Unique Catering Ideas

stephy122409

Does anyone have any ideas for unique food? I am looking for something that isn't crazy expensive but I feel like we have to pay a little more for something out of the norm for wedding food. I also fear not pleasing the masses but I don't think that is the only consideration as long as there is something for everyone. I honestly am strongly considering wood fired gourmet pizza, with pasta, wings and they have a gluten free option. I thought this would cover all my bases but I have gotten some major criticism for "pizza". It isn't like I am going down to pizza hut. Has anyone done good pizza?

lyndausvi

There is nothing wrong with pizza.   question is where are you getting the pizza from.  If it's cooked at the venue it would work.  If you have to bring it on, maybe not so much.

stephy122409

It would be cooked at venue with a woodfired oven, they bring with.

kimmiinthemitten

stephy122409 said:

Does anyone have any ideas for unique food? I am looking for something that isn't crazy expensive but I feel like we have to pay a little more for something out of the norm for wedding food. I also fear not pleasing the masses but I don't think that is the only consideration as long as there is something for everyone. I honestly am strongly considering wood fired gourmet pizza, with pasta, wings and they have a gluten free option. I thought this would cover all my bases but I have gotten some major criticism for "pizza". It isn't like I am going down to pizza hut. Has anyone done good pizza?

I think if you do this you could do a station serve so guests can walk around and choose from the various stations.  Your first two ideas sound very Italian, so that's a start.  Does your city/region have a particular type of food it's known for?  One of the ideas my caterer recommended for me was a Detroit menu representing GreekTown, MexicanTown, Faygo ribs, pierogis, something crusted with Bettermade chips, and a late night coney (the coney is still in actually).

STARMOON44

Pizza isn't unique, first off. We all eat it all the time.

The goal shouldn't be unique. It should be good. Will there be lines waiting for pizza? How will they serve everyone hot pizza at once? Will they stagger tables?

It can work, but unless you want the big takeaway from your wedding to be "waited an hour and a half for pizza" you need to have a solid plan.

CMGragain

I hate that word "unique".  It means that nobody has EVER done it before.

MesmrEwe

A friend just did this for her do-over last month...  It was about an hour and a half before I got a slice of pizza, and this was a very small group...  I also wasn't a fan of the choices for pizza considering they were making them on the spot, it'd been nice to have more options besides pepperoni, cheese, and pesto..

MesmrEwe

If you want unique wedding food, you don't have to look any further than ensuring the food is delicious!  That would be a unique event!  It doesn't matter your choice as long as it's a "foodgasm" in your mouth good, with proper portion sizes, and an actual portion of cake for dessert and not an itsy bitsy tiny slice of (mouth watering, actual butter in the buttercream) cake.  It's not that this is a hard thing to do, it just involves the simple art of tasting what they are preparing and seasoning/flavoring it properly, a step left out of far too many products!

Jen4948

I woulde worry about whether or not the food is "unique" - in fact, so many people are picky eaters or have dietary issues of various kinds that I would prioritize having enough good-tasting, properly prepared and served food that people will eat over "uniqueness" which guests may actually find off-putting.

Blue_Bird

stephy122409 said:

Does anyone have any ideas for unique food? I am looking for something that isn't crazy expensive but I feel like we have to pay a little more for something out of the norm for wedding food. I also fear not pleasing the masses but I don't think that is the only consideration as long as there is something for everyone. I honestly am strongly considering wood fired gourmet pizza, with pasta, wings and they have a gluten free option. I thought this would cover all my bases but I have gotten some major criticism for "pizza". It isn't like I am going down to pizza hut. Has anyone done good pizza?

I think that if you want pizza and your venue can do it well and serve it hot to everyone (key point), then you should have pizza. If your motivation is just to set your wedding apart from the last wedding you went to, you're doing it wrong. Absolutely no one cares about that. They just want good food, good music, and to be treated with respect when they come to celebrate you happy union. They won't remember how "unique" it was (or wasn't).

jacques27

MesmrEwe said:

If you want unique wedding food, you don't have to look any further than ensuring the food is delicious!  That would be a unique event!  It doesn't matter your choice as long as it's a "foodgasm" in your mouth good, with proper portion sizes, and an actual portion of cake for dessert and not an itsy bitsy tiny slice of (mouth watering, actual butter in the buttercream) cake.  It's not that this is a hard thing to do, it just involves the simple art of tasting what they are preparing and seasoning/flavoring it properly, a step left out of far too many products!

To build on this, for me unique would be getting food hot, in a timely manner, considerate of dietary restrictions, and in a portion that constitutes an actual meals worth.  Just managing that would probably set you apart from at least half of the weddings out there.

The last four weddings I have been to:
1. Sit down dinner where I was at the back of the room and one of the last tables served - my food was cold and I had only just gotten my salad course when the first tables served were just finishing up dessert. 

2. Heavy apps buffet that literally had only one item I could eat (a fruit and cheese skewer) because everything was either breaded and fried or served in tortillas/bread which I can't eat and the one thing I could eat ran out pretty quickly.  (Also had cash bar.)

3.  Italian buffet dinner that ran out of all the salads and the one entree I could eat before I got up to the head of the line and ran out of food period with about 30 people to go.

4.  Another heavy apps buffet that had multiple stations (with about 15 items on the menu) but everything was so poorly timed that at any given time whoever was at the head of the line only had a choice of about 2-3 different items, and those wouldn't be the same 2-3 items someone 20 people back in line got and at least 5 of the items never made it out at all.  Oh, and there was a cash bar and food service started at least an hour late.  I hit up Taco Bell on the way home because I got about five bites of food total at the wedding.

So, yeah, I don't care about "unique food".  No one cares about "unique food".  They care about getting delicious food timely.  Really.  You can have the most unique wedding food anyone has seen, but if logistically it can't feed everyone a full meal in a timely manner all they are going to remember is how hungry they were and what a sh*tshow it was to get any food.

julieanne912

I believe @TheCheeseWench did wood-fired pizza at her wedding, so she can probably chime in.

cj3561

I am doing a fresh, "gourmet" taco bar for my reception. My caterer was awesome and went crazy with all sorts of toppings, salsas including vegetarian options etc. - it was shockingly affordable. Pair it with margaritas and you have one hell of a party!

SP29

My friend had gourmet pizza at her wedding- 3 flavours. It was cooked at the venue, then served pre-cut all together, so no waiting around. 

Knottie1444090863

I think pizza can be so cute and creative! We're having a small local mexican food cater because that provides easy variations for vegan/gluten free folks. They'll have a salad, taquitos, burritos, quesadillas for picky eaters, and it's about $7 a head. They're known for their organic and fresh food so I think it will be delicious, and it pairs well with beer and margaritas! Pizza is awesome because any drink goes well with it and you can make it so customizable- a make-your-own pizza bar would be adorable. 

ScottishSarah

I'm making homemade pizza for dinner now after reading this!  

OP, like you we wanted something a bit different.  We decided in the end to mix up the serving styles,  so first apps are passed, 2nd apps are family style, next mid course plated, main course plated, then a buffet for dessert and cheese so people aren't stuck at dinner for too long. 

You could maybe do the Pizza Van (check they can handle your numbers!) Then perhaps family style anti pasta on the tables to keep people going, a buffet of different salads and breads, maybe a plated dessert choice etc.  Would prevent a queue for pizza preventing people from getting fed.