Evening wedding reception food - Dominos!?

[Discolady123]

I’m having an evening only wedding reception in a few months and we are really struggling with the catering side of things. We will be having a ceremony around 3/4pm for 1 hour, then onto photos at the church grounds, and people will go straight to the venue from there. We aren’t doing a sit down meal as we want a more relaxed vibe.

We are seriously thinking about ordering a large quantity of dominos pizzas to the venue and having a pizza buffet. We LOVE pizza as a couple and feel like it’s a bit different to the standard wedding hot buffet. (the venue doesn’t really have outside access so a pizza truck wouldn’t work, hence a takeaway option).

We were thinking of having sides at the start of the buffet table (pasta, salad, coleslaw, crisps, cocktail sausages & breadsticks) & then the rest would be pizza.

What is your thoughts on this? Would you be mortified if you turned up to a wedding reception and had pizza? Or would you prefer a standard finger buffet?

Also how many people would you say could share a large dominos pizza? This will help up with quantities etc.

@Landedonfeet

Honestly As someone who really doesn’t enjoy food like pizza Especially not when glammed up This really really wouldn’t appeal to me on any level

But I’m in the minority!

@Landedonfeet - I’m with you. Just not my taste.

I know of someone whose caterers let them down by simply not turning up.
The chief bridesmaid ordered pizzas from Ask and the best man dashed to Tesco for salads and they had a great time. Covid wedding, so only 30 guests, but pizzas are a good choice.

I would love this. Real food that everyone loves and is actually filling. Just wondering if there’s a cheaper way than Dominoes? I’m not suggesting Iceland pizzas but I know Dominos can be 20 quid a pop!

What about asking a Spanish restaurant to make a giant paella? ( or a couple of smaller ones- one veggie/ one chicken? ) you could supplement with some salads.

Pizza van would work- though not everyone sitting down together. You could ask for preferences early so the van can have them prepped. If everyone goes up a table at a time, it’ll be fine

Sounds absolutely awful, that’s what you do for a kids party

I like the idea of what Kate Winslet did for her first wedding and had the fish and chips food truck. Dominoe's could turn out really expensive and how could they manage so many pizza's to be delivered and hot all at once. What I had at a wedding the night time food was the best ever, mini burgers, delicious chips, lots of mini sausage rolls and tasty sandwiches, but there was so much of it and we were ravenous after a day of drinking and dancing. Enjoy your day whatever you have for food..

I'd love it. We are having pizza in the evening too. I'm glad I don't have friends who are like the people on this thread rather eat congealed fat than some of the shit I've been served at weddings previously. Cold roast anybody about ten times

I own a pizza shop. I’d say we are fairly busy by most standards. To give you an idea a pizza takes ten minutes to cook and our oven holds 15. We couldn’t furnish your order to a decent standard, especially if it’s a Saturday, by far our busiest day.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

I'd check no one is avoiding wheat, gluten or dairy!

Dominoes cater for all of this so there will be options if anyone is.

Not a fan of this idea to be honest. I love pizza as much as anyone but the heavily branded thing puts me off a bit. It's a bit "novelty". Like if you had Greggs themed buffet I wouldn't like that either, or McDonalds. It's as it you're doing it for the banter, rather than taking good care of your guests (in fact, I would put good money on this story appearing in the Daily Mail before the week is out!).

I also think Domino's would struggle to cook that many pizzas at one time, and you'd struggle to keep them hot on arrival. Nothing more disappointing than claggy lukewarm pizza.

One good thing is that Domino's do do vegan cheese I think, and probably do gluten free bases too. But imagine trying to locate the two "free from" pizzas out of a pile of 50 pizzas and making sure the right people got them!

[quote Simonjt]@pussycatunpickingcrossesagain I don’t eat cheese, or any dairy, you just pick the cheese free pizza.[/quote]
I've never seen cheese-free pizza, do they do dough-free pizza too? as that's what will make be burp and fart for hours.

Dominoes cater for all of this so there will be options if anyone is.

Do dominoes cater for people who don't like pizza??

@pussycatunpickingcrossesagain

Dominoes cater for all of this so there will be options if anyone is.

Do dominoes cater for people who don't like pizza??

Yes they do other stuff!

Id love it. It would be crazy expensive though. We did something similar for party and it was insane. And once people habe had a drink, they tend to take a whole pizza. Id see if you could contact a pizza company

No.

It sounds horrendous to me.

dominos no, what about an artisan pizza van/ oven company?

Since your wedding will be nearer the summer, I would go for good quality cold cuts, salads and breads that can be served from a buffet table on decent disposable plates.

I'd rather have a buffet. I love pizza but it smacks of lack of effort tbh, or trying to do it on the cheap.

I’ve been to a dominoes pizza for the evening food wedding before, was fine.

One of the best weddings I've ever been to did a pizza buffet with cold sides like you've suggested. Really nice and laid back it was

That's a lot of kids! I like pizza but it is not any good for me always makes me ill plus I am vegetarian. if it is help yourself can see the kids on it like a plague of locusts leaving only scraps for the adults! also as has been said I think people will be worried re their finery

@cptartapp

I'd rather have a buffet. I love pizza but it smacks of lack of effort tbh, or trying to do it on the cheap.

Lack of effort because you go to so much effort selecting a set menu from a hotel the same as every other couple that year has had. People have such funny attitudes to weddings. Usually on MN people brag about how cheap their wedding was and how they got married in a bin bag on their lunch break but you mention pizza and ooooh no, it's horrendous you need to put more effort in and you're doing it on the cheap

I went to a wedding that did pizza and it was a great wedding!

The emphasis was on the evening do being a relaxed do with entertainment. Pizza was certainly different to the usual sit down meal, but why do we all have to do things like other people all the time?!

In terms of enjoying yourself, the important thing about a wedding IMO is the company and the general vibe. This wedding was friendly and welcoming and we all had a lovely time.

Since your wedding will be nearer the summer, I would go for good quality cold cuts, salads and breads that can be served from a buffet table on decent disposable plates

This would work well also - but only if it's something you want!

@luckylavender

There'll be boxes everywhere, dripping pizza over outfits and people opening boxes to see what is what. Chaos.

Nope! This didn’t happen at the wedding we went too. I didn’t get a drip of tomato sauce down my dress - you can use a knife and fork with pizza!

Also they just wrote on the box what pizza it was and the table etc.

Definitely be worth checking with local pizza vans what they can do, a really hot pizza oven can cook a pizza in around 90 seconds.

You could just have a menu on each table and everyone tick which pizza they want then the pizza people serve table by table.

This is making me want a pizza now!

On a pizza van - I went to a campsite with a lovely pizza van. But I wouldn't recommend it - they really can't keep up with lots of orders at once. I know because I had plenty of time to watch them try to get the orders out while I queued for about an hour!

Please, don't do that to your guests!