Ever been to an under catered party?

[Crunchymum]

Just back home from a party with a generous doggy bag and I remarked how I'd never been to an under catered party as the host was divvying up the leftovers. Cue lots of stories of horrifically under catered parties and weddings?

Other than a few occasions where I've known there won't be food, I've never experienced it? I've never had to share a burger at a BBQ or nip out for a super market sandwich at a wedding.

Is it really that common? What's the worst under catered event you've been to?

I once went to a very undercatered wedding. The wedding was 11am but the wedding breakfast was not until 4pm (yes, the photos took that long). There were no nibbles or canapés so we were all lightheaded (ie paralytic) on 2 glasses of champagne.

Mind you, I did once undercater a dinner for mates, bloody gannets the lot of them. Since then I have been gripped by the fear of doing it again, so the table has groaned with Nigella style platters and I have still been eating leftovers by Thursday.......

I went to a friends wedding about 2 hours away. There were a few canapes being offered while everyone milled around and waiting to be 'received' into the venue (quite posh wedding). It later transpired that the canapes were the only food provided. I had left home before 9am and got back to the station at about 7pm without having eaten anything.

The other time was a catered 40th party which only really catered for the family of the birthday person. It was a private venue, so nothing for sale. However, at least that one was just the evening, and I'd eaten lunch.

Oh my, I’ve been to sooooo many weddings and the amount of couples that under cater is unbelievable.

What I don’t get is the venue must advise if you invite 120 people Buffett should be x amount of food, so how do the couples undercater so badly?

Last one absolutely beautiful venue, bride & groom not short of a pound or two and people were hungry the group me & dh went with left at 9pm and went to the Indian in the nearest town for some food!

Dinner parties also, have to host and attend a lot of these and some people really have no idea how to host. Worst one 1 very small glass of wine, a sliver of tough beef, 2 tiny baby potatoes and some over cooked green beans. A slice of cake about 2 inches wide and that was it all bloody night

I went to a wedding once where they only had a sweet cart for the evening.
Nice touch but I couldn't survive on sweets alone all evening.
A few of us nipped to MacDonalds in our best get up. We must of looked a right.

Luckily not but my parents went to a retirement do for a much beloved teacher at the local school - don't know if it was bad planning or more people showing up that were expected (always rsvp people!) but the buffet ran out before the guest of honour had been up, as he was so busy talking to all his guests. He was so nice about it and someone rushed out and got him fish n chips which he was delighted by!

I went to a fancy awards night. The waiters were serving curry (I think) at the table but they clearly hadn't listened about portions because by the time they came round to me they'd completely run out of the curry and I got half a spoon of rice.

At a child's birthday party they undercatered. I can't remember why but the parents apologised before hand and made sure all the adults knew but there were still parents making sure their kids bowls were piled high and worse, that they themselves had something to eat before all the kids had. Same party didn't have enough party bags. I don't think party bags are a requirement at all but either make sure all the kids have one, or don't give them out at all.

I once didn't have enough birthday cake for DDs party. It was tight anyway but then husband cut the portions too big.

Dh and I went to a bbq of friends. They’d been to our parties. They’d seen how we overcatered. Anyway they served up one chipolata (sausage) each with a small side of ratatouille and bread. Pudding was a selection of ice cream. We were staying the night. Needless to say we were very hungry! These people were not short of money. Oh no. Just odd!

2 weddings, one in the middle of nowhere but Michelin Starred. Wedding was very early afternoon, reception was standing up in a room whilst holding your drink in one hand and then 1 canape off a tray in the other. No plates, just a napkin, and only 1 at a time. I managed to snaffle 3 tiny morsels.

When the early evening sit down meal arrived it looked pretty but was tiny portioned. Everyone on the table complained how hungry they were. No local shops or fish and chips shops. We saw lots of people raiding their car boots for any food that had been brought down for the journey to the place.

2nd wedding again had tiny portions, 3 slices of chicken breast, 2 thumb sized pieces of carrot, same for courgette, 1 tiny roast potato. My strapping 5'8" teenage son was fed a child's portion of 3 chicken goujons with some form of potato. He was starving. Luckily as we had travelled and were worried about food, he went back to our room and ate a whole tube of pringles

Who the hell feeds a 15 year old boy an under 12's portion of food? We were sat on the table with a 5 year old who had the exact same meal. Ffs.

My wedding. We ordered plenty, enough for everyone we invited, but it was all hoovered up before I even got a chance to have any. i ordered sandwiches which they gave to someone else! How can you get the bride mixed up with a general guest? i ended up buying all the crisps from behind the bar and ate the fruit off the reception desk (disclaimer: I was very drunk).

I once went to an evening wedding reception. It was held on a Friday night at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. So all of the evening guests had all travelled there straight from work and therefore, not had dinner. The only food was a cheese board that was mostly gone by the time we arrived ( about an hour after the official start time).
The hotel were not serving any food in their restaurant and there were no places nearby. It was an utterly miserable evening.

Yep a few times. A wedding reception where there was no food, a pay bar and we were given the tiniest pieces of wedding cake even though it was a big cake.
A few BBQs. I was veggie at the time so took enough for me but then halfway through was asked if someone else could have the rest of my food ( I took 2 veg burgers along with a few alcohol presents for the host). It really annoys me. I completely understand events can be costly but I would rather invite less ppl and have loads of food for them - I can’t bear someone coming over and leaving hungry.

Once went to a dinner party in which we were served a miserable boiled potato, half a pork chop with a table spoon of veg each. We'd been drinking whilst the host was serving up dinner so when we went to sit at the table a friend and I caught each other's eye and laughed hysterically. The host was not pleased but that evening did spawn the best ever in-joke. Whenever this friend and I meet up we always have to make a point of saying to each other "Now, I couldn't possibly have a WHOLE boiled potato to myself."

Went to a 60th birthday in the middle of nowhere and the hosts had generously invited most of the many guests to stay over, albeit on sofas, floors etc. The party started at 7pm and NO food was served, none at all. No one could believe it. Lots of booze so everyone was slaughtered. To make it even worse, despite having invited about 30 people to sleep over, there was no provision for breakfast - not even offered a cup of tea. Worst hangover and a long drive to nearest cafe - which did a roaring trade that morning!

Childrens party for approximately 6-7 year olds I think ( a few years ago now)
The parents had invited the whole class, and others, so approximately 30 kids maybe, in a large sports hall, very large bouncy castle, games.

Food served on tables, no sandwiches, just some marshmallows with a smartie on top, some cheap crisps and cucumber sticks and tomatoes, and the cheapest plain cupcakes I’d once seen in a supermarket.
And those squared juice drinks with a straw.
The kids were asking where the sandwiches were, as did the odd parent. It was a bit embarrassing.
The parents were relatively well off, both with good jobs, like the rest of the parents. I’m not sure what possessed them to cater so little. There was barely enough crisps to go round or anything really.

I once paid a small fortune to attend a colleague's hen do, she wanted to go to a museum exhibition that hosted afternoon tea. We paid for the bus, and the afternoon tea and museum ticket cost £45 altogether.

We got one pot of tea per table, before the waitress buggered off and never came back. So the food that was there when we arrived was all we got. I got one cup of tea, two fingers sandwiches and half a scone and half a mini Victoria sponge for £25 which was the afternoon tea portion of the day. We had to stop at a service and get hot dogs on the way back!

How do a bride and groom not know exactly what will he served?

I know what we requested to be served at 10pm for nibbles. What we got wasn’t what we asked for and fed only a handful of people. I’m still mad about it 20 years later

And then I didn't get invited to the wedding! Not even the night do

Yes, a wedding where the food ran out. It was a buffet rather than a sit down meal and the couples family had catered themselves to save money (they didn't have a lot). I don't think they can truely be blamed though as there's something about buffets that brings out the inner greedy pig in some people, and they pile their plates Sky high, leaving an inadequate amount for those behind them.

I missed out on the evening buffet at my own wedding!

Not under-catered - the guests were just a set of greedy bastards

A friend's wedding, where instead of asking for dietary requirements they had assumed they knew who was veggie and had arranged that accordingly. It was a hog roast, a lot of people don't eat pork and the veggie options weren't for named guests, so the vegetarian bridesmaid who was near the back of the queue got bread and salad as the non-pork options had been hoovered up already. Fortunately there was plenty of that, but it was infuriating.

The caterers who did my wedding apparently always do several extra of the veggie option to make sure that this doesn't happen. We were absolutely determined that everyone was getting a proper meal - the only person who didn't was me, as my appetite vanished and I only ate half of it! I still regret not being able to have more than a mouthful of the dessert... I definitely fall into the "over-cater" side of hosting.

My brother's wedding. Wedding was at 12.00. Reception was at a local country pub they'd hired. We thought there'd be a meal. Nope just tray of canapes that came out one tray at a time and were served to the people they knew first. Managed to steal two mini tart thingies for the kids along with a bollocking from the waiter as they were for another group (all part of the same wedding).

We sneaked off to McDonalds when it got to 9.30 and we'd still not had anything to eat. Got a bollocking for that too.

We went to a wedding where the food ran out. I know the bride and groom well and they had talked non stop for months about guest lists, rsvps;s, the catering etc. and they decided, sensibly, to tell the caterers to cater for 10+ more than they were expecting.

They called people up to the buffet table by table. The food was looking a little sparse when we got there but there people from catering company standing around so we assumed they would be topping up the plates etc but they weren't. They had fewer guests than they had catered for but 20 or so guests had nothing to eat.

You could argue that people were greedy and took more than they should have done but they were told to cater for 120 and had less than 100 plated desserts.

And then 50% for the guests went (including the bride) went down with d & v within 48 hours.

Yes, we went to a wedding and there were tapas , very small amount with a tiny piece of bread , the main was minuscule some sort of chicken in a sauce with a few veg and the pud was an ice cream from an ice cream cart that you had to walk a mile down the hill to get one consequently no one bothered

Once went to a wedding where, despite it being a very long all day and evening bash , there was about 40 sandwiches for 80 odd guests . The room had about ten chairs in as well , but at least they’d put two grand behind the bar . I should have known what was coming when the bride and groom had to be called away from the chip shop next to the church to have their pictures taken .

We went to an evening do, for a couple renewing their vows, each table had a bag of Doritos placed in the middle and that was it!