Homemade favors at a "no outside food" venue

debbieupper

Hey gals!

Another knottie and I have been talking about doing homemade favors (caramel apples - yay!), and I know some of you have done other homemade things in the past.  If you have, or if you have any tips, do you know if that was an "okay" thing to do at a venue that says "no outside food"?

I guess I assumed that rule was regarding the catered dinner being served, or cake ... not necessarily packaged favors that are for bringing home (even though technically they might open them up and eat them there).

I'm thinking it might be best to commit the crime and ask for forgiveness later ... but that's just how I roll. Oops!

Liberty27

I would say that the best answer is to just ask your venue.  I had always thought that favors were an "exception" but you would probably be safest to ask.  With that being said if the venue is concerened with people eating them at the venue itself, ask if they would be more leinient if you placed the apples on a table near the exit so people could grab them as they are leaving. Maybe ask the DJ or MC to make an announcement to that effect.

Sara191431

Hey lady - I wrote you back on the other post...

drdifabio

Yea I agree - just ask your venue quick - I am sure they have had the same situation before.

debbieupper

You guys are all so good and by the book. I guess I'll do the "right" thing and ask ... maybe.

hkiesling

Check with your venue.  Often it's due to health codes and food has to be made by a licensed baker.  My aunt made our cake, but she's a licensed baker.  We did canned goods for favors, but they weren't "served" at the reception.  People took them home.

Sara191431

Hi Debbie - So I got the Daffy Apples today, and sorry to say I wasn't really impressed.   They are pretty small, they would be doable, however, they special crunch isn't that great or that crunchy.  Idk, even though they are cheap there's basically a reason for that.  You'll have to let me know what you think  when you get yours....

I finally got the go ahead from FI tonight for the other ones, so I'm pretty pumped:) 

Good luck with whatever route you end up going!  I say if you want to be sneaky I doubt you'll get in trouble, let's just hope your venue doesn't look at these boards:)

debbieupper

Bummer, Sara! I think the only thing we'd be using from them is the caramel, so we'll have to see how that tastes. 

But since you got the go-ahead for the RMCF apples -- do it! I agree, they're completely delicious and gourmet! Your guests are going to freak out (I would!).

I don't think we'll get in trouble at the Little Log House ... the owner has been really, really relaxed and flexible. We'll see what he says.

andreaadam

I'd check with your venue first. If it's due to health code or something they may not even let you put them out which would be awful since you did all that work. Ours specifically said that even favors had to be purchased through them. We can't even bring our own bottles of water while getting ready.

Sara191431

Thanks - Yeah he hadn't really given me a final response, and I didn't push it as we obviously have time to figure it out.  But I was talking about the DJ last night as I booked that, and he's like alright you got your apples and the DJ can we have a wedding talk free night tonight.  I'm like what wait I second I can have the apples, he said yes it's fine, I know how bad you want them.  I was surprised he conceded so soon!:)

Good idea on getting the caramel from them, since obviously you know it will work well for dipping apples.  If you make them, that will be a good thing from what I was told, getting the consistency right.  Again, good luck, keep me updated! 

Oh and btw, we have similar taste it seems, back when I had saved your reception venue under my favorites as it was unique and very pretty.  And, our main colors for our wedding will be pewter and fuschia, for BM's I'm thinking the pewter with an accent of fuschia, so similar to slate gray.  Oh and I love your cake flavors, we will be having a chocolate combo as well as either a pumpkin option or an apple w/cream cheese type option.  Anywho - thought I'd share as our stuff seemed similar:)

MesmrEwe

There actually is a spot in Ag. Food law that you're o.k. to do this, however most venues don't know about it thus their rules as a business what they are to cover their buns.  The rule stems back to state food codes and sourcing requirements for food managers, it's one of those things that you have to think in loopy lawyer think to get around, but yes, even if you call a state compliance officer it comes down to the venue's choice.  We had a knottie here a couple years ago that didn't check with her venue and had her aunt make the wedding cake - the venue refused to allow the cake to be served because it wasn't from a licensed kitchen, then to add insult to injury they charged her for the cutting service which was agreed to in the contract...  246 servings of cake leftover just because of not checking with the venue...

As long as your favors are pre-packaged you shouldn't have any issues.  But again, just check with your venue...

theophania

After reading this post I got worried about bringing in my homemade favors to my venue.  I thought about just asking for forgiveness, but decided that I would rather know now rather than worry about it on the wedding day.  I figured I could always hand them out after the ceremony if we couldn't bring them to the reception.  Anyway, I emailed the reception coordinator, and she said it would be no problem!  Whew!!