How much would I be spending on a buffet at my engagement party for like 70...

We are catering our own. We've found with everything that the price just increases when you put wedding/engagement in front of it. M&S do a really nice selection of buffet food, they inform you how long they'll take and where you can collect. Hope this helps.

Aww thanks for your advice we are getting the venue for free through a friend and thought we would just go with their food as it is lovely but they have asked us for our budget and I don't want to say too high a budget and shot myself in the foot. Xxx

No problem, just ask what they charge per person, this way you'll be able to see if it sounds too much and then you can compare to other and never cater for the full amount, very similar to the evening of the wedding. You'll have plenty of food left over! Xx

Prices for our venue were £10pp for a basic finger buffet, £15 for knife & fork buffet (hot & cold buffet), £25pp for BBQ and all had an extra £3.50 for dessert. We asked for something different and are having meat lasagne, veg lasagne, seafood platter, baked potatoes both with and without cheese, lots of salads, BBQ sausages etc for £20pp. We are not having dessert as we will be having the cake (as suggested by the venue because they say loads of desserts get wasted, but if we wanted desserts they said not to cater for everyone as lots of people don't eat them.
I should say that another local venue was charging £28 a head just for main course on BBQ and £7 for desserts. Hope this helps.

Thank you your advice has been super helpful worked out 64 guest so I'm gonna price out for 50 guests and just say 250 pounds and see what the guy says if he says that's not enough then we can haggle a deal xxx