need advice....

[dizy1j62881]

Ok so we are wanting to have a "catered" reception. I've suggested just doing a simple reception but he wants a party style. Which I'd honestly like to have. I'd really like to keep the food under like 1000 honestly and that doesn't include like drinks. For that we were thinking about just about stocking up on soda throughout the next few months when on sale at wal mart and storing for wedding. I'd really like to keep simple and inexpensive. But how?? Any ideas??

TIA for any help!!!

[f77g4]

Well first of all how many people are you planning on having? The more guests, the greater the costs!

Also, what are prices in your area charging for meals? I mean I've heard of anything upwards of $100 per person.

So price and number of people will be your biggest determinant of what type of meal you can have for $1,000 IMO.

Stocking up on the pop idea sounds like a good plan but be sure to check with your reception venue if you are able to bring in your own beverages - some places don't allow you.

[dizy1j62881]

we are looking at no more than 150 people. Our reception place that is our number 1 (so far) is at the fair grounds in our (very) small town. We are actually getting it at a low cost price due to its a friday night and my fiance is a fire fighter in town. They pretty much don't have weddings out there like almost never but still. So we are open ended on possiblities for the hall. My sister is going into interior design so she and i can decorate most the week and have fun with that. This way she can add it to her portfolio. the average price around here is anywhere from 15pp to 50pp. Depends alot if you go in to the big city by us. We are looking at maybe using this local back yard style meat co that does catering at fair and are really good friends with some good friends of ours.

[f77g4]

Wow thats quite a large guest list with only $1,000 for food IMO.

Even if you get the lowest at $15pp you are looking at over $2,000 for 150 people.

Maybe you could look at doing your own food - it might help with costs.

Hopefully one of the other ladies here will be better able to help you.

[dizy1j62881]

Yeah I keep trying to tell him we need to scale it down some!! But we'll see I want to try and do most the food on our own but he doesn't want the stress.....men i tell ya. I think what we might do though is go to like sams club and get bulk food and have someone at reception with it cooking it so i'm looking at all options!!!

[Katiegirl]

We've gone back and forth with our food decision. We were lucky enough to find a caterer that would do BBQ style food for around $13/person. We're inviting around 115 people. We decided even though it was a good price for catering, we're going to do the food ourselves. We have friends and family that have volunteered to help us. It's going to save us upwards of ~$700-800!

Good luck with whatever you decide. :)

[wannabeNurse2]

Do you have a college near you that has a culinary school? You could hire a student that needs to build his portfolio. You could buy the food in bulk from Sam's Club, and have the student cook it. Sams Club has a lot of nice veggie trays, meat trays, fruit trays, and cheese trays. Another option could be to get meat and cheese trays from Sams Club then buy buns (which Sams Club also sells) so the guests can make sandwhiches. My sister did this for her afternoon wedding, and it was really cheap. I'd go to Sams Club to see what they can do for catering. Also try talking to the deli at your local grocery store. We were going to have our reception catered by a grocery store before we changed our venue. You can DIY the food without the added stress of actually making the food yourself. Good luck!

[dizy1j62881]

I've actually heard about hiring culinery students before actually. We live in a very small town and the few colleges that are local (within an hours drive though) are community colleges so i'm not sure if they have it but i think i might need to look into that idea...good idea!!! yeah just on a small note....our town is so small that the ONLY fire dept is the volunteer dept. And our downtown consists of maybe MAYBE 2 blocks...so trying to keep it local and cost down its doeable but limited at the same time....good thing I started looking early!!! I'll look around in the next couple weeks as schools get back going and let you know about the student idea...hey its how my sister is adding to her designer portfolio is by helping decorating and same with photographer so why not!!! LOL

[f77g4]

Also why not look through Craigslist and see if you can find someone looking to build their portfolio or you could also post your own ad on there with what you were looking for. Could also check kijiji.

[TileArt]

If you have a restaurant around you that you really like maybe you could talk to one of the cooks. They don't make a whole lot of money and if you could find one that you feel confident would do a great job, offer him some cash to come and cook for you. Most don't really make more than $100 a day for a full shift so if you offered them more than that they would probably be willing.
You could get the food in bulk at Sam's and a lot of it could be prepared the day before. Have like a barbeque buffet or something similar and it should be relatively easy to stay within your budget. Culinary students are great resources, too, if that's an option.