Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception

RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By Heather (Guest Post) (10/10/2008) Hello, I was thinking spaghetti dinner salad and bread sticks. I was thinking how to do the pasta. I have a roaster I was going to put it in but do I add water and if so how much. Or just cooked pasta and then put in the roaster and the steam will keep it fresh. Please help. Also if I put the sauce in a crock pot will it stick and do I have to stir it or can I just leave it Please email me heather041304 AT yahoo.com Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By Dani (Guest Post) (08/05/2008) Hi, all these ideas sound great! When we have a wedding in our family the women all get together the day before the wedding and cook. We typically make the salads and cook up the meat for sandwiches. Get some drinks made up or pick up some off sale. Get all the groceries and meet at someone's house. We make the salads in large bowls and then transfer to ice cream buckets. They are easier to carry to the venue and free! This way you have good family food and get to spend the day before your wedding with the women in your life! Congratulations and the best of luck! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By Sandy (Guest Post) (06/21/2008) BBQ pulled pork. Easy in a crockpot, place a pork tenderloin, 1 container of BBQ sauce, 1 chilli packet, and 2 TBS. of lemon juice. Serve with potato rolls. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By princessrivers (Guest Post) (06/12/2008) I am having my wedding on 10/4/2008 we will be serving spaghetti and salad, breadsticks, my mom says it's cheap and easy. She's help serve a wedding where this was done, they also had varieties of pastas (cold) for those who don't care for spaghetti. Sandwiches are easy and cheap too. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By (Guest Post) (06/01/2008) For our wedding it is costing us well under $1000. We got the hall for free because my fiance works there, got the minister for free because she's our neighbor, caterer is less than half price because he's my boss and I have been giving him my tip $ to pay down the bill for the past year... for our dinner we are having: pork shishkabobs pulled pork sandwiches on crusty buns Caesar salad garden salad pasta salads vegetarian soup and for the kids- mini pizzas and juice boxes The picnic style reception (picnic foods, buffet style) is saving us a ton of money, and it is easy, and people generally like buffet style comfort foods. Also, since it is a buffet, ask your caterer if it is okay to have them set up the food then leave- no point paying them to stand around waiting for you to be done. The only sucky part about that is you have to have someone (friend, family) keep an eye on if food needs to be replenished, and then someone to pack the stuff up for the caterer to come get it. Some caterers don't mind this, some won't do it. Ask if any plate rental fees are tacked onto your final bill- then think about using paper plates (chinet has some NICE ones) if it will save you some $, and if it is a causal reception. Not many people will be critical about paper plates, because most people don't go to a wedding to critique stuff like that. Also, if you are in a position to do any advertising for your caterer, like if you work somewhere you can post an ad for the caterer, or where you can give frequent referrals (like if you know someone else who is looking for a caterer, or if you work at a hall or something), you can ask for a discount if you do some advertising for them. there are lots of ways to save money on a reception meal-- you just have to ask! We are also doing this- not a ton of people are invited to the wedding & reception- there are 130 guests. BUT we wanted to invite many more- so we invited those 130 to the wedding/ceremony, then mailed out separate invitations for just the dance after the reception-- Put the reason for the dance, location date and time. Make sure time time is about an hour after you expect dinner to be over. That way, your first guest list gets the wedding and dinner, and then everybody you want to be there can come for the dance-- it cuts down HUGE on a wedding budget. We, Michael & Stephanie, would love for you to join us for our wedding reception dance at --name of hall-- -date- --start time--" good luck and happy planning! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post by leighholley (6) | (05/25/2008) Profile | Contact My cousin did a southern themed reception and did a grits bar! Super cheap and they served the grits in the small, clear beverage cups and offered different toppings like sausage, bacon, cheese, sugar, butter, mushrooms, onions, syrup, or anything else she could think of. It was a huge hit! To go with this they also did things like fried okra, black-eyed pea salad, corn nuggets, and fried green tomatoes. I know that the tomatoes could get time consuming and a little expensive, but the grits bar could be done really cheap and still be served really fancy! Hope this helps. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By Candace (Guest Post) (05/05/2008) I am getting married May 24th '08. My fiance and I came up with the idea of a taco bar. Who doesn't like tacos! We even have a guest that only eats chicken and we are going to put out some ground chicken along with the beef. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By (Guest Post) (04/22/2008) Hi! The sam's thing is as great idea. When my mom knows she has guests coming (normally a group of relatives), she hits sam's for cake and pies and stuff. They are huge! She buys bulk bags of nibble foods (wings etc) and sam's has bulk of everything from pop to dinner to dessert. I used to work at target bakery and they make the cakes there and then people would order a large sheet cake for the guests to eat. Good luck Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By AJ (Guest Post) (04/17/2008) Why not try the chinese food? They're pretty cheap, I called one around and they give me a quote of $4 per person for a 4 dish meal, it would be whatever you choose, a lot of people likes chinese food so this might be a good idea :) Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By Karie Anne (Guest Post) (04/15/2008) My to-be hubby and I have to pay for the whole deal pretty much by ourselves cuz my rents are going through a divorce and aren't very well off to begin with... so we are doing an "afternoon tea" with just fruit and little desserts from Sams Club! - It cuts back on the cost BIG TIME, and we are having fun collecting different teacups from all different yard sales and antiques places to have a kind of "mad hatter" party! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By LISA/BLUE RIDGE BBQ CATERING CO. (Guest Post) (04/15/2008) My husband and I catered our own-course, he fixed the hog (we have a smoker), but I fixed fingerfood-like coleslaw, meatballs in barbq sauce, little wieners in sauce, potato salad, mac salad,dips/chips, and fruitplatter. I also did a wedding for a friend's daughter-simple things:fingerwiches-plain bread with chicken salad, turkey salad, ham salad-take the bread, cut the crust off, spread the salad, top with other slice, then cut in quarters, then quarters in half, you can get 8 out of 2 slices of bread! Mints from the dollar store-hit the dollar stores-great for finding inexpense items-candle holders for mint servers (example), balloons, etc. They have great stuff! I used this tea for my wedding! Good luck and best wishes Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post by Slauren14 (1) | (04/14/2008) Contact I was thinking about maybe doing a "pasta bar" and just have different sorts of pasta and everyone can just serve themselves. Maybe have some bread sticks and salad or something... then the cake. What do you think about that? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By ANNA (Guest Post) (04/13/2008) You supply the cake and beverages. Tell everyone you want a family feel to the meal and to bring a covered dish of their favorite or best family dish. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post By ANNA (Guest Post) (04/13/2008) You supply the cake and beverages. Tell everyone you want a family feel to the meal and to bring a covered dish of their favorite or best family dish. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post by WIsgal (179) | (04/11/2008) Profile | Contact Here is a main dish pasta salad that is always a hit with guests. Makes a large dish. KITCHEN SINK PASTA SALAD 1/2 # each bow tie, veg regotoni,wagon wheels ,shells( or you could use WACKY Pasta) 3/4 cup red onion 2 med gr pepper-chopped 2 med red pepper-chopped 2 cucumber-chopped 2 cups chopped celery 1 cup brocolli flowers 1 cup cauliflower pieces 1/2 # hard salomi-diced 1/2 # boiled ham-juiliane strips 1/2 # mozzorella cheese-cut up 1 cup parmasean cheese 1/2 cup ground romana cheese 1-7 1/2 oz. pitted black olives 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 1/2 cup soy nuts 1 bunch parsley-chopped 2 TBLS salt 1 1/2 tsp black pepper GARLIC HERB VINEGARETTE 3/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 cups olive oil( I use half oil and half water) 2 TBLS water 1 tsp sugar 2 cloves garlic-crushed 1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning Salt & Pepper Mix dressing and pour 1 1/2 cups over salad and let set 12 hours.After the 12 hours: Add 3 chopped tomatoes 3 chopped hard boiled eggs rest of dressing. Toss and enjoy ! ! Report Spam or Abuse Request: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Post by Laurel_admin (500) | (04/10/2008) Contact I am getting married May 17 2008 and we are on a tight budget! We would like to have a buffet dinner but we cant decided on what food would be a inexpensive meal to serve. We really cant afford a full service catering. We were also trying to figure out what would be the best way to put out the food. Because when the wedding is over everyone will go to the reception hall and eat. But all of our family and friends will be at the wedding and they will not be able to put food out until they get to the reception hall. Please help what is the best way to do this! AKIYIA from GA Answers: RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception You don't have to do it up big. Everybody understands that newlyweds are on a tight budget. Just have cake, coffee, sodas, and nibbles. You can get boxes of frozen appetizers at Sam's or WalMart. Just thaw them out and heat them up. Skip the booze -- it's the most expensive part of a reception and the leading cause of fights at weddings. When you get to the reception why don't you pose for some pictures first? That will give friends and family time to set up the food. (09/22/2007) By perfumed fan RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception We just got married 3 weeks ago on a tight budget. We hired a young college student, $200 for 10 hours. They were at the hall, the caterer set up and left. It worked great. Most caterers include set up in their price. For a small fee the college student coordinated and cleaned up! (09/23/2007) By sophie4374 RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Another suggestion is to ask some of your friends to help you out. For example have one of them make up a veggie platter with dip or small finger foods, such as mini sandwiches made out of the small cocktail bread loaves. (09/23/2007) By MCW RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Sam's club has bags of salads, Stouffer lasagna that feeds 20 each, and garlic bread and of course wedding cake. Easy, cheap and filling. (09/24/2007) By TexasDarling RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception I did the food for a friend's son's reception and we had ham sandwiches (made the night before), large containers of shrimp salad, potato salad and lots of chips, cheese and crackers. Coffee, soda and punch that I made were the beverages. Didn't cost a lot and all was put into servings dishes ahead of time and quickly put out while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive. (09/24/2007) By Crafty Chrissy RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception My nephew got married a couple of years ago on a Friday night and they just had cake and coffee and soft drinks. There were a few appetizers that people could nibble on. I left right after the wedding and set things out so the parents and other relatives could get a few pictures in before they arrived at the reception. (09/24/2007) By terri0905 RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception Borrow a roaster from a friend or church etc. Make a huge amount of rigatoni or some sort of pasta really reasonable. You can buy meatballs to have in it or in another roaster. A big bag of salad in a plastic bowl goes a long way. #10 cans of green beans or some other veggie fixed up with ham bits goes for a crowd. Purchased dinner rolls and butter. If you have a favorite group who needs a small fund raiser such as girl scout troop, church group you could hire a few of them to over see or set up and take down quickly so the guests can mingle. Some supermarkets will cook and slice meats for you such as a ham or beef for a slightly higher fee than just buying raw meet. We have institutional style stores that sell party stuff, catering supplies and the ready made food at pretty fair prices around this area. Also friends could be asked to donate a home made tray of cookies for a cookie table so the cost of a fancy wedding cake could be smaller by being able to purchase a smaller decorated one. Often friends will say...Is there anything I can do to help? These can be frozen ahead of time. I was shocked at the $2.50 per 1" slice one prof baker was asking. wow! Congratulations on your special day. (09/24/2007) By claudia RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception When I got married we were also on a tight budget. We made up a tray of meat with ham, turkey and roast beef from the deli and then a cheese tray with american and swiss from the packages. We also had a bread tray, potato salad, macaroni salad and fruit. It did not cost a lot and my mom and aunts set it all up while waiting for us to arrive after the ceremony. (09/25/2007) By barfydoogin RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception My Sister in law had the right idea. She made about 6 Large casseroles and ask us to provide the salad, dressings and dinner roles. She made a Baked Spaghetti. It was easy and delicious too. I'm including the recipe. I use it a lot. My family loves it. Baked Spaghetti 1 pound of ground chuck, browned and drained 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce 1 can of stewed Italian tomatoes, chopped 1 sm can of cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup of milk 1 8 ounce block of Mozzarella cheese,grated 1 sm can of sliced black-ripe olives 1 pound box of angel hair spaghetti Cook spaghetti noodles according to directions on the box, just cook until noodles are soft, don't over cook, they will cook more in the oven mix together meat, sauce, tomatoes and cooked noodles, mix well. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch casserole pan or dish. mix cream of mushroom soup and milk until blended, spread over spaghetti/noodle mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Sprinkle with black olives, Bake in a 350* oven for about 45 minutes. This makes one dish. Ask for help from friends, When I got married I had so many friends and family who wanted to be included that I had to invent things for them to do. Your cake could be ordered from a local grocery store. We have gotten great cakes from Publix, Ingles, and Kroger. You just need to research it. Just remember...something always goes wrong. Just go with the flow and years from now you will laugh about it. Don't be a Bridzilla. My wedding was beautiful. I had lots of family help. My wedding dress was even borrowed. Too many brides worry about the wedding. What really matters in the MARRIAGE. Make sure that you got this right. It's your future, make it the best. Susieq30625 AT aol.com (09/25/2007) By Susie in Buckhead, Ga RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception A tip I just learned if you're having a buffet -- Put the meat at the end of the line. That way people fill their plate with other food and don't take so much meat which is the most expensive item on your buffet. (09/25/2007) By Marylin DeYoung RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception You can also ask a friend to ask some of their friends (who you don't know well enough to invite to the wedding - to avoid awkwardness) to help with the setup and catering. When my best friend got married, I asked a couple friends of mine to pick up the party platters (super cheap if you order them from somewhere like Costco or Sam's Club). They set them out while the wedding was finishing, then switched the platters out once they emptied. They weren't responsible for clean up after the party (family did it), so my friend paid them about $50 each (2 of them), so the family and close friends could enjoy the wedding and reception. (09/25/2007) By altomommy RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception My parents gave me $500.00 and we had just the basics, cake, punch, nuts, and mints. The wedding was at 11:30 a.m. and then everyone went out for lunch on the way home. I used potted plants for greenery and all the family members took home a plant to remember the special day. I rented my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. When my daughter got married, I asked friends to pitch in. Some made sandwiches, some made fruit bowls, some vegetable trays, others meat and cheese trays. I had tea, coffee, punch, and water to drink. There was no bar, a friend made the wedding cake as a gift to my daughter. We rented an arch and cut costs by shopping at thrift stores and on ebay for some of the accessories and decorations. I don't know what your budget is, but people love to help. If everything is ready a head of time, then about 6 people can set up the hall while wedding pictures are being taken, and then you can join your family and friends and celebrate. It doesn't have to be fancy to be fun and frugal! We didn't have a expensive photographer a neighbor was quite a good photographer and friends took lots of pictures. We don't have a gallery of wedding photos, but we have some nice memories. You can take some formal poses at a studio, or arm your family members with a video camera and lots of throw aways. You are bound to get some priceless photos! Make it fun and remember, it isn't the money, it's the start of a new life shared with lots of loved ones. 'They won't care if you have cup cakes and wild flowers and get married bare footed on a beach or in a five thousand dollar gown. They just want to celebrate with you! Congratulations to you! tinah (09/25/2007) By Tinah RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception When my daughter got married we had a buffet line for sandwiches. I bought Kaiser rolls, plain, poppy seed and sesame seed and split them ahead of time and put them in a large bread basket. I had a cheese tray with 3 kinds of cheese, a meat tray with ham and turkey and a vegetable tray with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions. Add condiments in pretty bowls. Relatives can make potato salad, macaroni salad and such and would probably be grateful to make their special dish for a special occasion. We bought all the plastic trays, punch bowl, little bowls, plates and napkins from Hobby Lobby in January when they have their wedding supply sale. It all matched, looked pretty and was 1/2 price. The dishes were later donated to our church and have been reused for countless showers and weddings since, so check with your church for loaners if possible. Mama Cook (09/25/2007) By Mama Cook RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception I normally use some of the students from the local colleges i.e. culinary arts to help with prep of foods and occasionally hire 1 or 2 that will not be at the wedding to help in setting up buffets and serving. (03/01/2008) By Judith Elder RE: Thrifty Food Ideas For Wedding Reception When my two friends got married, they had a spaghetti buffet, because many of the guests were vegetarian, as were the bride and groom. They had big pots of pasta, a couple different kinds of sauce, bread sticks, Parmesan cheese, and tossed salad. Now that is cheap! The sandwich and side buffets that many are suggesting are a great idea. Its very popular here in the Midwest, I haven't been to many weddings where it wasn't this kind of food! Sarah from IL. (04/07/2008) By retrosarah Report Spam or Abuse