Waitrose Entertaining or Marks and Spencers?

[MusicalMummyJules]

I'm thinking of getting some catering to help with the load for DS's christening. Does anyone have any preference or experience of either?

Sorry, not helpful

We got stuff for ds's christening from Waitrose Entertaining and it was really fab. We ordered a lot of stuff ( as there was 16 of us for the weekend) and they gave us a free bottle of Madeira to go with the cheeseboard. I have to say I don't usually shop in Waitrose but the entertaining food was worth every penny.
My sister ordered a cake from Marks for a birthday and the one we got from Waitrose was much better and about the same price.

Waitrose cakes are great. I had planned on ordering food from Waitrose but due to the cost. I decided to purchase ingredients mainly from Waitrose and made up my own platters exactly like the ones that Waitrose sold. It looked fab, tasted fab and I spent the same amount on the christening food but included the cakes and booze and soft drinks and decorations. So did well, made the food up early that morning exactly like Waitrose entertaining range. No one knew the difference.

about to use M&S order online for dd's christening
will report back afyter the 18th
one thing to note though - what time's the service??

Pop that sounds great - can I ask what your budget was and how many people were eating and what you served? Would love some inspirational ideas.

I'm not thinking of ordering anything I can do easily (i.e i'm planning on doing my own sandwiches etc)

The service is at 3pm and we should be having the reception around 4pm

Thanks for all the advice so far!

I used Waitrose for DDs christening and for my wedding cake, they were fab, so helpful and also provided free glasses for us to borrow

We used m&s for gran's 80th, about 50 people, was great. They were really helpful, and personalised cake was fab. Although we didn't use them for everything - we got most of the stuff from them, then my dad cooked two whole salmon and two hams to save a bit of money, that worked really well.

thanks pootles, nice to hear a recommendations

I am doing mainly a sandwich & wrap buffet precisely because I find them a pain to make! A mix of sandwiches and wraps for 30 would take hours.
Reason I asked about the service is because DD's is at 10.30 which makes picking up awkward as it's Sunday and the shop doesn't open until 10

Waitrose have fab cakes just now - look up the Paddington Bear one!!!

I have used Waitrose Entertaining a few times and they are great - great quality, reliable and great choice, I found M and S more limited.

Can recommend sushi, sandwiches, bread canapes, rolls.