Moments after you hear, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” it’s time to eat the all-important food! What wedding would be complete without delighting the guests’ palettes? Check out these frugal options to scrimp and save.
For hotel or banquet hall receptions, set up a meeting with the caterer and map out your budgetary constraints, dietary restrictions, dream menu, and other food-related desires.
Frugal Freebie
Most caterers will offer you tastings of menu items so that you can sample the various foods that could be served at your event. Take advantage of the free tastings and bring your fiancé along!
Determine whether a sit-down meal, a buffet, or a hearty hors d’oeuvres and cake reception is more cost-effective—the options run the gamut.
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Don’t accept the first number that a caterer throws out. Negotiate until you are comfortable with the price.
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Be sure to ask your caterer what is the latest possible date you can submit your head count for guests. Many guests RSVP at the last minute, and you do not want to be penalized or pay for extra meals that go uneaten.
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Ask for a simple, inexpensive plate of food (perhaps a pared-down version of your wedding meal) for your band, deejay, wedding coordinator, photographer, videographer, and so on, if their contracts so specify.
Questions for the Caterer
1. May we call on your references?
2. Can we set up a tasting of some sample dishes that fit into our budget?
3. Are you insured and licensed to protect against any unforeseen problems?
4. What china will the food will be served on? (Be sure that it doesn’t clash with your centerpieces, table covers, or food presentation.)
5. Can you get us any price breaks on beverages or our wedding cake?
6. Will you offer a less expensive children’s menu if we invite youngsters to our wedding?
Some receptions provide personalized menus on the tables with the couple’s names and wedding date followed by a listing of the courses and how they are prepared. If you include this touch, make the menus on your computer instead of paying the site or caterer to do so.
Stick to chicken or pasta dishes as opposed to beef, lamb, or fish, which tend to be more expensive entrees.
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Visit a local culinary institute or cooking school to see if any students or chefs there would be interested in catering your reception. The students may charge a great deal less, need the experience, and will probably work even harder if they receive any class credit.
If you have a set menu, consider eliminating the dessert course and having the wedding cake be offered alone as the dessert. Most people don’t eat two desserts, anyway.
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Select a menu of foods that are simple to prepare and not too labor-intensive for your catering staff.
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A variety of foods presented in buffet-style food stations can be more cost-effective than a fixed menu since they do not require servers. Your guests also get to choose exactly the meal they want and enjoy it hot.
Scrimp & Save
One bride hired a local Girl Scout troop leader and six Girl Scouts to assist with serving and cleaning up at her reception. Since it was an hors d’oeuvres and light-fare event, their work mainly consisted of making sure platters were filled or replaced and keeping paper goods and supplies on the tables. The Girl Scouts got badges for donating their time, and the bride made a donation to the troop (which cost her much less than hiring a professional catering staff to do the same work).
Find out whether the cost of renting china is included in the price or additional.
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Keep an accurate total of your costs so you are not surprised with unexpected bills after the event.
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Have a brunch wedding, at which guests select from a make-your-own-omelet or Belgian waffle station, fruit platters, and a variety of pastries.
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Hot tea with small pastries and finger sandwiches is another easy idea for brunch weddings.
Have a heavy beverage and hors d’oeuvres reception as opposed to a full sit-down meal.
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Instead of paying servers, order vegetable and fruit platters, cheese and cracker trays, and other hors d’oeuvres that guests can serve themselves.
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If you are having a children’s table, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, and macaroni and cheese are great, inexpensive choices for kiddy foods.
Frugal Freebie
Have a potluck wedding where guests bring a pre-assigned dish for all to share. (This option usually works better for smaller or second weddings.)
Having your reception at a restaurant may cut down significantly on catering and beverage costs since everything is prepared and servers are employed in-house.
Serve only wine and beer at the wedding, and offer a cash bar for those who prefer other alcoholic beverages.
Frugal Freebie
Consider skipping the cocktail hour altogether, thus saving on the alcohol and hors d’oeuvres.
Remind servers only to offer refills on wine when the guest’s glass is empty, not just half full.
We only had an open bar during the cocktail hour. Then, during dinner, only wine was served. An open bar for the entire event costs a fortune and isn’t necessary. Also, we had a lunchtime wedding instead of an evening dinner wedding and saved on that, too.
—Barbara B., Irvine, CA
Find out whether your establishment charges per bottle or per drink to guesstimate what your beverage costs will be.
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If you bring in your own wine and liquor as opposed to using the reception hall’s supplier, you may be charged a corkage fee per bottle, but this still might be more cost-effective. Plus, you may even be able to return unopened bottles to the place of purchase for a refund after your wedding.
Be sure you will not be charged per head for alcoholic beverages for guests who are under legal drinking age. Have an accurate count of minors to provide to the caterer or beverage manager.
Scrimp & Save
Many universities offer bartending courses for students looking to make money on the side, and students may be less expensive than the on-site staff. If you choose to go with a student, make sure he or she will be insured, and also find out if bar supplies are available through the school or a subcontracted catering company to avoid having to rent or pay for these, too.
Scrimp & Save
Have water pitchers and wine bottles placed on the tables so guests can help themselves.
If you do a champagne toast, instruct the servers to fill glasses only halfway.
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Use the table wine for toasts instead of purchasing champagne.
Cut out liquor and offer only nonalcoholic beverages and punch if you think your crowd wouldn’t mind.
Bring your baker magazine clippings, photos, and clear descriptions of what you envision your cake to look like. Be certain that your reception hall approves of the baker or other outside food contractors that you are using, to avoid any insurance problems.
Scrimp & Save
Consider ordering your cake from a local grocery store, food warehouse, or small bakery. You may find their cakes to be just as tasty as the fancier bakeries’ but much less expensive.
If you know a talented chef or baker, see if that person will make your cake as a wedding gift.
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Use a small, one- or two-tier wedding cake to cut and feed each other at the reception, and have the same flavored sheet cakes presliced in the back by the caterer and ready to serve.
Our wedding cake choice was a two-tier carrot cake and only fed sixty guests. So we also bought cheaper sheet cakes and had a dessert table loaded with carrot cake, chocolate cake, Italian ricotta cake, sugar cookies, candy, fresh fruit, and sugared pecans that I made. We found some ladies in the area who made cakes and cookies from scratch, so the desserts were excellent and reasonably priced. People grazed the whole evening. We also had a buffet meal. Even I went through the line! Buffet is an underused option.
—Sarah S., New York, NY
Save time as well as money by eliminating some of the less essential traditions such as the garter throw or bouquet toss, if those activities are not as important to you.
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Have open seating without place cards or table assignments. This will save time, money, and headaches in planning.
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If you prefer assigned tables, skip the cost of place cards and calligraphy. Have a board that lists table assignments located in a prominent place, such as next to the sign-in or gift table.
Q. My caterer keeps pushing certain foods on us, telling my fiancé and me that if we just serve chicken as our main course, people will realize that we are going cheap. Is that true, and what should we do?
A. Insist on the chicken if that is what your budget allows. Entire cookbooks are dedicated to the different ways to prepare chicken, so be sure that your caterer come up with something that fits your budget and still looks appealing and impressive.
Also, you may want to think about finding a new caterer. If you are disagreeing about the menu and think that this vendor cannot execute your vision, hundreds of competitors would love to handle your event. Always be sure you are comfortable with the wedding experts you have hired, and don’t be afraid to let a few go along the way if they cannot meet your expectations.