How To Cater Your Wedding (Part 3 -The Food & Drinks)

 Let’s Explore

Tools to Help You Plan the Food and Drinks for a Self-Catered Wedding.

Why do you need tools to help you plan the food and drinks for a self-catered wedding?

Because you have probably never done this before, and you want to have a relaxed and stress-free reception!

Here are some questions that might give you insight into the process involved in planning a self-catered wedding reception.

• Can a food preference list help you choose a menu?
• Will a worksheet that helps you determine how much food to prepare reduce your stress level?
• Would you like to turn on your computer and open your recipes in software that you can modify with just a click to change the number of servings?
• Does a grocery list generated from your menu, that opens in your phone while you are shopping, where you can check off the items as you place them in the cart,  sound appealing?
• Could a Food Preparation schedule help you keep organized; tracking who is preparing each menu item and when?
• Do you want to serve more than one entree?  How do you adjust the recipe quantities accordingly?
• Are you considering having a Pot Luck reception where guests could choose to bring a dish instead of a gift?
• Have you ever prepared large quantities of food in the past?  Are you familiar with the guidelines for cooking large amounts of food?

 Why Do I Think I Can Help You Plan to Cater Your Wedding?

I have experience that began with helping a friend self-cater her wedding, then catering my own, and finally building a consulting business where I spent 12 years helping my clients plan to cater their own weddings with 25 to 300 guests

 The Best Part

You can have a well-organized, stress-free reception by using the wide range of tools developed to help you plan the menu and prepare the food.  Additional information included in the blog, plus all the forms, and lists, etc. available in the How to Cater Your Wedding Planning Guide will guide you through the planning process. 

By the day of your wedding, you will be relaxed because you know every aspect of planning to cater your wedding has been covered.

DID YOU KNOW?

Before we deal with the menu and recipes, let’s touch base on a few things relative to the food and reception that could influence the planning or budget.

Food Preparation

Time Evaluation

Be sure to include the time of friends and family who will be helping you.

A.  How much time will you have to prepare the food

In the two to three weeks prior to your event?

1. Several hours                __
2. One whole day              __
3. More than eight hours __

Two to three days prior to your event?

1. Several hours in blocks __
2. One whole day                __
3. More than eight hours  __

B.  Do you have time to shop and prepare all the food? Will friends be helping?

C.  Have you considered purchasing a bulk entrée from your favorite restaurant?

D.  Do you have someone who can pick up any purchased food on the day of the event?

Space Evaluation

1. How many refrigerators do you have?   _
2. How much freezer space do you have?  _
3. How many ice chests do you have?        _

The Facility

Why?  As you plan your menu it is helpful to know what is available in the kitchen at the venue.

• Is there a stove and oven for reheating items?
• How many pans will fit in the oven at one time?
• How large is the refrigerator (s)?  Will it hold all the items that need to be kept cold until they are ready to be placed on the buffet?  If not, it is not a deal-breaker because you will have made other arrangements.
• Will there be adequate counter space to hold multiple serving pieces while arranging the food?
• Are all the appliances in working order?
• Are there sufficient electrical plugs if you are using crockpots to keep food warm?

Do You Want the Tone of the Reception

to be

Formal

Casual

or

 Between the Two?

Most of my clients used the following criteria to determine the formality of their set-up.

FORMAL

This might include rented linen tablecloths and napkins, glass stemware, and silverware.    In addition to impacting the budget, renting various items can affect the time schedule in several ways.

1.  The items will need to be picked up from the rental facility or delivered, at an additional charge.

2.  They also require substantial additional time during the set-up because each piece will be individually wrapped in plastic;  which will require that someone unwrap them prior to setting the tables or placing them on the buffet.

3.  Finally, when the room is cleared at the end of the event, each piece will need to be returned to the kitchen to be rinsed and returned to its holder.  If rental pieces are returned with any sign of visible food you will be charged.

4.  Also, if any pieces are broken you will be charged a fee that will make you question why you couldn’t see the 14 karat gold that was apparently covering the item.

SEMI-CASUAL

This could incorporate mixing some rental items with disposables.

Many of my clients chose to rent the table linens and wine glasses, which gave the room a polished look.  They bought disposable plates, beer glasses, plastic silverware, and paper napkins.

CASUAL

This could include disposables from the tablecloths to the serving utensils.  Many of my clients chose this option and it had no impact on how the bride, groom, friends, and/or family, remembered the day.

One of my clients prepared a menu with rather elegant dishes and used all disposables.  The guests raved about the food and no one noticed that they weren’t eating on fine china.

A definite advantage to the casual set-up is that set-up and clean-up times are less than the more formal options.

Click here and scroll down to read about what previous brides thought would be important.  And reflection back after the reception, they discovered it wasn’t.

One thing to consider;  you don’t notice the pattern or color of a plate when it is covered with lots of delicious food!

NEXT

What Day and Time?

Why have I included these questions in the Food section?  Because they could affect your budget and what is necessary to pull everything together!

• The Day

Saturday is going to be the most expensive day to rent a venue.

Weekdays and Sundays are less expensive.  However, these days could also affect how many people from out-of-town can attend.  And, how much help you can find to help set-up the room before the ceremony, transport the food, etc.  So in the long run, you have to decide if the monetary savings make up for the increased stress.

• The Time

This can affect the venue, the type of menu you select, and the liquor consumption; therefore the budget.

Daytime facility rentals are frequently less expensive.

A Brunch Buffet could consist of breakfast casseroles, meat & cheese platters, juice, and fruit, with a standard or “donut” wedding cake.   There could be limited or no alcohol and sparkling cider served for the toasts.

An Afternoon Reception could include finger sandwiches, a few appetizers, the wedding cake, and punch or champagne cocktails.

The Evening Reception usually includes a full meal, or extensive appetizers, possibly liquor, toasting, cake cutting, and dancing.

My clients that had evening receptions all had a DJ, either professional or otherwise, to provide music and act as a master of ceremony to direct the flow of the evening and keep on schedule.

The food was served buffet style.

The guests didn’t seem to miss the lack of additional entertainment, games, or activities; they seemed very content just to be celebrating the occasion.

How Many Hours Will Your Function Last?

Most rental facilities have strict time constraints.  They will stipulate when you can have access to the building (it is never early enough) and when you must vacate the building.

However, between those two times you not only have to set up for your reception, but it is also necessary to allow time to remove all evidence of the festivities afterward.

Because I was onsite at many of my client’s weddings I was able to devise a schedule that will help you clean up the facility in the shortest amount of time.  Coming soon in Part 10.  

How Many Guests Are You Inviting?

Here is the good news!

You won’t have the stress of giving the caterer a final headcount when only 75% of your guests RSVP.

Why does it matter?  Most of my clients that had over 50 guests wanted to offer a variety of menu items on the buffet.  This let the guests pick and choose what appealed to them at the time.  And the dietary needs of vegan and/or vegetarian guests could be met.

• Is your function outdoors?  Are there electrical hook-ups available?
• Many city parks have group picnic areas that are the perfect locale to have both the ceremony and reception.  Or, just the reception.
•  If you are going to have music, blended drinks, or crock pots to keep certain dishes warm you will need electricity.
• More details to consider are included in Part 2 The Venue.  Haven’t read it yet?  So much helpful information is contained in that section that it might be worthwhile to take a few moments to visit.

AND NOW, FINALLY,

TOOLS TO HELP YOU PLAN THE FOOD FOR A SELF CATERED WEDDING

One thing that really stood out when I had my initial meeting with clients interested in catering their own wedding was that they had no idea what type of food they wanted to serve.  So, their first assignment was to complete the following survey to help them get a better feeling for what they might want to include on the menu.  

This is just to help define what type of food you do, or do not, want to serve.

After reviewing the complete list, rank the desirability of each (1 being the most appealing).  Make of note of the 1,2 and 3 items on your list.

Example: Instructions to Help Decide What to Serve for Brunch Based on the Guest Count

Here are the three things that I strongly discourage you from including if you cater your wedding.

But, just in case you decide to include bite-sized appetizers here is some helpful information.

Use the totals for 25 and 50 guests to modify according to your guest count.

    Appetizer Quantities

Preceding the Meal

Variety of  Types  – At least 4

Pieces per person   6-8

Total Qty for 25 Guests  150-200 pieces                                                                            Total Qty for 50 Guests  300-400 pieces

Appetizers Only

Variety of Types – At least 6

Pieces per person  12-15

Total Qty for 25 Guests  300-375 pieces                                                                            Total Qty for 50 Guests  600-700 pieces

Yes, this is an option.  And a little bit of coordination is all it takes to avoid absolute chaos.

1. Use all the information included in Part 5 to have an interesting variety of menu items dropped off in a well-organized kitchen, and presented on a nicely arranged buffet.
2. The organization plan for the kitchen ensures that food that needs to be replenished can be easily located and slipped into place.
3. A favorite option of my clients that had potlucks was to provide the entree and give the guests the option to bring the side dishes and drinks.
4. And, by using the planning recommendations in the guide, there was always adequate amounts of each type of food.

ALL ABOUT THE BEVERAGES

There are numerous options for the drinks.  There are several advantages to making a decision about what is being served early in the process.

• Items can be purchased when they go on sale.
• Items can be purchased in small amounts, which seems to be more manageable for the budget.  Rather than needing to save in order to make one large purchase, money can be allocated each month to purchase a portion of the beverages. 

Who Is drinking What?

1.  Compute totals based on 60% beer and 40% wine drinkers if you are planning on serving primarily beer and wine.

2.  If you are planning on serving beer, wine, and mixed drinks the division will look like this;

Beer & Wine drinkers  70-80% of the total.  Of that number 60% Beer and 40% Wine

Mixed Drinks 20 – 30% of the total

To make your planning a little easier, visit one of these websites which have beverage calculators.

Bevmo Beverage Calculator – click here.

The Total Wine Company Beverage Calculator – click here

For additional information from the Total Wine Company – click here

Bevmo has an interesting assortment of keg beers with pricing.

3.  The Champagne

If you decide to serve champagne how much do you need to purchase?  The reason I wrote “if” is because this is one of those traditions that many couples are deciding they can live without.

• The guide indicates that one liter of champagne will serve approximately 12 – 14 each 2 oz glasses.  BUT……

I counted the glasses poured from one bottle at the last function we coordinated and the total was 16 glasses.   I would recommend using 16 glasses in your computations.  The 2 oz might sound like very little, but most people take the obligatory sip and set the glass down….and the majority don’t pick it up again.

• What should we serve non-drinkers for the toast?  Sparkling apple juice is a favorite. There are also several types of sparkling grape juices available.
• We don’t recommend the non-alcoholic champagne; the sparkling juices have a much better flavor.
• If you have small guests attending the reception juice boxes are perfect.

The Three Must-Have Tools for Planning the Food for a Self-Catered Wedding

Hopefully, you already have access to these tools.  If not….these will be more helpful than you can possibly imagine

1.  The Free Recipe eBook.

I am focused on entering the 11 key areas of planning information on the site right now so I haven’t found the time to enter recipes on the blog.  But, because the recipes are an important part of the planning process I have created this free eBook to share some of the favorites with you.

3. The Free Interactive Recipe Software.

RENT OR PURCHASE DISPOSABLE DISHES AND SERVING PIECES?

Most people plan to self cater their wedding reception to save money.  But, they also want pleasing and sometimes even elegant decor.  Renting some, or all, of the items used for the reception, can definitely add to the ambiance.

However, the cost of renting items can quickly add up.  And, there are many other factors to consider, and options, which will be covered in more depth in Part #4 .  

So, why am I including the rental topic in The Tools to Help You Plan the Food section?

SO YOU START THINKING ABOUT THE SERVING DISHES FOR THE FOOD

WHY IS THE SIZE OF THE SERVING PIECES SO IMPORTANT?

Chances are, your function is going to be on a schedule because you will need to vacate the facility by a certain time.

• Since events concerning food usually occurs fairly early in the event it is important that the timing of the buffet service proceeds smoothly.
• Consequently, the size of the serving dishes probably has the highest impact on the timing of the people moving through the buffet.
• The fewer times it is necessary for a helper to interrupt the flow of people being served to replace an empty serving piece, the faster the food service will be completed
• Disposable buffet serving pieces can be an option.  However, in some cases renting them is preferred, if possible.
• Consider the type of dish that is being served; think of the weight and density of the food.  The weight of baked lasagna in disposable chafers can make it very difficult to handle.
• I don’t recommend using disposables if you are going to be heating cold food in the chafing dish.  For example, the Ham with Cola Lime Sauce recipe has the ham being brought to serving temperature in the chafing dish.
• More details regarding the sizes and number of the serving pieces are included in the Planning Guide
• Another thing to think about – you will need to make sure you have an adequate number of buffet tables to hold the necessary serving pieces and chafing dishes, and the linens to cover them.
• See how much planning you are already accomplishing!

IMAGINE SERVING 300 GUES IN 60 MINUTES.   

One of my clients did just that. 

Due to the number of guests the room was quite crowded!

Due to the time constraints, it was critical to follow a timeline and get everyone served within one hour.

• Our clients were instructed to rent extra large serving bowls, platters, and chafing dishes.
• We designed a buffet set-up with four serving lines.  And our client used our favorite method to prevent all the guests from stampeding the buffet line at once, which you will read about in Part 9.
• Every time a serving dish needed to be replaced the line stopped.  But, fortunately, these interruptions were not frequent and the schedule was not disrupted.

Just to give you an idea of how important the planning can be …here are the examples of clients making changes after we had finalized plans, and the resulting consequences.

To this day I continue to be surprised that my clients shared these stories with me!

1. The Deli Platter Fiasco

One client (the bride’s mother) had hired culinary students to help set-up and coordinate the buffet etc.  The plan was for her friend to pick up a pre-ordered deli platter and drop it off in the kitchen before the friend went to the ceremony.

The helpers were busy getting the various foods put into the serving dishes when the friend dropped off multiple packages of ham, turkey, salami, 4 different types of sliced cheeses, and an empty serving tray.

So, the client had decided to economize by not ordering the pre-assembled platter, despite the fact that I had specifically told her that the set-up timing was based on the deli platter arriving ready to be served.

Just arranging an extensive quantity of meats and cheeses takes more time than people realize when numerous dishes are being arranged to be placed on the buffet.  And yes, it did throw off the timing for the food prep that day.

What is the lesson in this?  As you make changes to the menu, etc. (and you will) just be sure and adjust your time schedule accordingly to ensure that everything proceeds smoothly.

Hint…Although it looks very appealing, the effect of elaborate presentations like the one below will be lost after the first guests remove a few slices of meat and cheese.

2. Keeping Her Man Happy

This next scenario included an extensive unplanned salad bar that resulted in a domino of negative consequences and almost resulted in a catastrophe.

The original plan was to serve a simple tossed salad dressed with a vinaigrette dressing.  However, the groom convinced the bride that he had to have an extensive salad bar.

After we had our final consultation the bride, wanting to make her man happy,  added about a dozen salad items, plus a variety of dressings, to her shopping list.

And, she added salad plates to the list of items being rented for the function.

All of which had a devastating effect on the serving schedule.

First of all, all the additional salad items had to be prepped and placed in serving dishes for the buffet, which in itself didn’t have too much of an impact.

BUT….what they didn’t realize was how the guests hesitating to decide what items, and dressing, to place on their plate would totally throw off the timing for the buffet service.  Some of the guests proceeded down the buffet juggling both a salad and dinner plate, while serving themselves, which slowed the process down even more.

Consequently, it took much longer for the meal service to be finished.

And, the helpers in the kitchen had an additional 98 salad plates to wash, dry, and return to their crates.

Unfortunately, this particular event was being held in the museum of a local historic park and there was no leeway on the time that the building had to be vacated.

At midnight the doors were locked, period! Anything remaining in the kitchen and/or reception area  (dishes, glassware, silverware, leftover food, etc.) was locked in.

Evidently, the kitchen helpers were almost literally throwing things out the back door, onto a loading dock, to remove everything before midnight.

Sadly, a significant fee was withheld from their deposit for the rental items that were not thoroughly cleaned before being returned.

My advice…..If you are one of the brides that want to have an Extensive Salad, Baked Potato, or Taco Bar….go for it.

But, based on my experience I suggest that it be the main “entree”, not one of the accompaniments to another main dish.

If you have your heart set on the “Bar” plus entrees etc., just plan accordingly.

Is your head spinning?  I know reading about all the tools to help you plan the food to cater your wedding is a lot of information to absorb.  If you haven’t downloaded your free ebook-The Recipes or ordered  The Planning Guide, and signed up for your access to the Recipe Software, I hope you will do it soon. 

All these tools will make your planning process so much easier.   Having this information at your fingertips will save you precious time ….no need to continue searching the internet for individual topics.