Wedding Cakes & Food Forum

Catering my own reception! Help!

I need ideas! I am having a very traditional LDS reception several hours after the temple wedding ceremony (no drinking, no paid caterer, lots and lots of people coming and going all night). We expect a minimum of 300 guests. 
My relatives and I will prepare the food  a few days before so we need to come up with a menu that can be frozen or refridgerated nicely. The food will be presented very nicely in a buffet-line style. We've thought of bread bowls with soup and possibly pasta, but if anyone has a better idea please let me know! Thanks!!!

Re: Catering my own reception! Help!

  • edited December 2011
    Yikes! Catering for 300?  I'd be intimidated, but you make it sound like that's the norm in your LDS circle so I won't question it. 

    I'd stick with pasta that can be easily frozen and reheated in bulk.  Lasagna comes to mind, but you could do it with just about any baked pasta dish.  Then you can supplement the pasta with a salad bar with toppings that can simply be purchased and put into bowls (cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, croutons, etc.)

    I just worry that the bread bowls for soup would get stale before the wedding.  
  • inkfingersinkfingers member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I never thought of the bread bowls going stale! Thanks for the tip!
  • edited December 2011
    You could still have some soups, just ditch the bread bowls.  For late August, I think some chilled soup selections would be nice: strawberry, cantaloupe, ginger carrot, gazpacho.  

    Lasagna is always what I suggest for this kind of thing.  You could have a few different kinds (white sauce, grilled veggies, meat) for the buffet.  I like NOLA's idea of a salad bar, too.  
  • edited December 2011
    Pasta can easily be cooked and then frozen. When ready to serve just drop the frozen pasta in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes to reheat. You could also easily heat different sauces up if you wanted to do a generic pasta and maybe tomato, alfredo and even a pesto. I'd also suggest checking if you have a GFS or another bulk whole seller in your area. I personally love GFS because you don't need a membership like you do at Costco. They have great product for good prices and a lot of it you can easily reheat. They offer a big variety of meats and side dishes. They also sell sterno set ups. Seek out a good restaurant supply store if you need any sterno or plating/serving pieces. You'll get good quality for a great price. Good luck!
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  • sarabellamsarabellam member
    5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    Not to be a Debbie Downer, but do you have the refrigerator/freezer storage space for food for 300 people? Do you have access to a large enough kitchen space to cook and reheat everything? Who is going to be in charge of refilling the serving dishes, cleaning up the inevitable spills, setting up, breaking down, final clean up, ensuring that hot foods are hot enough and cold foods are cold enough that you don't give your 300 wedding guests a raging case of food poisoning... to me, this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_food-cakes_catering-own-reception-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:23Discussion:22a4c756-ea93-417f-810a-236aa679d471Post:93ec3dbc-7ecb-4678-b19b-80a290c20164">Re: Catering my own reception! Help!</a>:
    [QUOTE]Not to be a Debbie Downer, but do you have the refrigerator/freezer storage space for food for 300 people? Do you have access to a large enough kitchen space to cook and reheat everything? Who is going to be in charge of refilling the serving dishes, cleaning up the inevitable spills, setting up, breaking down, final clean up, ensuring that hot foods are hot enough and cold foods are cold enough that you don't give your 300 wedding guests a raging case of food poisoning... to me, this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
    Posted by sarabellam[/QUOTE]

    <div>You'd have to know LDS members to know that this is, often times, completely doable.</div><div>
    </div><div>I really like the idea of chilled soups and PP gave a lot of good options.</div>
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  • inkfingersinkfingers member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you so much for all the wonderful ideas! 
    And to Debbie Downer: most of the guests will be family who have gone through this before without a single case of food poisoning, I assure you. My aunts are practically super-heroes with really huge refridgerators! haha!
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