How to Tackle Wedding Menu Savings

Author Bobette Kyle

Your food and who you choose to make it both have a large impact on how large (or small) your final bill. As with so many decisions in life, there is no secret formula to the right answer; your circumstances and preferences dictate. If you take a “you, me, or us” mentality with the food and beverages, however, you can discover cost saving solutions you may not have thought about otherwise.

 

wedding menu savings

wedding menu savings

For each dish, station, drink, or course, there are basically three ways to go when it comes to who will prepare it:

  • A caterer, bartender, or other hired pro
  • You and your friends and family helpers
  • All of you–meaning you will take care of part of it and a professional will prepare the rest

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When having your meal catered, chances are you will be charged by the plate or guest. This means, to stay within a specific catered budget, you can go with lower-cost choices or more premium food for fewer guests. When providing some or all of it yourself your cost will be only for the food and drink itself plus any plating, corking, or serving fees a caterer or facility may add on for using outside food or beverages. (When interviewing potential venues be sure to ask if they allow outside food). With DIY, however, be sure to consider the extra time and effort required. There are several variations to consider, from completely outsourced to total DIY.

Full Service Catering. This is a traditional approach to wedding food–you meet with the venue’s in-house chef or an outside caterer, go over the menu options they offer, perhaps have a tasting, and choose.

Potluck. A potluck meal, where the guests bring the food, can be the ultimate DIY: no cost OR cooking for you (as you may guess, this is generally only an option for casual weddings).

Ready made by a Restaurant. Some restaurants sell bulk, readymade entrees and side dishes you can pick up and/or have delivered.

Catering on Wheels–The Food Truck. Food trucks, which pull up and offer specialty foods to guests straight from the vehicle, are another idea. You can provide your guests with a unique, fun experience without the cleanup.

DIY Appetizers or Sides. Splitting the difference, with you providing the appetizers, salad, and/or side dishes and a caterer preparing specialty entrees, is a way to have a premium entree and still save on costs.

Complete Do It Yourself. While generally the most economical, this option can be very time intensive. A buffet meal is most conducive to DIY, but family style (where dishes are served on the table and everyone passes them around) is doable as well. In either case, unless you have both event catering experience and the time to devote, this option is most realistic for small weddings.

For more ideas, read 23 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding Food Bill.

Do you have any  ideas to share with us?  Let us know in your comments or contact us.

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Bobette is publisher of MyOnlineWeddingHelp.com, which helps inspire you to create a dream wedding with a limited budget. You will find tips, tutorials, and videos, as well as a product search engine with items from over 300 partners.

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Categories: Budget Saving, DIY Wedding, Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips

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Date: July 30, 2013

Comments: 2

Comments: 2

  1. Dina August 30, 2013 at 4:35 PM Reply

    I saved on my wedding food because we removed courses that we believe people wouldn’t miss. We removed the salad course and that saved us $5/person. We also saved an additional $5/person by allowing the chef to choose our hors d’oeuvres. By doing this, the chef would use ingredients they already have on hand instead of going out to buy them.

    • Wed Me Pretty September 2, 2013 at 1:46 PM Reply

      That is a wonderful idea! Dina, Thank you!

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