Wedding Forum - What Food options are you having at your...

my last post got me wondering and with more and more people swaying away from the traditional wedding breakfast what has everyone decided on for the day/evening and how much is it costing?

Im *thinking* possibly a hog roast, stuffing, salads, potatoes etc for the day and a hot/cold buffet for the evening.

We have gone traditional with ours, as we knew we wanted our reception in a specific hotel which could accommodate H2B's severely disabled sister, and that was the package offered. It will be a wedding breakfast at 4:00 followed by a buffet at about 9:00. We will probably serve some cake after the service while photos are being done, but not the wedding cake, that will be later.

We're having:

Selection of 4 canapes: baked figs wrapped in bacon; smoked haddock and mustard fishcakes; maguerita and pesto en croute; 4th TBC

Wedding breakfast:

Starter: choice of:

melon with parma ham;
stilton and red onion tart with port syrup;
tomato soup

Main: choice of:

Hereford Angus sirloin steak with wilted spinach, sauteed potato and peppercorn sauce;
Pot-roast breast of corn-fed chicken with a leek, mushroom and pancetta risotto and chicken veloute;
Pan-seared salmon fillet with spring onion and herb crushed potatoes and white wine veloute;
Spinach, wild mushroom and ricotta lasagne

Dessert: choice of:

Chocolate delice with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis;
Apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice-cream and apple crisp;
Exotic fruit salad

Evening buffet: TBC but 6 options which will likely include chicken pakora, lamb koftas, steak and red onion marmalde ciabatta rolls, and a selection of open baguettes (mainly with veggie options eg cheese and pickle, egg and cress, etc).

Then we have a 4 tier cake plus a cutting cake with fruit, toffee, double chocolate, vanilla, raspberry jam and butter cream, and lemon, as well as a dozen gluten-free cupcakes.

We are having a selection of canapés and pimms whilst the string quartet is playing during photos

Then traditional 3 courses of starters: 3 cheese and pesto tartlet with garnish or pork pate with toasted brioche
Mains: stuffed chicken wrapped in Parma ham or pork belly with veg accompaniments
Desserts: a choice of 12 from a dessert table all cooked by a two Michelin starred caterer

Evening the same caterer is doing hog roast with rolls,stuffing,apple sauce, mini cheese tarts,salad,coleslaws,pasta,potatoes and a fruit basket
Also our wedding cake will be served in the evening of carrot cake,chocolate fudge brownie cake and lemon cake

Food is costing £35pp including arrival drink and champagne toast for the day food and £5.95 pp for the evening food

Our Breakfast is: c0ck a leekie soup, Passionfuit & Mango Sorbet, Chicken Supreme, Sherry Trifle
Our Evening Buffet is: Scouse or Chicken Tikka

We're having a pie and mash menu. Choice of pies with mash, mushy peas and gravy. Plus starte of evening prawn cocktail or leek and potato soup and dessert is bake well tart or Eton mess. In the evening we are having BBQ food without the BBQ.

Drinks with the main meal are either wine or cider! :)

This was my compromise with my mum as she wanted traditional and I wanted afternoon tea sit down. So non traditional 3 course meal oh and cheese boards to end!

Afternoon tea and Pimms for 60 daytime. It's being brought to the tables so it is a sit down in a way. Then evening is a hog roast for 140 with loads of salads etc...., mini cup cakes, the wedding cake and a sweetie table.

I guessed you might be from the North. We're paying £56pp for the day (4 x canapes then the 3 course meal as above) and then £17.50pp for the evening (selection of 6 items); I actually thought ours was pretty cheap compared to other venues we looked at, esp as the quality is very good and they've been so accommodating with allowing everyone choices! Our food comes in at a whopping £4.5k and that's for just 63 for the day and 90 for the evening! :-s

The South is VERY expensive lol.

London even more, mine is £73 per person, arrival drink (no canapes) 3 course dinner, and evening buffet. Just under £9000 for 80 people. And that was quite a cheap option for the area! One veue wanted nearly that before the food was added!!!

We're having a selection of 4 canapés during photos.

Traditional 3 course meal being:
Starters: Home made tomato soup or smoked salmon salad
Mains: Chicken supreme with mushroom sauce and veg or roast beef with trimmings or vegetarian tart
Desserts: assiette of mini vanilla cheesecake, chocolate sponge with sauce and shortbread biscuits with strawberries or profiteroles.

Evening buffet will be bacon baps, mini fish and chip cones, chip cones and curry sauce/cheese toppings.

We wanted grub we would eat ourselves!!!

Daytime we had:

Cream of lettuce soup with garlic croutons and bread
Chicken in Parma ham, seasonal veg and new and roast pots
Strawberries, profiteroles, meringue and pouring cream

Nighttime:

Chicken curry
Steak and ale cobbler
Pasta dish
Pork loin hog roast style
Salad
Breads
Dip
Wedges
Samosas
Onion bhajiis
Garlic bread

NOMS.

I just read that as well barbie... Mine is only £20 a head inc canapes and not inc drinks which we're going through the venue for with a local winery at a buy and return basis. 9k is about 85-90% of our overall estimate for total cost for everything. Blimey.

Victoria: we're spending about £9k on food and drink, for 63 day guests and 90 evening. Which is fairly steep even where we live! So £80 pp just for food seems really high to me!

That said, we looked at a lot of venues with flat rate/package charge of like £150/160 pp. They tried to go on about how it included venue hire, red carpets, etc, but basically you were paying that for food and drink; and not much at that! Ours is pretty good in that everything is separate, to an extent: we have a £6k minimum spend on food and drink but it's very flexible beyond that, inc being able to offer guests lots of choices for the sit-down meal.

London and the South East is pricey; about half our food and drink cost is going on alcohol, and that's because we're putting £2.5k behind the bar (the drinks for the day are 'only' costing £36 pp (2 welcome drinks; 1/2 bottle wine; 1 glass champagne). I thought our food costs were pretty good though (£6 pp for 4 canapes; £50pp for 3 course meal with choices) until I saw the prices on here!

That said as I said some venues were charging £160pp for what was essentially just food and drink; they acted like they included extras but those extras were negligible.

Wow! I feel incredibly lucky.... we are paying £4500.00 and that includes:

Venue Hire
Welcome drinks
Buffet for 100 day guests
Evening buffet (burgers, hot dogs, chips) for an extra 70 people
Tables, chairs, linen, chair covers with bows, cutlery, crockery, and staff
1/2 bottle of wine per person on tables
Orange Juice for kiddies
Glass of Fizz for toasting

We also have a marquee, but we are very lucky that we don't have to pay for it as its my uncles!! very kindly giving us a freebie!!!

I do live on the south coast, so things are quite a bit cheaper then London! :-)

Everyone's food sounds so delicious!

I'm shocked at how expensive food can be though, especially down south and in London. We had a 3 course meal with coffee/tea, then a large buffet including items like mini burgers, wraps, wedges etc. We spent £2000 for our package which included all the food, venue hire, bridal suite, table linen, red carpet etc.