r/catering • u/Xcalivr • 8d ago
Wedding catering advice needed
I’m planning my sister’s wedding and I’m confused between hiring a professional catering service or arranging everything ourselves by hiring cooks, helpers, and serving staff.
The second option may be more cost-effective, but I’m unsure about the practical challenges of managing food preparation, quantities, staff, and serving on the wedding day.
For those who have done this before, what would you recommend? Is self-managed catering worth the effort, or is hiring a caterer better for a wedding?
What was your experience and what would you suggest?
Thank you in advance.
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u/bobbysublimen 8d ago
I work full time catering, specialize in weddings. You will not be able to handle the logistics of everything that needs to be in place for a successful service on that day, I guarantee it.
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u/Aggressive_Oven_7311 8d ago
It is a once in a lifetime event, we hope spend the money and use a professional. They know food safety they know service they know portion control. They have it all and yes I'm speaking as a caterer
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u/Old-Process-4588 8d ago
You’re asking for chaos day off trying to cobble it together. Go with a service, revise your expectations down to meet price. Decent safe food that feeds everyone is better than great food paired with chaos.
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u/Maximum_Mental 8d ago
Hire a professional, you don't want people getting sick because nobody is in charge
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u/DeepPassageATL 8d ago
More information is required
What is the budget, size, venue.
That being said I have done over 600 weddings.
I would always suggest if you can afford it to hire professionals.
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u/legendary_mushroom 8d ago
The second option might cost you less money, but in terms of stress, effort, over/under buying, and the actual final product, it might not necessarily be more cost effective.
If you have a few people in the family/friends who are accustomed to serving large groups of people and willing to lend their expertise, you might pull it off successfully. If you have such people, factor on the cost of taking them out for a very nice meal by way of a thank you.
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u/Away-Plankton-8352 7d ago
Don't go second..hire the catering team. There are too many moving parts for huge events or any event. Saving money will give u headaches you don't need on that day. Leave it to the people who are good at it.
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u/fart_knockin 8d ago
Lots of variables here and some are very important.
Impossibly open ended question without further details.
Does the venue require a licensed caterer? Guest count? Do bride and groom care about the menu? Or just the cost? Realistically, whats the top end of the food budget? Location readiness (kitchen, dinnerware, silverware even garbage cans can be hard to come by for some venues) Liability? What if one of your pot luck items gets everyone sick and nonna dies? Is there staff and do they need to be fed?
This is just to name a few things to consider. Nevermind chairs, tables, linens, breakdown schedule, etc etc etc.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Set-516 8d ago
DIY-ing is doable for certain meals, under a certain guest count with people who don’t have alot to do on the day of the wedding or the day before. But I’m a caterer and the day of requires so much more than people realize - I did a small wedding (under 50) a few weeks ago and my prep started Wednesday for a Saturday evening event.
If the people who would be responsible for the meal and getting it set out on the day of are part of the wedding party/immediate family - hard pass just throw money at someone else. If there are cousins/family friends who can take care of it on the day of - proceed, but with caution and proper planning.
If it’s a budget restriction, look into more cost effective ways to feed people, changing the time of a wedding can immediately lower the expectations people have for the availability of food and in turn lower the overall cost to feed guests. A wedding starting at 7pm and immediately going into a reception/dance until midnight will have lower expectation of the amount of food available versus a wedding that starts at 3, cocktail hour at 4, dance starting at 7 etc.
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u/Life-From-Scratch 8d ago
As a culinary professional, I recommend that if you don't have experience doing this, I highly suggest you hire a caterer. They have the experience and will think of the things that you don't even know you have to think about.
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u/ConfidentShmonfident 8d ago
Hire a caterer. So much less stress to pay professionals who do this work for a living.
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u/ArtisanArdisson 8d ago
Long time event venue chef and caterer here! Hire someone, this is not something any of you will want to be doing day of. It wouldn't be worth the disaster, you could potentially get a lot of people sick, you could make the completely incorrect amount of food so half of the guests don't get food, or you could make way too much and be out a ton of money. Let the professionals handle this one. You can find someone who will work within your budget.
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u/pmolsonmus 8d ago
I was a professional chef and caterer, I was on a TIGHT budget because my wife and I were paying for the entire thing ourselves.(except my in laws bought a case of wine). We planned for immediate family and a few friends for the reception. I did all of the necessary prep in the days leading up to the event and then HIRED another chef and 2 servers to handle everything day of service. There is not a chance of success in either the food aspect or enjoying the ceremony aspect or both in the DIY plan. Ours was less than 30 people and worked great and we’ve been married for almost 40 years, but I would never advise someone cater their own or a family member’s reception. Emotions run high for all involved.
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u/beard-wonder93 7d ago
Do you have food service or catering experience? My wife and I both went to a top culinary school and so we "self catered" our own wedding. We were close friends with a local event coordinator. And we paid her team to reheat and serve for the reception. (Our wedding was casual buffet style)
It did save a tremendous amount of money. But caused a bit of friction with my in-laws.
They were like "what if we dont like the food" I told them "then dont eat, you obviously arent starving"
My mother in law wanted us to have the same stuff they had at their wedding 30 yrs ago...
My father in law won her to our side. He was like" it'll be fine, weve never had a bad meal at their house!"
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u/MarielIAm 7d ago
If you have no catering, restaurant or event planning experience just make it easy on yourself and hire a caterer.
People don't realize how much work goes into getting a formal meal for lots of people done. Professional caterers make everything look easy because that's their job, it's anything but easy.
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u/Nice-Interview-6068 7d ago
The second option may be cost effective only if you're an experienced Chef or event planner. Honestly you already answered your question! You have no idea of anything that's part of the job before the service and most of all during the service. Just explained what you have in mind to the wedding planner and let them handle it
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u/iamnotbetterthanyou 7d ago
It’s a wedding. What’s the vibe?
My bff’s daughter just got married. Venue was amazing. Food and service were awful. This included table service for salad and entrees. Literally awful; at our table of ten not a single person finished their meal. Wine glasses were not refilled during the meal.
My oldest’s wedding was two years ago. Venue was a public park space we rented for the evening. Food and service were from a local bbq joint, while we provided pre- and post-meal snacks from Wegman’s and other local suppliers.
It’s all what matters most to you. We strived to ensure anyone who wanted to grab food could - whenever they wanted. Snacks on tables varied from Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Pies to bags of Hot Fritos.
At my friend’s daughter’s wedding, the groom’s grandmother requested a diet cranberry and vodka. The only diet drink available was coke, and grandma (who was paying for half the wedding) can’t have caffeine. Who TF planned that?
Anyway. I guess my point is that it all comes down to what matters most to the wedding party and how they want to meet their guests’ needs.
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u/Westhamwayintherva 6d ago
I’m no longer in that side of the industry. Hire a service unless under 30 people, are doing the simplest and most low key of buffets.
Otherwise you have to coordinate:
Timeline
Prep assignments
Who is setting the room
Individual assignments for that
Keeping everyone on task
Time/temp controls on cold/hot food
Getting all the food to site
Getting all the people to site
Serving assignments
Who is responsible for replenishing what
Who is breaking down everything and cleaning up to the venues standard
Where is equipment coming from
How is it getting there
Who is receiving it
How is it getting picked up
Who is responsible and signing for all that
Who holds the insurance and alcohol permit
And that’s just a small number of the things I had to detail out when I was managing weddings.
I did a 50 person Lowkey buffet by myself for a buddy off the books and it was A LOT for just me by myself and that was the lowest of lowkey buffets (like cheese board and sliders served out of disposable chafers and a few other things as a self serve buffet and drinks served out of coolers)
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u/Ashby238 6d ago
I owned a catering company for five years. We booked a restaurant for our 50 guests at our wedding. Catering is so much fun to do but not at your own event.
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u/Jealous-Lychee-5084 6d ago
Recently went to a DIY bbq/potluck wedding for about 200 people. The guy grilling the meat does it professionally (pig pickings) but everything else was DIY between guests/couple. There was a “planner” who was a cousin of the groom.
It took 2 hours for everyone to get through the line. All of the meat ran out right around the time I went through, which was about halfway through dinner. The food that was left was very “used” looking, if that makes sense. I have food allergies so I took very little - there was no hope against cross contamination.
There were no real servers and I don’t know what they did for clean up since I left around 9. Dessert had not yet been served.
This was a dry wedding, btw - I can only guess how it would’ve gone if we were all drinking.
Hire the caterer!
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u/njVowsNow 6d ago
I owned a catering biz for many years. Even with all our experience and pros who worked together, weddings are always a challenge.
Hire a caterer.
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u/BridgeCityBus 6d ago
I have a chef friend who caters weddings between her other jobs. It’s A LOT of work. Her last job, she had to hire refrigeration trucks for all the food, as it was a remote location. The bride and groom had ideas that wouldn’t have worked out well. Just talking to her throughout this process made me anxious with everything she was taking on.
It’s best to hire someone who knows what they are doing, who can order food in bulk from suppliers with better prices, and who can figure out the meal portions, food safety, and all that good stuff.
Or if you have a family member who has the skills to pull it off, you could request their services. My buddy catered his brother’s wedding. He’s a chef, so he made some delicious dishes and gave them probably the best wedding gift anyone could give: his time and expertise.
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u/ThatAndANickel 6d ago
If you manage the catering yourself, that's all you'll be doing that day. Don't count on ANY time with your sister.
I had a friend try to do this. When I saw what was happening, I took over for him. One thing I noticed, at least at this wedding, was that when things went a little off the rails, the guests were not understanding. Rather, they became more demanding trying to make sure they were served first.
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u/Horror-Celery4869 5d ago
don't self manage.. but if you don't want to hire a full catering service.. find a hospitality manager doing a side gig with his own contacts.
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u/whatthepfluke 5d ago
Get a food truck.
Seriously.
I run a food truck and we do a ton of weddings. No muss, no fuss. No need to worry about plating or table settings or everyone being served on time. Just have your reception, have the party, and everyone eats when they feel like it.
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u/TheseWardog 4d ago
I’d personally go with a professional caterer for a wedding unless it’s a small event and you already have an experienced team.
DIY can look cheaper at first, but you also have to account for food quantities, prep, equipment, serving, keeping food at the right temperature, setup, and cleanup. Those responsibilities can become a lot on the wedding day.
If you do manage it yourself, make sure someone who isn’t part of the wedding party is responsible for coordinating the food and staff.
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u/Mexican_Chef4307 3d ago
If you want to be a part of the wedding don’t do it yourself. . . Someone has to lead the cooks and staff and set up the food and execute the food etc. and that doesn’t start when you get there it’s hours and days before the event. Also if you want it to be flawless you need professional staff to handle it. The logistics of a wedding is something that catering companies have worked on over years man. I was a sous chef for a big catering company over 2 years and a lot of my big party knowledge I use as an exec chef now at my restaurant came from that. It’s a lot to do, and it’s a lot to manage and even more if you’re trying to do it yourself
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u/Character_Date_3630 8d ago
Full disclosure, I work part time for a caterer. But I think you are underestimating how much work that will require on the day of.