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.

If I knew was going to be served dominos
I’d ensure I’d eaten beforehand
Don’t want to be standing around with a floppy greasy dominos in my hands, negotiating stringy cheese issues.

Dominos - great for a Friday treat for the kids after a busy week at school whilst watching some trash TV curled up under a blanket on the sofa

Not when I pull out a nice evening dress, arrange a sitter, possibly overnight stay, perhaps get my nails done, and look forward to a glass of champers and a bit of party

A couple on tiktok did this..... They contacted Dominos direct and they did them a deal..

Can you not go for an Italian buffet so that there is more variety and the quality is a bit better?
I do like Domino's but it does seem a bit cheap (while actually being quite expensive) and as that's the only food at the wedding I don't think it's that great an idea. If you'd had a wedding reception earlier with a sit down meal and then got in pizzas for the evening then maybe.

@TristesseDurera

I'm Jewish - along with approximately 99% of all Jews and also people of Asian heritage, I can't digest lactose. In fact only about 35% of the world's adult population can digest lactose.

Approximately 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy. Lactose intolerance in
adulthood is most prevalent in people of East Asian descent, with 70 to 100 percent of people affected in these communities. Lactose intolerance is also very common in people of West African, Arab, Jewish, Greek, and Italian descent.

medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/lactose-intolerance/#frequency

However, if you're going to have a wedding of well over 100 people made up entirely of white people of Northern European descent, you'll probably be OK in terms of that aspect - only about 5% of Northern Europeans are lactose intolerant.

Add to that the high proportion of people who don't like or can't digest gluten/wheat, the people who can't have tomato/nightshades and the people who just don't like pizza, and I guess, depending on demographics, you might find that about half of your guests are OK with it.

Not sure why you would do this really.

We had 250 guests at our wedding. When we sent out our invitations we asked our guests to tell us if they had any dietary requirements. We had at least 5 Jewish families, and our guests were about 60% white Caucasian. The rest of the guests who travelled from around the world were Asian/African. We had 20 vegetarians, one person who was lactose intolerant, two who were gluten intolerant, two who had a nut allergy, and one who was allergic to sesame.

We did this at our wedding but for the late night snack - 45 pizzas for 80 people and not a slice left and that was after a proper bbq tea earlier! They arrived at 10pm we got 50% off at domino’s so maybe speak to them again

I wouldn’t call myself lactose intolerant- I eat plenty of cheese and drink milk. I wouldn’t indicate any food requirements on a wedding invitation. But Domino pizza does not agree with me!

OP. Is Dominos code for cyanide or arsenic? Judging by the reaction on here I'm beginning to wonder. I'm not a big fan of Dominos either but I don't think it's such an outlandish idea especially if there are a few other foods available

I attended a lovely wedding last night and the buffet included various items including pizza, provided by the hotel not Dominos but everyone seemed to enjoy it. They were dressed up but no one had a fit of the vapours at the thought of having to eat pizza in their finery. There was enough seating for all though so that reduced the danger of it dripping sauce.

A friend of mine has a pizza van with a wood fired pizza oven. He can just about make 30 x 10 inch pizzas an hour less of the weather is expecting cold or wet. Ten inch pizza is one persons food in my opinion. It would take 4 hours to feed your guests. I have worked in a pizza place previously. Or two ovens could do two 14 pizzas each in 9-13 minutes depending on base and toppings. So 4 pizzas in 15 minutes, 12 in an hour. Food for 24 people in one hour.

Do not believe that dominos, or any pizza place, will be able to turn up with food for 110 people all boxed up, hot and in a decent time. Realistically the pizzas would have to be staggered over a few hours at least. This means that the hungry greedy people will take more than their fair share and inevitably petite will miss out.

If your absolutely must get food from a take away, spread it over a few different places and have them due to arrive at the same time. There isn't a take away going that can produce your food AND deal with their regular customers and produce good quality food that is hot. Not possible.

I recently had pizza at a Bat Mitzvah, so there are some Jewish people that will eat it, for sure! The logistics are what would stress me out...

OP said that there aren't any guests with dietary requirements so that isn't a consideration.

I would happily have pizza or anything which someone was kind enough to provide for me, but if I had a nice dress on I would be rather worrying if oily fingers could ruin my dress ( because I don't have many) if having to eat standing up. But if somewhere to sit down and other salads / sides etc & a plate and paper napkins - I would be more than happy.

I did not realise this was a "thing" but I think there are pizzas and pizzas - I can't abide Dominos FIL used to get them & personally don't like them but obviously many do, but a local Italian Pizza can be lovely - if not possible I would go for Pizza Express rather than Dominos - I prefer those BUT BUT BUT - not my wedding and not my choice.

I think the idea is fine - to me it is just the way it is carried out.

Pizza, lovely. Dominos, vile. If you want the student hangover vibe surely a bulk order of Pot Noodles and a hot water urn would feed people more quickly.

@stuntbubbles

Pizza, lovely. Dominos, vile. If you want the student hangover vibe surely a bulk order of Pot Noodles and a hot water urn would feed people more quickly.

That was a but unnecessarily judgy.

I love pizza, but cold pizza not so much.

@bluedodecagon

Please please don’t go this! I went to a party catered with pizza. It was ice cold, congealed and greasy. I was starving as was everyone else. You’d be better going to Costco and just buying trays of food for £650. You’d get everything you need.

I absurdly ate that Costco would be a better option.

Op, look on face book at local groups to the area that the venue is at. There is ALWAYS buffet companies with spaces close to the event.... there has to be or nobody would ever be able to eat after a funeral. Just put up a few requests for reputable buffet suppliers and you will be Flooded with options. It will cost you more than dominos though but to be honest half a pizza is a absolute joke. You will be looking at £8-9 per person Cold buffet and £11-16 per person for a hot option or two added on.

Never heard such a lot of rubbish that Jewish people don’t eat dairy. 100% not true. Religious Jews don’t eat meat and dairy together but they absolutely do eat dairy. Never met one who doesn’t apart from the v occasional one who is allergic but that’s no more than in the general population

What happens if the guests don't actually want Pizza? I hate cheese (it's just congealed fat) so wouldn't go near it. DH wouldn't because he has a heart condition - but you wouldn't know if you didn't know
We'd leave early.

Wow - one would hope you were there to enjoy sharing the occasion of your friends wedding. What happens if you don't like something - don't have it. The chances of EVERYONE attending a wedding getting to have their favourite food is pretty much nil.

The OP has already stated that dietary requirements of guests has been checked, so she would know if you were her guests.. as she has asked!

As for 'cheese is just congealed fat' - well no, no it isn't (its an enzyme activated coagulation of protein and fat), but if you want to break down what food is.. well some of it is 'just dead flesh' and 'mammal bodily fluids' and 'fibrous matter with water and vitamins'... You are just being snobbishly ridiculous!

OP - if you want pizza, have pizza. I'd go for an independent and somewhere doing stone baked, smaller pizzas as these are more likely to work well as buffet style food - large floppy dominos type pizzas will be pretty messy stuff!

Double check with the venue as to whether there is actually somewhere a van can be parked, I have friends who run food vans and they can indeed cater large numbers if properly prepped to do so and guests are managed sensibly.
They can keep a constant chain of pizzas being freshly cooked and delivered to a table, starting before the guests start eating, so theres a full table thats kept topped up, or you can stagger guests going to get from the van. Lots of vans will be happy if there's more than one van too - say pizza and baked potatoes.

@Getyourarseofffthequattro Ugh, you’re right: apologies, OP! I’m tired and hangry and took it out on your wedding buffet. Order pizza all round if it floats your boat; it’s your night. But be generous with it: more than half pp, salads and sides too, and knife and fork options for people who’ve dressed up.

It sounds like an OK idea, I wouldn't mind pizza at a wedding. But, I would worry how they would cook such a huge amount of pizza and keep it fresh and hot unless they put out 5 or so at a time??

Wow - one would hope you were there to enjoy sharing the occasion of your friends wedding. What happens if you don't like something - don't have it. The chances of EVERYONE attending a wedding getting to have their favourite food is pretty much nil.

But if the only food on offer is pizza, that's quite different to the usual wedding where there is often a starter, choice of mains and dessert. Not saying op is U to do things differently, but the poster you quoted isn't U to question it from the perspective of a guest.

Anyway, op said she knew a few guests didn't like pizza and would have an alternative.

It would be such shitty hosting to say "wow, I'd like to think you're here to see me getting married and not just expecting your favourite food", but clearly, op has some class

I love how dramatic MN is. The phrase “ice cold pizza” and “freezing cold pizza” has been repeated loads here. Worst it will be is lukewarm, it will never be freezing cold

Lukewarm dominoes pizza does sound pretty revolting. But op is taking measures to prevent that

Have to say, I'd love to have pizza from an independent food truck at a wedding, if there were salads and garlic bread alongside! What a treat compared to my daily normal no carb attempts at losing weight! Sounds ideal for a special day such as your wedding!
Hope you have a lovely day!

@LovelyRita1

Wow - one would hope you were there to enjoy sharing the occasion of your friends wedding. What happens if you don't like something - don't have it. The chances of EVERYONE attending a wedding getting to have their favourite food is pretty much nil.

But if the only food on offer is pizza, that's quite different to the usual wedding where there is often a starter, choice of mains and dessert. Not saying op is U to do things differently, but the poster you quoted isn't U to question it from the perspective of a guest.

Anyway, op said she knew a few guests didn't like pizza and would have an alternative.

It would be such shitty hosting to say "wow, I'd like to think you're here to see me getting married and not just expecting your favourite food", but clearly, op has some class

It's really shitty to serve a cold roast or dry chicken as well and everybody generally complains about it yet it's still the done thing.

I went to a wedding with an afternoon tea once. Now that was nice! Nothing to go cold or dry out and not once tiny bit of beef with a single carrot to be seen 😄
I don't see what pizza has to do with class 🤣 how ridiculous

It's really shitty to serve a cold roast or dry chicken as well and everybody generally complains about it yet it's still the done thing.

I went to a wedding with an afternoon tea once. Now that was nice! Nothing to go cold or dry out and not once tiny bit of beef with a single carrot to be seen 😄
I don't see what pizza has to do with class 🤣 how ridiculous

Oh no, I think you've misunderstood my point quattro! I was not saying it would be shitty to serve pizza or that pizza had anything do with class. That would be a bit silly wouldn't it 🤣🤣?

Read my comment again. It was the comment by widdlin which i thought was lacking in class, nothing the op has said or done. HTH