Thank you all for visiting my little corner of the internet. I have had many questions about how I fed 250 people on $100. Well, the answer is I didn't. We had a cake and punch reception and a rehearsal dinner. Both of those, I did for $100. We fed about 25 at the rehearsal dinner and 250 people cake, punch, and cookies for that. We had TONS of cupcakes left over which went to a baby shower the next day.
There are some things that you can do to save on a wedding dinner. One is to not have one at all. 40 years ago, people didn't expect to have a dinner and dancing at a wedding reception. They expected cake and punch. This has all but died out since wedding seem to be mostly about out spending one another. Check TLC if you don't believe me.
Another is to have a pot luck. You provide the main dish and everyone brings sides. This works better for a small, intimate reception perhaps just family and close friends.
If you still want to have a catered wedding, it is much cheaper to do a buffet. Guests fill their own plates with the amount they can actually eat, so there is less waste. You also don't have to pay a catering staff to bring the food out to the guest tables and plate the food. This saves you about $600 an hour. Friends and family are usually more than happy to make sure the pans stay full and clean them up afterwards.
Check with your local grocery store deli for catering. Our local Schnuck's offers 250 pieces of chicken and a few sides for $200 dollars. Combine a few sides of your own and you can feed 150 people easily. It is also cheaper to have your main course catered in and prepare the sides yourself. They can usually be done the day ahead and refrigerated or reheated.
If you are a super woman and you are going to DIY the whole meal by yourself, consider things that stretch far and are easy to do. You will be busy getting married, so you won't be able to be in the kitchen. I know Chef Ramsey would kill me, but think about things that can be frozen and are ok. Pulled pork, Italian beef, meat ball subs are all things that can be done the day before and reheated in roasters. They are pretty easy and super tasty. Shredded meats tend to stretch farther. Check out some potluck recipe books.
The other half of planning a meal that stretches far and saves money is to shop sales. Our deep freeze was a life saver. About a month before we found pork butt roasts for 59 cents a pound. This was a great deal and we were able to purchase enough for the rehearsal dinner and one for us later down the road. I probably wouldn't shop any earlier than 3 months before the big day. You don't want to serve freezer burnt food. Don't be afraid to use coupons!
How did you save money on your wedding meal?
