Non-veggie evening food?

[boredboredboredbored1000]

I'm planning a wedding and, despite my best efforts, have blown my modest-medium sized budget already. It's an evening thing, ceremony at 530, dinner after, "evening" guests arriving at 9. There will be canapés, dinner, wine and an edible wedding favour for those invited to the whole thing. The "evening" guests will get a welcome drink, then everyone can have some wedding cake (I've bought 3 big tiers in different flavours) at the celebration afterwards. I'd also like to get a "pork pie wedding cake" from M&S (3 pork pies in decreasing sizes, stacked and decorated to look like a wedding cake) as additional food in the evening (cost about £80, I'm allowed to bring this to the venue as it's another "cake"). The alternative would be a cheese board from the caterers costing £520 (can't afford this, also means I can't bring my own cake of stacked cheeses). It's been suggested that the pork pie thing is not fair on vegetarians (we have about 4 coming). I can't find a veggie friendly version, or alternative veggie tier. If I don't get the pork pie cake I won't get anything else. Would I be unreasonable to get it for non-veggie people?

😂 ethnocentric.
Yeah, no I wouldn't want to go to this wedding as an evening guest. I'd feel really crap about having to turn up at 9pm to receive a chunk of pork pie. Good thing I'm not invited I suppose.

iheartpink ooh yes lovely! Perhaps a mackerel tower

A fish cake??

I also think savoury muffins could be the answer. Pile them on a tiered cake stand and tell the caterers it is cake.

Is it possible to rethink the evening food - although the pork pie cake is nice for a large buffet with lots of other options not even all meat eaters like pork pies and then you may have problems with those that don't eat pork.

With the money you are paying for the pork pie cake you could

• do a selection mini quiches/savoury muffins - perhaps arranged on one of those cupcake trees/stands
• serve platters of hot chips
• just do simple platters of mixed sandwiches and crisps

If you need to save money you could also ditch the wedding favours . many people don't even bother to take them

How much is the wedding cake costing you?

I'd probably ditch the cake totally and put that money towards a buffet option for meat & veggies that doesn't involve pork pie whatsoever, I wouldn't eat that as a meat eater!

And I totally agree your timings need looking at, you're never going to fit everything in & 9pm is way too late to invite evening guests - what time is the venue open until?

Our wedding cake was about £900. We still fed the evening guests!

Im a non veggie, but surely it's easy to put up food that doesn't have a meat content? I thought this was standard anywhere.

Pork pie? At a wedding? Sounds gross. And yea I wouldn't bother going to an evening do at 9pm. What time does it finish?

Also why can't you just make your own cheese cake - surely it's just wheels of different cheese stacked up with some decorative grapes?

I think those cheese cakes look really trashy, I'd rather an Iceland cheesecake.

If you're on a budget, the first thing to cut out is the favours.

I also think that 9pm is such a late start time, that making it clear it is cake and dancing is fine. Plenty of time for people to eat earlier.

I think a 'pork' pie sounds an absolute monstrosity. So whilst I think it is not necessary to provide anything other than cake cakes, if you really want a savoury one, go for cheese. Nearly everyone can eat that.

Do double check with the tied caterers how much cake you bring. One wedding cake is clearly excepted from the 'you can't bring your own food' rule, but multiple tiered cakes might be charged whatever is the bakery equivalent in corkage for any cake after the first one.

I honestly wouldn't worry.

If I got an invite to an evening party (having obviously not made the cut to go to the actual important bit) that didn't start until 9pm and it was made clear there was no intention of feeding the B list guests, I just would t go. Who wants to turn up to an event that late to feel like an unwelcome spare wheel? Maybe lots of your guests will feel likewise, and there will be no dilemma.

I'd cut out the favours too - nobody really remembers them or cares whether they get them and the cost of them could easily go towards some other part of the wedding.

I wasn't aware that pork pies eaten past dusk were so inherent to your 'culture

Bet the OP wishes she'd never bothered asking in the first place now
OP, if you're still here, it's evident from this thread that it's a personal choice so go with what you would like to serve.
I mean, some are saying "God no, I'd never eat pork pie, sounds gross" whereas I think a pork pie cake looks and sounds awesome and would love one of those.
Others saying "just have the cheese, that's better" would have people like me feeling hard done by as I can't eat cheese.
So what I'd do if it was me is have the pork pie for the meat eaters, and a cheese cake for the veggies. Everybody catered for.
Whiny, fussy sods who moan they don't like either - well, hard cheese. pun intended

Vegetarian pork ours available:

www.crustypie.co.uk/shop/

Really, put two sandwich platters out from Marks and ignore the venue. Can't stand that nonsense. Nothing will come of it.