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UKbride Member Request 27 Feb 2020

Catering advise

I’m needing some advice on catering! We are having our day on the 5th December in Scotland ????????????????????????????! We wanted to do a Christmas dinner type buffet style but all the people on quotes don’t fit our budget. Tonight I felt soo overwhelmed that we jumped into it to early! The question I have would be if we decided to do the catering ourselves like the day before and hire in food heaters and soup earns and hired a small amount of people to serve the food. Has any one done anything similar or what would people recommend our budget is around 5k. Thank you love a stressed out B2B

25 Comments
UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

I have seen a wedding similar to this and it was lovely, doesn’t cost as much

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

We are doing a Christmas dinner. 12th dec wedding. They have a choice of that or veg Christmas dinner. No starter. Trio of dessert. Think we are £80 a head including mulled wine and canopy’s after service. Getting married near reading.

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Just do a hot and cold buffet

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

My best mate got married in a theatre. Council owned building and the hire of the venue was less that £2000

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Try to get a lot of people to help if you decide to do it yourselves. Me and my sister made my wedding cake the day before and didn't get to bed until after 1am, it was a HUGE stress, but worked out in the end. X

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

I did a hot and cold buffet with said chafing dishes and a heated gentry. 100 guests for £700 roughly...

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Hiring in equipment is more expensive than you’d think - you’d need to think about hot and cold holding of the food, health and safety etc with food that’s been pre-cooked and reheated. What about a hog roast? That’s usually a more affordable option.

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

A hot carvery/ sharing platters shouldn't be too bad (seen options circa £32 per head) which should come close to the xmas theme you are after. Perhaps you can have a cold desert buffet with mince pies, choc log and similar if venue allows you to do that. Good luck! X

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Why dont u go cost cutters and ask some1 that not going to wedding to pick up and set out for you cud be some who only going at night

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

We have hired some doing hot beef and pork buns with wedges and stuffing then pudding for afterwards for 120 ppl then coming bk to do cold buffet for 120 ppl £650 in total just Google for sum1 in ur area

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

My sister did this and she didn't hire people to serve she did a help your self sort of thing and had us bridesmaids uncover everything and let people know that the food was ready please dont doubt yourself or feel bad because in all the weddings I've ever been noone ever remembers the day for the food its always the bride and groom I'm planning on cooking my own food with my family and doing it this way because who wants a stressed out bride on there wedding day xx

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

To do it yourself is going to bring you extra stress won't it?. Maybe shop around for cateres

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

U shoud have this all sorted get catering to do it’s a wedding why u getting so stressed

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

No advice sorry just wanted to say hi to a wedding twin xx

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Where about in Scotland are you getting married... our caterer was really reasonable as he is a college lecturer and does it part time. Xxxx

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Where in Scotland are you maybe try Top Class Catering Glasgow

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Not sure where you are in Scotland, but try Gourlays if you haven't already https://gourlay.events/catering

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

Fish & chip van?

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

We are going to do our own catering as well! As we want to keep costs down and not want to pay for a wedding breakfast per guest and most of the people not eating it. I have been to one wedding with a wedding breakfast and although the food looks really nice, unfortunately I only really enjoyed the starter which was a roasted pepper and tomato soup with a buttered roll. The main and dessert where not enjoyable. And to pay between 49.99 to 109.99 p.p, I think it’s ridiculous. And Surrey is really expensive anyway. So I am preparing rice, chicken, noodles, fried rice and curries the night before. Snacks like sausage rolls, samosas, spring rolls, cheese puffs, I can make that weeks in advance and freeze them in, so all I have to do is chuck them in the oven at the venue :-)
I’m baking my own small wedding cake surrounded with cupcakes with the same flavours as I love baking, which I can do 2 days in advance :-)
On the day itself I will get my sisters in law to help me doing filled sandwiches, salads and fruit skewers (as it’s gonna be in July it’s gonna be hot and watermelon will be refreshing) I will have ice lollies as well for all the kids and adults :-)
I was planning on buying party food from shops like Asda, Morrison’s, Tesco or Sainsbury, but decided I want to do it myself cause than I know it is nice 🤣and our guests can taste my cooking, I never done a catering, but always cooked loads for my own birthdays or for my mum or my kids.
I will hire some chafing dishes to keep food hot or cold.
I’ll make sure to have tubs in case there is way too much food and guests can help themselves to a doggy bag :-)
At the end, it’s about celebrating your wedding and having your loved ones around you. The food and drinks should not cost you an arm and leg!
Also the later you have your ceremony, you can go straight into a reception where you’ll just do a buffet and cake. And your guests can make sure they’ll have a lunch before they attend your ceremony/wedding reception so they won’t be starving xx

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

I own restaurants in Dundee however we often cater weddings and parties etc. We've done everything from buffet style artisan food to full on sit down meals. We dont charge an arm and a leg just because the word wedding has been used, if you message me with some details and your budget per person/how many people you need to cater for, we can certainly help you out and work with you on the budget you have to make it a special day! (You dont want to have to be worrying about catering for your own wedding on your big day!!) I can send across some previous examples of what we've done and send some testimonies over too! :D

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

THANK YOU 😊 I really appreciate all your help it has really given me literally food for thought and a whole new direction to Go on! Good luck to all 😘

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

I highly recommend you go with Lauren Runciman and Calum Runciman . Try their catering at either the White Goose or the Giddy Goose in Dundee. Lovely people, superb food xx

UKbride Member 28 Feb 2020

I did a 3 course carvery for our wedding last May. I hired a marquee, all the catering equipment and a lovely catering team. Food was excellent and had loads of amazing comments. Trust me, you won’t want to be cooking the food the day before your wedding day 😊 good luck! ❤️

UKbride Member 29 Feb 2020

Shop around, you don’t want the added stress of cooking before your wedding, you want to be chilled as possible. Our venue did a three course roast dinner, and tea and coffee and evening buffet for £75 a head ... it pays to look around xxx

UKbride Member 29 Feb 2020

Be careful as some places may charge a buy out fee if you don't take their catering.

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