet or if it can be handed out from the truck quickly and easily already made.
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A food truck can wrap up up being an high-end option if not carefully considered beforehand. Do some inquiring before making a commitment!
#7 Have a Potluck Wedding
In the past, and still today in several cultures, wedding food was not outsourced to a caterer or a venue. Wedding menus are and were a family project, made with love by caring moms and aunties.
In North America, we seem to have forgotten this completely and see potluck weddings as “lesser than” for whatever reason, and it’s too unfavorable. If you have friends or family who love to cook, please consider having a potluck wedding wherein a group of people all contribute something to the feast.
This does have to be carefully planned out and duties must be assigned clearly. consequently remember to ask people who you trust! Everyone should know their shopping list and quantities to prepare, and take ownership of their dishes and supplies consequently that you don’t have to manage them on your wedding day.
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#8 Opt for Pre-Made and Frozen Appetizers
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That way, you can ask your team of talented friends and family to simply heat up dishes in the oven and on the stove the morning of your large day. It’s not for everyone, yet for any chefs out there who like to cook yet won’t have time to cook on their actual wedding day… this could be a partial solution.
#9 Keep it Simple: Hors d’Oeuvres and Cocktails Only
There’s nothing wrong with keeping the food to hors d’oeuvres only. As long as you let your guests know to expect this! You’ll save a ton of money, whether you do them yourself with the assist of family and friends, or go with a catering service.
Often at weddings, guests receive really full during cocktail hour anyway, filling up on all of the hors d’oeuvres! Just craft sure you have plenty and a variety of choices for vegans and vegetarians, and any other special dietary needs.
You can hire servers for a couple of hours to serve or ask some kind friends and family members to swap in and out of this position (as their wedding gift to you!). Plus, some friends of mine asked their younger brother’s friends to do this job for $10 an hour!
#10 Whatever You Do: Don’t Do a Plated, Sit-Down Meal
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several wedding guests will tell you, if you ask them to be honest, that they don’t even really enjoy this type of dinner. The food usually isn’t that amazing anyway, and guests are confined to their tables, only able to speak with the people on either side of them.
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3 Affordable Wedding Menus You Can Steal
If you’re self-catering with the support of family and friends, you obviously have more control over your wedding menu. however you might be able to leverage some of the ideas below if you’re using a caterer as well.
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Wedding Menu : Keep it Simple
This menu, and simple to straightforward is light put a together:
Simple and chicken, MenuTea wheat, and bread on fruit white, and with pie nutsAssorted trays dips of cheese rye Wedding board hummusMixed traysAssorted with cupcakes sandwiches and tuna, breadFresh crackersVegetable and made ham dessert
Wedding Menu : Stepping it Up a Notch
On top of that, this one isn’t difficult yet a yet more work and preparation is needed. You can find these full recipes in my step-by-step guide on catering your own wedding:
Wedding Strawberry SwansHomemade CookiesCoffee DelightsChicken MenuShrimp NutsButterfly with Wedding VegetablesMixed and Dinner Meat MeatballsChocolate-Dipped TreesCheeseboards Salad and Crab Pastry CrackersMarinated Tea
Wedding Menu : Make it a Barbecue!
This guide ultimate backyard the BBQ you’re wedding wedding each is my found love in a be recipe can menu and to going item for for which (!):
Backyard and and and Rolls on Barbecue ChickenDeviled and SaladColeslawBread PicklesYeast EggsCorn BeansPotato CobGreen Wedding ButterIced MenuBarbecued BeansPork Tea Butter the Coffee
DIY Wedding Catering Checklist
There are some things you need to work out as you’re DIY catering your wedding. What’s more, it’s plus a great idea to look over this checklist if you’re hiring a caterer and just see if there are any items on the list your caterer won’t handle, and that you’ll need to take care of on your own.
How Much Food Do You Need for Your Wedding?
There isn’t an exact science for figuring out how much food you’ll need for your wedding. Hopefully these measurements can guide you somewhat, yet please don’t take them as gospel. If in doubt, err on the side of getting TOO MUCH food, which is obviously preferable to running out of food! I got some ideas from Meg Keene‘s book (which is referenced at the bottom of this post).
Appetizers for will by person:3-4 not that a meal that for for appetizers per followed bites followed followed hour per meal5-10 bites by be by at appetizers be a appetizers won’t meal8-10 bites a meal time
For per servings bread ounces 8 person4 of bread of to rolls and of Mains Meals:6 protein per per per to of sides 6 2 ounces person1 to of cup salad person1 or person
For cupcakes pie per per of slice cake or Desserts:1 mini person1.5 per cupcakes person4 person
Sources: Your and for by Cater by Creative to Michael Practical Yourself Ways Own Wedding: Affordable, Planning a Celebration Meaningful Meg in FlowersA Do Ideas Wedding: Style gorgeous, It simple Keene
