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?

Wedding reception once where all they served was a slice of the cake! Kebab on way home!

A few. Mostly where the buffet has been a couple of bowls of crisps when the guests were expecting proper food. One wedding where the buffet ran out.

My best friend is getting married next year and was prevaricating about serving canapés between the morning church service and the sit-down meal at 4pm. I pointed out that no one would have eaten anything since breakfast and everyone would be starving by 4. The point was taken but they’re only doing sweet things I’m taking a sandwich!

A staff training event at a hotel where the food ran out at the buffet before half the people had even gone up. They ended up bringing out half cooked oven chips and empty pastry vol au vent cases????? We nearly staged a walk out!!!

Nellyelora: surely your parents had various snacks and other treats in that you could have filled up on? Whoever’s house I’ve visited at Christmas there is always more food than you coukd ever want, of all kinds! Even a cold turkey sandwich woukd have been lovely! I would have asked my PIL in your position if there was any turkey left and asked if you could make yourself a sandwich as dinner at your parents was a disaster. Bet they woukd have been delighted to come to your “rescue” with some cold cuts and chutnies etc

saturdaylaze I found the same when a friend stayed for 3 days with her 13 and 15 year olds. As well as catering generously for meals I laid in huge bowls of fruit, cookies, nuts and other stuff so they wouldn't get hungry "in between" and naively told them to help themselves

They went through the whole lot in about half an hour, from which I learned that teenager = locust

I went to a wedding once where there was an evening buffet but the speeches overran by 2 hours and the evening guests were shut in the bar in the meantime. I was so hungry and hadn't eaten in anticipation of the buffet. We ended up leaving and going to get a McD's and then returning, which was just as well as by the time the evening guests were let in, the buffet had largely been eaten by all the day guests. Really bad planning!

Not undercatered as such, but you’ve just reminded me, itbemay.

My own wedding reception (was an evening do After getting married abroad).

Was in a hotel function room. Hot buffet with curries, baked potato, ie FILLING food etc served about 8.30-9pm. I piled my plate up having not eaten a morsel since my lunchtime sandwich and sat down with a friend to have a good gab. I had only eaten a few mouthfuls when I saw an old school friend arrive and be greeted at the door by my mum. My mum came to me and rather than letting me finish my food, made a big fuss about how rude it was if I ignored a guest who had just arrived so off i went to say hello. 10-15 mins later I went back to the table where I’d left my food to find nothing there. The friend I’d been sitting with said “oh I thought you didn’t want it so the waitresses cleared it up.” No worries, I thought, i’ll Just go and get some more.

I went up to the buffet table and it had ALL been cleared away. I could have cried. I was STARVING. There wasn’t even any dessert apart from wedding cake because we had paid for that much hot stuff.

Awful memories. I got really pissed cos I was drinking on an empty stomach (people kept buying me drinks and insisting I drink them) and was vomiting all the next morning and missed breakfast too.

Probably the worst wedding reception I’ve been to. And it was my own!!! . Thank god we had had a nice actual wedding day abroad doing our own thing. I have learned never to be told what to do by interfering relatives!!!!

I meant to say. My old school friend that arrived late probably also didn’t get to have any of the buffet as it had been cleared away. She probably then complained that only wedding cake was served!

I've been to a few parties (weddings included) that they have had these amazing birthday/wedding cakes on display but never cut or offered out . Strange

I was invited to a Sunday lunchtime Baby Naming Party by someone I had recently met and knew only vaguely. I called a few days before to see if I could help and was asked if I could bring something for the buffet.

I turned up with mini quiches and some cupcakes and about 30 people were staring at me hungrily. I went over to the "buffet table" to find that the hosts had provided for their 30+ guests: 1 medium sized baguette, a medium sized chunk of cheese, a dessert bowl of crisps and a jar of olives. People fell on the food I had brought like a pack of wolves and 10 minutes later it had gone and the hosts had nothing else. By 1.15 everyone had gone home (presumably in search of lunch). We called at Mc D¨s on the way home.

No I haven't (but I'm in Ireland and not having at least 50% WAY too much food would be a bigger disgrace than arriving early)

I did go to a wedding once though and there was no dessert. I swear that happened.

Oh yes, there was a BBQ for a club I went to. They encouraged everyone to bring guests and kept going on about how much food you could get etc so I dragged my then boyfriend we didn't eat before hand.

Maybe there was plenty of food if you were one of those that kept queue jumping for another helping everytime you'd finished your burger. The people at the back of the queue didn't move for literally an hour because so many people kept pushing in when they'd already eaten. So we each got a burnt burger and a sausage with no roll and had to count ourselves lucky.

Went to a wedding a few weeks back where they had a bbq and forgot to cater for veggies (not me) and the venue was unwilling to even make a couple of cheese sarnies. The main veggie was the groom's mother!

I one went to a Christmas luncheon (for a ladies social club) where we each paid £30 a head. There was no lunch. A few canapés - but only to those who hung around the kitchen entrance, pouncing in the waitresss as they came out. Anyone further away didn’t get anything!

This used to be a major annual event, always with three courses minimum. Everyone was so shocked.

We went to a friends silver wedding party , at a local hotel in the function suite

We’d had to rsvp 3 weeks before , there were 160 people there , we were on the last but 1 table to go to the buffet , by which time they’d run out of plates

There was lovely cold meat and salmon , bread rolls and butter , huge salad leaves and some tomatoes , all the coleslaw and fancy salads had gone , all the potatoes were gone ( lots of farming families , and the men love their potatoes round here )

There were gravy boats , that had been filled with cranberry sauce , mayo etc but they were all empty

It was a lovely party though , and the desserts were delicious !

Oh yeah, vegan wedding I went to years ago. The idea of it being vegan was fine, what was served up was not. Late dinner, tiny portions and what was served up was awful. Most of the guests ended up at the local chipper and the bride threw a tantrum about why couldn't there be one day without meat, could they not eat dead flesh on her wedding day yadda yadda. Maybe they wouldn't have had to love, if you'd fed them properly!

My motto is "no one leaves my house hungry" so I applied it to our wedding as I didn't want crap food being the one thing people remembered about it! We had bacon and sausage bread rolls at night, there was about ten left towards the end, one friend said to me "those bacon rolls are awesome!" So I told him to help himself to another as there were plenty left. His reply? "I've already had three!" I guess you could say no one went hungry at our wedding

SILs wedding.
In a posh hotel in the middle of nowhere. Hadn't had breakfast as was frogmarched to hairdresser for three hours (hair looked like a birds nest but that's another story). Straight to hotel. Wedding meant to start at 1pm. Started at 2.30. Wedding breakfast was then delayed whilst same room was set up with tables. Sat down to eat at 5pm. Food was measly. Kids ate better than us.
At 8pm, DD who was 4 and a bridesmaid comes over with a slice of cake and a piece of chicken, so I thought, panicked, she'd robbed someone in another event.
Nope, there was a whole buffet out for us all, in the dark of the other room, that the staff "forgot" to tell anyone about. Also bottles of wine and champagne. Cheeky sods were no doubt hoping it was left so they could pinch it.

We were starving by morning! Had been told our (cupboard like, after thought room costing £150) came with breakfast so went in search of some to be told at door of breakfast room we were not allowed in and to clear off! There wasn't even tea or coffee facilities in the room.
SIL was angry afterwards, as by 8pm staff at the bar were charging for drinks yet she had sorted an unlimited bar. We also collared the bar staff pinching drinks and adding it to their tab, and letting non guests help themselves too. I was refused any drink at all, all day despite being in the wedding party.
The whole place was a farce.
We got our taxi to stop off at a drive through on the way home!

Two under catered weddings both offering hot food, potato pie etc one small portion in a tray and no seconds, and a vow renewal that looked like it would be enough then a rent a crowd of locust guests dove in and put 70% of the buffet on their plates, the amount of food they wasted was phenomenal. It was because of these three events that I over catered our wedding and dh's 40th, we gave food out at the end of both and sent some very happy guests away with their tea for the next night.

Mine was a wedding reception at a beautiful restaurant in Dedham. I was 2 weeks postpartum and breastfeeding, so I was not drinking. After the champagne reception, we sat down for a meal and the loveliest tiniest portions of everything arrived. The people at my table were so sorry for me, they ended up giving me their mini potato squares.

In the end, I went home early and made myself about 4 pieces of toast as soon as I got through the door.

Mac D seems to be a popular choice with the underfed!!

Party at my BIL &SIL about 50 people turned up.
They had bought 2 big bags of crisps. That was it. They also provided no drink.
They have on a fairly regular basis organised big parties at their house and strangely no one goes now, BIL is bemused.
Massive cheapskates.

A friend once invited us for impromptu Sunday lunch.

There were a few veg.
And 1 roast duck.

For 8 people, which included 3 teenage boys.

We laugh about it now

An old friend who was a greedy gorb invited 7 of us to his new house in the sticks for a housewarming dinner. We all asked if we could bring a dish, a firm no was given, he was hosting etc. Got to the house and had a tour, no sign of any food in oven. We assumed he was ordering a takeaway. There was a bowl of nuts and mini cheddar things offered and after 2 hours we were ravenous but shy to ask where food was. 'Host' announced angrily that he was starving and asked if we had all eaten and then said he would put on some food when we said we hadn't. 'Dinner' was a bag of garlic bread slices. There were 8 of us and 6 slices, host grabbed two so we had to cut up the remaining slices (which were served on a saucer) to share them out. We left that night completely perplexed, the host was a big eater at any body else's so we couldn't work out why he behaved that why. Still laugh about it years later!

@oldgimmer78

That one I don't understand. He's an old friend. With an old friend surely you can say "dude, you told us not to being food. Said you were doing it coz you were hosting. We're starving! Where's the food?!?!"

It's not a big party or a stranger, it's your friend!!

My wedding. The food was the wedding present from my mil who then only catered for her side of the family not mine.