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.

@titchy

Tbh if it's in a few months time the weather will be warm and cold buffet perfectly fine if there are no cooking facilities. Order from the party section of Waitrose or Sainsburys - much nicer and cheaper than pizza, and they don't need a couple of weeks.

I agree, you cpuld get loads of nice fresh party food (high quality for all tastes too) from M&S-Sainsburys-even Iceland thrown in here and there, to bulk it out. Nice baguettes and salads etc. for th same price.

Much better than cold, undercatered for pizzas for that many people.

One of my friends did exactly this....and it was brilliant. They had 80 pizzas for about 100 people with a variety of toppings. Dominos were happy to leave the bags so the pizzas not put out immediately were kept really warm. They had some leftovers but people also ate loads they also had a buffet with salad, sauces, coleslaw etc.
I don't know anyone who didn't really enjoy it.

@Loopytiles

If food is a big problem, an option is to change the timings to everyone arriving at 7.30pm or later, for drinks, cake / nibbles only, and a small wedding party eat at a restaurant before that.

Don't do this, you end up with a load of people at a loose end for the afternoon. I went to one of these weddings and it was really annoying and boring. Plus cost us loads of money in cabs, meal out etc in between.

I think another thing to consider is that pizza is messy, especially if you are eating with your fingers. People will be wearing smart, probably new outfits, the last thing they want is pizza dropping on them.

You are just going to end up with cold pizzas, dominos doesn’t have enough heat lamps to keep 65 pizzas warm all at once. You need someone that can cook them on site.

It takes a couple of minutes to make each pizza and then they have to go through the oven. Some will be sitting under the heat lamp for ages by the time they deliver.

OP - it sounds perfect. Also simple and stress free.
As you can see from this thread whatever you choose will not suit everyone but there are very few who couldn't manage a bit of pizza.

I'd love it but not if it were cold. I'd be perfectly happy with a simple meal rather than a white wedding meal. What about jacket potatoes and chilli. With various other toppings. Very tasty and would be easy to eat and HOT.

@Discolady123

I'm more confused than ever after this thread 😂😂😂

Just to add another thought that may or may not be relevant. Will the venue make a charge for you using outside caterers. If its a village hall then obviously no. If its a wedding venue type place they may. They may also charge corkage on any alcohol you bring in. Just a thought. Hopefully not affecting you.The men in my family are tall but not overweight. They would ordinarily eat a whole Dominoes large pizza each.

I have visions of it being cold, greasy and nasty by the time people get to eat it. The "sides" (how I hate that term) that come with Dominos also need to be eaten fresh, really, they're quite unpleasant once lukewarm.

There will be a significant minority who just don't like any of it at all, as well. I think its a bad idea. It reminds me of Trump bulk ordering McDonalds to the White House - not a good look for a wedding.

I adore pizza, it’s one of my favourite things and I even happily eat it cold with extra salt for breakfast the next day. But I honestly can’t think of anything worse than having to stand up and eat pizza in my best wedding attire whilst greasy handed little children are milling about.

You could always have a separate order of 15-20 pizzas, alongside whatever else you might decide on, so that whoever wants some can have it.

If it were me I’d probably do a hybrid of some kind - various trays of finger foods/canapés, a couple of big salads, curry menu, Turkish or Middle Eastern menu, plus pizzas.

Have you thought about contacting your local curry house? Most do outside catering? Or Indian food caterers?

Pizza I love but I think people will be hungry and I imagine pizza might even go cold.

I would love pizza or fish and chips at a wedding. Better than most of the usual food. I would see though if you could find a place that delivers nice stone baked ones. I would allow half a pizza per adult,so if you get a deal, it would be £5 per head.

I’m hungry now.

@BirdOnTheWire

OP - it sounds perfect. Also simple and stress free. As you can see from this thread whatever you choose will not suit everyone but there are very few who couldn't manage a bit of pizza.

Perhaps i'm just being overly negative, but it really doesn't sound simple and stress free. Organising for over 60 pizzas to be delivered, kept warm, served, then replenished when a pizza has been eaten. Not to mention cleaning up boxes, mess from dropped toppings and greasy hands. (shudders)

The first thing you need to do is speak to your local places.

We had pizzas at our reception and the most we could have delivered was 15 ( they were considerably larger than Dominos large though) as that was the most anywhere could do.

They also had set times they were willing to do it as obviously that was using all their ovens.

The place we got it from did other hot buffet food too - wedges, pakoras, cheese bites, chicken wings etc.

You’d be far better speaking to somewhere and asking them what they’d recommend for that number of people with the focus on pizza

My thought is that it isn't very "special". This is your wedding day, and I'd of thought you'd want to have something a bit more glamorous than takeaway pizzas.

And will there be tables and chairs, cutlery? What about drinks. Are you providing wine?

I’d be really disappointed with dominos pizza in o be honest.

A friend had pizzas at her wedding (not dominos) and it’s was really shit

Love it! We went to a wedding where the evening do was catered by a burger truck - so much fun!

I agree with pps though that rather than domino's, a local pizza place would be better value for money and they'd appreciate your booking a lot more so you'd probably get a better quality of food and service too

Sorry, that's a big no for me.

How far do people have to travel? Can they eat a decent lunch prior to the ceremony? We had people arriving for our 3pm wedding and they may just had a sandwich as they travelled a bit. So we served cake and tea/coffee and then a 7pm dinner.

Apart from the fact that Dominos screams teenage party or similar, lots of people will be dressed up and greasy pizza is a nightmare. Then, they get cold quickly so going back for a second helping could mean you end up with cold slices. People won't care for vegans/coliaec/dairy intolerance and just grab a slice from whatever they fancy.

If you insist on pizza I would speak to a local italian restaurant, even Zizzi does better ones. You still may have the same issue with cold pizza though.

I’m in!!

Less than half a pizza each is pitiful, your guests would be starving even if there was some coleslaw or little sides. You’ve got a huge amount of people to feed and cooking enough pizza for them plus keeping it all warm is not possible. You’ll have to source a better mass catering option.

Maybe you should do an AIBU poll, OP? Ask people to vote on how they would personally feel elated or miffed about being served Dominos pizza rather than whether they think it is a bad idea and that some guests might not like it.

Pizza is fine
Dominos is not- it is vile

Just to add, as someone who has ordered 50 pizzas before regularly provided they are American style you don’t need to worry about the getting cold. Stack the boxes in flavour types, top one is open and the ones below will keep their heat together.
Only go for 5 flavours - cheese and tomato, one veggie, one chicken, one pepperoni and one meaty. If you have to many varieties people go posing all the boxes and that’s when they get cold.
Ask for them to diamond cut rather than slices.
Makes sure the restaurant have their own delivery rather than using deliveroo riders or similar. Deliveroo have a tendency to still send push bikes even if your order 50 pizzas in advance.

What happens to guests who don't eat pizza?

What about puddings?