What to do with food at outdoor wedding

Knottie39998946

We're having an outdoor wedding with a catered buffet, but the food is just being dropped off that morning- we are responsible for keeping it cold, setting it up, etc.  I don't want the food to be available to guests until after the ceremony and cocktail hour, but obviously I don't want to be setting food up in the middle of my wedding.  Does anyone have suggestions, or has anyone been in this situation?  It's a backyard wedding, so the food will be kept inside the house.  I'm stressing about keeping it all cold (way too much to keep in the fridge) and how/when to transport it outside.  I thought of asking a few friends to do it while we're taking pictures, but I hate to "put anyone to work" while at my wedding.  I also considered setting it up before hand, on top of a layer of frozen mats, and then hiding it under a tablecloth or something, but that seems tacky, right?

Maggie0829

Knottie39998946 said:

We're having an outdoor wedding with a catered buffet, but the food is just being dropped off that morning- we are responsible for keeping it cold, setting it up, etc.  I don't want the food to be available to guests until after the ceremony and cocktail hour, but obviously I don't want to be setting food up in the middle of my wedding.  Does anyone have suggestions, or has anyone been in this situation?  It's a backyard wedding, so the food will be kept inside the house.  I'm stressing about keeping it all cold (way too much to keep in the fridge) and how/when to transport it outside.  I thought of asking a few friends to do it while we're taking pictures, but I hate to "put anyone to work" while at my wedding.  I also considered setting it up before hand, on top of a layer of frozen mats, and then hiding it under a tablecloth or something, but that seems tacky, right?

Hire staff to keep the food at the appropriate temperature and to set it up, serve it and break it down.

And are you only serving cold food?

KatWAG

Do not ask freinds or family to do this for you.

You need to hire professionals. You also need to rent the proper equipment to keep all your food at the correct tempatures.

Because nothing says "wedding" like food poisoning.

 

Knottie39998946

Only serving cold food.  We don't have the budget to hire staff.

flantastic

It would be much easier for you to spring for the caterer to actually cater your event - then they're responsible for keeping the food at the appropriate temperature and serving it. Your instinct is right that you shouldn't put your guests to work.

If that's really not in your budget - why can't the caterer drop it off near cocktail hour and set it up themselves? That might be slightly more expensive, but not as much as if you have to buy three more refrigerators for your basement and hire help.

KatWAG

Knottie39998946 said:

Only serving cold food.  We don't have the budget to hire staff.

Tough. Then you need to re-configure your budget or get a second job.

Cold food can very easily make people sick if it gets too warm. Think about milk baking in the sun all day.

A reception is a thank yo to your guests, not a time to put them to work. Either you and your H need to take care of serving the food or you need to hire someone.

ohannabelle

You need to rent what's called a cold deck. Basically a big plastic insulated tub that fits on the table, filled with ice. 

That's a seven footer, and they make smaller ones as well.

You also need to have covered serving containers, like the ones you see on salad bar items. 

Call a party rental store. Around here, a seven footer rents for 35 a day. Well worth it. 

MandyMost

Knottie39998946 said:

Only serving cold food.  We don't have the budget to hire staff.

Maybe re-do your menu so not as many things need to be kept cold (i.e. more room-temperature foods). Otherwise you really need to figure out how to keep it cold, which likely means renting something to keep food cold. There's no other options, you don't want to give your guests food poisoning. 

If you can keep the food cold while set up outside, you can cover it with something like a table cloth, or just keep all the lids on everything on the tables and people will get the hint. People aren't going to want to eat stuff that looks like it's just been sitting out, though, so it better be clearly the correct temperature. Otherwise someone will have to bring the food out when it's time to serve it. 

Either way you need someone, not a guest, who's designated job is to either uncover the food, or bring it outside. Likely this person would also be responsible for replenishing anything, clearing the dirty containers, helping to clear plates and napkins if the guests don't do it themselves, etc. I don't know what your budget is, but I'd assume you could find someone to hire for something like $15/hour to do this. 

PrettyGirlLost

KatWAG said:

Knottie39998946 said:

Only serving cold food.  We don't have the budget to hire staff.

Tough. Then you need to re-configure your budget or get a second job.

Cold food can very easily make people sick if it gets too warm. Think about milk baking in the sun all day.

A reception is a thank yo to your guests, not a time to put them to work. Either you and your H need to take care of serving the food or you need to hire someone.

Oh great, Kumis or Kefir will be on the menu?  I'll pass.

lyndausvi

Keeping things cold:

Refrigerators.  Coolers.   Make ice packs to put on top (and bottom if needed) of the containers for ones that can't fit into a fridge or cooler. Then put towels overtop.  They will help keep the cold air in.

Setup:  Do you have any friends of friends who you can pay?  Connections to high school or college age students who want a few buck?  Even ask you favorite bartender or waitstaff if they or someone they might know would want to make a extra money.    You can just have them setup. Or even better setup, clean and then breakdown.

atlastmrsg

You need to hire someone.  Cut your honeymoon budget.  Skip centerpieces.  Something has to give because giving your guests food poisoning or a crappy meal isn't appropriate.  How will the last guest feel that goes down the line and things aren't replenished, so they're picking at whatever ham salad or something else that's left because all the turkey sandwiches are gone?  It's not like you're going to be putting more sandwiches out in your wedding dress.  And having guests do this is never okay.

Jen4948

Knottie39998946 said:

Only serving cold food.  We don't have the budget to hire staff.

Expecting your guests to serve themselves cold food that's been sitting outside and clean up, aside from the rudeness of it, just isn't going to work.

If you can't budget to hire anyone to do the serving and cleanup, then you either need to postpone your wedding and save the necessary funds, or you need to find some other affordable setup that neither leaves cold food exposed nor requires guests to work your wedding.

When one of my cousins got married, she didn't budget for anyone to serve or clean up, so all us family members got roped into it and we HATED it-especially those of us who had to take off work and travel long distance to attend. We didn't appreciate having to go to all that trouble (not to mention get her and her husband gifts) only to be saddled with a cleanup job. And because we weren't pros, some things got spilled on the venue floor that left a stain that was expensive to clean up.

Knottie39998946

"PrettyGirlLost":  I feel bad for your husband

wrigleyville

Knottie39998946 said:

"PrettyGirlLost":  I feel bad for your husband

Personal attacks violate the TOS.

PrettyGirlLost

Knottie39998946 said:

"PrettyGirlLost":  I feel bad for your husband

Lmfao! I made a single, obscure joke and I get singled out?! I would have voted Katwag's tough comment as far more worthy of the feeling sorry for the husband comment.

PS. My husband loves my sense of humor. . .Which is why we are married. And he thinks your idea is crappy and likely to make your guests sick.

Viczaesar

Knottie39998946 said:

"PrettyGirlLost":  I feel bad for your husband

Because you know her husband personally and he's confided in you that the lack of kefir in his life is causing him emotional anguish? 

PrettyGirlLost

Viczaesar said:

Knottie39998946 said:

"PrettyGirlLost":  I feel bad for your husband

Because you know her husband personally and he's confided in you that the lack of kefir in his life is causing him emotional anguish? 


It's more like where do you get authentic, organic, free range Kumis in our parts ;-)

mikenberger

Knottie39998946 said:

We're having an outdoor wedding with a catered buffet, but the food is just being dropped off that morning- we are responsible for keeping it cold, setting it up, etc.  I don't want the food to be available to guests until after the ceremony and cocktail hour, but obviously I don't want to be setting food up in the middle of my wedding.  Does anyone have suggestions, or has anyone been in this situation?  It's a backyard wedding, so the food will be kept inside the house.  I'm stressing about keeping it all cold (way too much to keep in the fridge) and how/when to transport it outside.  I thought of asking a few friends to do it while we're taking pictures, but I hate to "put anyone to work" while at my wedding.  I also considered setting it up before hand, on top of a layer of frozen mats, and then hiding it under a tablecloth or something, but that seems tacky, right?

The fact that you want to use frozen mats and hiding food under a tablecloth is the LEAST of your tacky issues, my dear.

You need to hire people for this, period. You run an actual risk of giving your guests food poisoning. Think about it like this: "Sally's wedding was so beautiful... but I puked for an entire day afterwards. I think it was the potato salad. It looked like she did everything herself and didn't even pay a catering company. I bet I got sick because the food sat out." And then your wedding becomes the event of the year that everybody lost 5lbs from vomiting. And everybody forgets how pretty everything else is and how sick everybody was.

See if a local high school has some students for hire or a local community college in a culinary program or anything. Something. Anything has to be better than your current plan.

PrettyGirlLost

@mikenberger I feel sorry for your husband.

mikenberger

PrettyGirlLost said:

@mikenberger I feel sorry for your husband.

You just need laid.

theartistformerlyknownas

If it's not in your budget to keep your food at appropriate temperatures and serve it to your guests at the appropriate time(s), you did your budget wrong. You need to go back over it and see where you can shuffle costs around. This is a non-negotiable MUST HAVE. This is more important than any aesthetic detail of your day. Flowers, linens, dress, music, etc. Food costs come first.

Do you know anyone who works at a restaurant? See if they have a few friends who would be willing to come set this up for you at the appropriate time, and pay them each $50. Keep everything well chilled in a cool area of your house until then.

ShesSoCold

mikenberger said:

PrettyGirlLost said:

@mikenberger I feel sorry for your husband.

You just need laid.

Both of you, please, improve personal quality. 

JennyColada

I really just cannot imagine trying to pay for a wedding down to your last penny. Why put yourself through all that stress? It really just sounds like you can't afford your plans, and that's ok! There's nothing wrong with having a smaller or more affordable wedding. No one is going to look down on you or your marriage for not stretching your budget to the breaking point.

Can you shorten your guest list? Eliminate any decorations or flowers?

Just like you wouldn't buy a BMW when you have the budget of a Honda, you need to approach your wedding planning the same way.

PrettyGirlLost

JennyColada said:

I really just cannot imagine trying to pay for a wedding down to your last penny. Why put yourself through all that stress? It really just sounds like you can't afford your plans, and that's ok! There's nothing wrong with having a smaller or more affordable wedding. No one is going to look down on you or your marriage for not stretching your budget to the breaking point.

Can you shorten your guest list? Eliminate any decorations or flowers?

Just like you wouldn't buy a BMW when you have the budget of a Honda, you need to approach your wedding planning the same way.

How about postpone the wedding and extend your engagement to save for wedding?

JoanE2012

Knottie39998946 said:

We're having an outdoor wedding with a catered buffet, but the food is just being dropped off that morning- we are responsible for keeping it cold, setting it up, etc.  I don't want the food to be available to guests until after the ceremony and cocktail hour, but obviously I don't want to be setting food up in the middle of my wedding.  Does anyone have suggestions, or has anyone been in this situation?  It's a backyard wedding, so the food will be kept inside the house.  I'm stressing about keeping it all cold (way too much to keep in the fridge) and how/when to transport it outside.  I thought of asking a few friends to do it while we're taking pictures, but I hate to "put anyone to work" while at my wedding.  I also considered setting it up before hand, on top of a layer of frozen mats, and then hiding it under a tablecloth or something, but that seems tacky, right?

This is a disaster waiting to happen.  If you can't afford to hire someone to setup and monitor food temperatures, you have several options including.....  

Postpone your wedding while you save up more.  

Cut back your guest list, your decor, something....so you can pay someone to help you. 

Have your wedding at a non-meal time.  You can just serve cake and punch afterwards.  

Elope!

You don't want to be remembered for the wedding where everyone got sick.  Do it right.

AddieCake

Yeah, you need to scale back somewhere, save up more, or something. If you can't afford to keep food at a proper temperature, you should not be having this event.

Viczaesar

Seriously, OP, food safety should be your primary concern.  It's not something to fuck around with.

climbingsingle

This is not something that is negotiable. Food needs to be kept at proper temperatures for your guests. 

LondonLisa

OP, this is a recipe for food poisoning! 

Why not get married at 2, have cake and punch from 2:30-5 (with someone paid to cut, serve and clean up)

There you do not have to have the same food poisoning risks. Food that needs to be kept cold NEEDS to be kept cold. Ice trays, frozen coolers etc only work for drinks that are preferred served chilled, not food that is required to be served cold- a HUGE difference! 

Do this experiment: go leave a jar of mayonnaise or a glass of milk outside in the summer in the sun on a cold tray for 3-4 hours, then bring it in and see how great it smells. Would you make a sandwich with that? Would you drink down all of that milk? I bet you wouldn't even after it had been out there for 30 minutes!

This is a story that made the news rounds recently in the UK about a pub that didn't keep their cooked meat cold properly- 31 people were violently ill and 1 woman died. That is one way to have a memorable and talked-about wedding!

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11365408/Essex-pub-chef-and-manager-jailed-after-diner-dies-and-31-others-taken-ill-with-food-poisoning.html

PrettyGirlLost

I'm still the only person to get the classic line?!  OP just must hate cats. . .

hellosweetie1015

LondonLisa said:

OP, this is a recipe for food poisoning! 

Why not get married at 2, have cake and punch from 2:30-5 (with someone paid to cut, serve and clean up)

There you do not have to have the same food poisoning risks. Food that needs to be kept cold NEEDS to be kept cold. Ice trays, frozen coolers etc only work for drinks that are preferred served chilled, not food that is required to be served cold- a HUGE difference! 

Do this experiment: go leave a jar of mayonnaise or a glass of milk outside in the summer in the sun on a cold tray for 3-4 hours, then bring it in and see how great it smells. Would you make a sandwich with that? Would you drink down all of that milk? I bet you wouldn't even after it had been out there for 30 minutes!

This is a story that made the news rounds recently in the UK about a pub that didn't keep their cooked meat cold properly- 31 people were violently ill and 1 woman died. That is one way to have a memorable and talked-about wedding!

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11365408/Essex-pub-chef-and-manager-jailed-after-diner-dies-and-31-others-taken-ill-with-food-poisoning.html

Um. That's making me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. 

OP, food safety is a huge deal. You don't want to be the reason everyone you love (and you and your FI) end up at the doctor or in the hospital with food poisoning. People with suppressed or weakened immune systems, or the elderly, or the very young, can die from food poisoning. 

Not worth it to save a few dollars.