Catering Yourself?

halfbreedfox

I haven't seen one of these, so I figured I would start one.

Has anyone catered food for their own wedding or know of someone who did? Of course it doesn't have to be a one man job, having family and friends pitch in would be obvious.

I've worked in food for a long time and a friend of mine has training and experience at four and five star restaurants. We would only be cooking for 45 guests.

I really just wanted to know if anyone here has done/tried this and if the payoff was worth the work.

itzMS

The problem with cooking your own food is that no one should be "tasked" with it...they should offer unprovoked.

Certainly, you and your friend have the necessary food safety training...but you shouldn't be working at your own wedding!

Getting my nearest and dearest sick with food poisoning is the last thing I'd want...so hiring a professional to maintain and monitor food prep and temperature is well worth it IMHO.

ETA: Your wedding is in THREE WEEKS?!?! I think you should have figured out the whole food situation by now. Yikes.

Maggie0829

I haven't but a few questions to consider before you make your decision.

Will your venue allowed a non-licensed caterer (you) to bring in food?  Some venues do not allow this due to insurance reasons.

Will you have access to a large enough kitchen to keep the hot food hot and the cold food cold before the reception?

Are you thinking buffet or plated?  Either way who is going to be in charge of setting everything up and then standing by to make sure the buffet stays full and clean or that the plates are getting plated correctly and cleanly?

Who is going to do all the clean up at the end of the night?

Are you really ok sacrificing the days before your wedding making all the food?  I can tell you that I was pretty busy the few days leadingn up to the wedding and the last thing that I would have wanted to do was prepare and cook enough food for 45 guests.

Finally, are your friends and family volunteering to help or are you volunteering them for this job yourself?  You really can't ask them to help with this.

I know there are probably many more things to consider but that is all I can think of at the moment.

mybestfriendswedding15

Weddings around here aren't very formal. I have only been to 1 wedding that was actually catered. Usually, the women of the family deal with the food being served. It has never been an issue even with larger weddings than yours.

NOLAbridealmost

If your wedding is in three weeks, I'd get on the phone with a local Whole Foods or nice grocery store and talk to them about putting together fruit, veggie, cheese, sandwich, wrap, and antipasti trays. 

You can round that out with a couple chafing dishes (you can easily rent or buy those from smartyhadaparty or a restaurant supply store) of pasta. You can order the pasta from a local Italian restaurant or make it yourself if you're REALLY ambitious. Serve with rolls and butter. 

And that's about as close to DIY as I would ever recommend going with a self- catered situation. 

Offer a teenage cousin or family friend $100 to man the food and keep things clean. Use disposable plates and utensils.

Jen4948

In addition to the issues listed above, something else to be considered is that at the wedding, you would have to spend a good deal of time preparing the food to be served, serving it, and cleaning up.  Your outfit could be damaged, and it definitely reduces the time you have available to socialize with your guests.

kipnus

I can tell you what we did for my sister's wedding: A few weeks beforehand, my mom and sister got permission to use the church kitchen to cook and store a whole ton of cabbage rolls. They also brought in frozen perogies. For the actual day of the wedding, they hired a few ladies from church to whip up some big salads and they made sure that things stayed at the right temperature.

I think if it is food that can be prepared well in advance, it can work, but you should definitely hire some help for the wedding day. 45 guests isn't bad. I think there were around 150 at my sister's wedding.

halfbreedfox

Thanks for all the concerns and tips, ladies. Those who were skeptical brought up some excellent points, but I assure you I thought this through and have everything planned out, including help and if I could serve food. For those who had tips, thank you for the support and great ideas.

I was really just looking for outcomes and opinions of catering from friends versus professionals. I suppose I should have made it more clear.