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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask for your buffet wisdom/experiences.

15 replies

Whereisthecoffee · 03/12/2018 15:32

I’m getting married I’m on a low budget so can’t do free bar but I’m making savings/changes where I can to ensure everyone is well fed. I need your mums net wisdom, buffet do’s and donts, food suggestions anything helpful! You could also tell me about some of your wedding buffet experiences good or bad !
Thanks in advance

OP posts:
AwkwardAsAllGetout · 03/12/2018 15:35

We did our own buffet. We ordered sandwich platters from Sainsburys, who also did free glass hire. We spent most of the day before he wedding cooking up large joints of meat and salmon, and preparing things like sausage rolls and salads. It really took away any nerves I might have had as we were so busy. Saved us a fortune and it went down really well

DorisDances · 03/12/2018 15:37

Would your friends/family be up for donating a dessert so you can have a table of goodies for pud? You can then focus what budget you have on meat/cheese items that are decent quality.

Whereisthecoffee · 03/12/2018 15:38

Oh should have mentioned I’ll be doing it myself with family’s help ! The joints of meat I’ll deginut get on to a local butcher about thanks

OP posts:
Whereisthecoffee · 03/12/2018 15:39

My mum is a pastry chef So I’m sure she’d be happy to help out on the dessert front

OP posts:
abacucat · 03/12/2018 15:39

Has anyone got a Makro card you can use? They do catering size desserts.

abacucat · 03/12/2018 15:43

I guess the hey thing is making sure you have enough. Especially when people are drinking alcohol, they can eat more than you think. And kids certainly eat much much more than you would think if they are given a free rein.
The other key thing is how you set up the buffet. One long queue is a bit depressing. If you have the space would be great to do 3 or 4 separate tables of buffet so you can have 3 or 4 queues instead.

Also don't do dips, especially if you have kids there. Invariably one will put their fingers in it making it a food poisoning nightmare, and smearing dip on surfaces.

Justlikedevon · 03/12/2018 15:48

Get shit loads of veggie stuff. Carnivores aleays hoover up the veggie stuff and the only food left is meat. Mostly veggie means everyone is happy.

updownleftrightstart · 03/12/2018 15:49

Best wedding in terms of food I've ever been to had bacon and sausages sandwiches instead of an evening buffet.

But they also had a 3 tier pork pie as a wedding cake. It was awesome!

Sallycinammonbangsthedruminthe · 03/12/2018 15:52

Is it an evening buffet or a day time one after the ceremony OP? If its day time I would do open sandwiches,sausage rolls ,salads,pork pies ,crisps,etc or an afternoon tea maybe? Sandwiches cakes scones which can all be done really reasonably.For an evening buffet most people only snack as they are drinking so pizzas,or pie and peas or hot meat sandwiches and chips ..keep it simple with a few sides like slaws and corn on the cobs...The best evening reception I went to was jacket spuds and various fillings and the other option was bacon sandwiches nothing else just bacon sandwiches they went down a blast as everyone loved them... Good Luck and Happy Wedding day!

AnnieOH1 · 03/12/2018 15:59

First of all you can do a spectacular buffet cheaply if you want to. I'm going to tell you how I catered for around 400 people of all ages at a golf club a few years ago. (We turned Captain's Day into a family event with the evening presentation.)

Aldi and Lidl in particular will be your friend for deli meats and cheeses. You can make up some gorgeous looking platters and use grapes as a simple dressing. We did meat and cheese together and separately, as well as having trays of crackers. We also put out melba toast with pates.

We avoided sandwiches but did provide baskets of rolls (buttered and plain) for people to assemble what they wanted as they wanted; used French sticks etc to give some variety. Most of it was those part baked bags.

Pint pot tumblers filled with breadsticks/celery and dips as needed.

Melon (skin on and simply sliced) made another simple dessert option. Bowls of fruit also went down very well. Plus salads, just bags of salad, bowls of tomatoes (heritage as it happens because they looked good!) and platters of crudites.

Whole roast joints including a turkey crown formed the centre pieces. These were cold, but looked fab.

Bowls of olives and crisps went down very well. As did a random variety of cupcakes/cakes.

We had some catered sandwiches but literally got the minimum (iirc for 75).

I spent the day before cooking the meats, cooking the sausage and cheese n onion rolls. We also had savoury eggs, pork pies - all that sort of stuff.

Because we were offering a wide range buffet we bought enough items generally for between 25% and 50% of expected numbers to get a portion - except for the meats/cheese/bread.

We dotted everything around the long table and even bar top rather than it being a case of following savoury through dessert. It made things much easier for everyone in a tight space. We made sure that there was a reasonable mix of everything from the buffet within easy reach no matter where you were on the table if that makes sense. Chutneys, pickles, sauces etc were all sort of scattered through it to.

The only thing I would say that we were extravagant on would be that we used all disposable stuff, or had no interest in keeping the pint glasses etc. There was just no way that after catering breakfast and lunch that the evening buffet was going to need anything beyond folks taking stuff home with them or it going in the bin.

You'll need to take into account where you can store the fresh produce safely, I created a list with what we needed/where it needed to be stored/how long it took to prepare etc and made sure that we kept in budget too with it.

Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding!

allthgoodusernamesaretaken · 03/12/2018 16:07

my dad regularly caters for up to 100 people to church events.

He puts 10 people on each table. he tries to have broadly similar food on each table, so on each table of guests, he asks someone to bring cold meat, someone else brings vegetarian quiche, someone else brings another vegetarian dish, two people bring salad and one or two bring pudding.

people who don't cook help by serving the food or clearing the table

this seems to work pretty well, as you can allocate the jobs to suit the skills and capabilities of the guests e.g. if someone isn't a confident cook and they are travelling by bus to get to the function, you can ask them to clear the table instead

Whereisthecoffee · 03/12/2018 17:07

Thanks for all the input and ideas! It’s a evening buffet , I’m going to make sure the ceremony is late afternoon so people aren’t going hungry in a long drawn out day. I’m not one to be centre of attention so it’s going to be a couple of token photos so no waiting around either

OP posts:
possumgoddess · 03/12/2018 17:10

I did my own buffet for our wedding. I cooked a huge batch of boeuf bourguignonne in advance and froze it. I cooked a large turkey breast and a couple of hams bought from a butcher, then took them back to be sliced thinly and vacuum packed afterwards. I bought masses of grated cheese, loads of salads and cooked a shed load of baked potatoes. I bought butter portions so that I wouldn't have to deal with it on the day, and I bought a medium sized single tier wedding cake from M&S plus 2 bar cakes the same. We employed 2 lovely ( and experienced) friends of my daughter's to look after us and do all the washing up on the day. The lovely girls reheated all the defrosted boeuf bourguignonne in the microwave and then put it in pre-heated slow cookers while we had our ceremony and heated up the pre-cooked baked potatoes in the oven. I bought a beautiful sugar paste rose for the top of the 'show' cake and the lovely girls cut the bar cakes into portions. Everything was prepared in advance but we couldn't have managed without our two wonderful helpers. With their help we only had to pay for the venue, table cloths, napkins and decorations, and the cost of the raw ingredients. It was a wonderful relaxed day, mainly because I knew everything was ready and I trusted our helpers to get on with things without needing to be told what to do.

BarbaraofSevillle · 03/12/2018 17:35

Get shit loads of veggie stuff. Carnivores aleays hoover up the veggie stuff and the only food left is meat. Mostly veggie means everyone is happy

Agree with this, but people are omnivores, not carnivores, so why shouldn't they eat things like cheese or egg sandwiches, onion bhajis etc?

Buffets are very often processed pork heavy, with sausage rolls, pork pies, sausages and ham sandwiches on the same buffet, so people go for the few normal food items that happen to be vegetarian in a desperate attempt to find something that isn't processed pork.

If you are having sausage rolls, you really don't need sausages or pork pies, and make sure there are a good variety of sandwiches, not just ham.

user1484424013 · 03/12/2018 19:48

6 quid a platter of sandwiches at Morrison's. Samosas and pakoras from.local Indian sweet shop.and they deliver to venue. Local butchers a lot also do food orders for quiche etc. I always find an old fashioned buffet the best good luck

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