Please share your budget food ideas for weddings!

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I'm helping one of my oldest friends organise her wedding.

It's a proper shoestring event - loads of love, kids everywhere but not much money to spend!

She's having a garden party in her rural home (massive garden!!).

Obviously catering is a huge cost. Does anyone have any tips on doing this really cheaply?!

She's not at all conventional, so it doesn't have to be anything "weddingy" if that makes sense.

Thanks :)

Can you get guests to bring food in place of a gift?

Orangedaisy I like your thinking!

This is what she was considering originally, but as she lives in a different country to the one she grew up in, lots of people are coming by long-haul and arriving the night before, so it's a bit of a tricky request.

Where she lives is really rural too, so it's not like they can just pop to the nearest supermarket in the morning of the wedding.

It would be possible to say that to her friends who live in the same country to bring food.

But she'd still need to provide a fair amount for the international guests.

Ok, how many guests and what are the facilities like? Just a normal household oven and fridge? Need to know in order to give sensible ideas (i.e. a zillion baked potatoes no good if there are 200 guests and only a normal oven!).

And who’s going to actually do the food prep/service?

Thinking out loud - there will be lots of kids there, and the party will go on all day.

Popcorn is a really cheap snack for the kids isn't it. I've got an awesome popcorn machine that's fun to use at home. That might be quite fun. We could get a couple of the older kids to supervise it.

(Not an answer to the how to feed everyone question, but writing it here before I forget it!)

What is the budget? Is a fish and chip or ice cream van a possibility?

Afternoon tea for sure, best wedding I ever went to was an afternoon tea.

Loads of fresh sandwiches and lovely cakes. Not expensive at all.

Normal house, standard kitchen stuff.

I'm not sure how many guests, I'll ask. (As they're doing the party at home they're not restricted on numbers, but as she lives abroad, only those old friends who'll travel longhaul will be going).

I'd guess probably about 60 adults, 25 kids?

My friend had a party in her back garden for a special birthday, money was tight, food was things like hotdogs, pasta and sauce, and some guests brought along food too, like a pot luck supper. Worked well. Another time she borrowed a large gas bbq and got a great deal from a local butcher on burgers.

And who’s going to actually do the food prep/service?

Her friends are helpful people, the kind of roll-our-sleeves-up-and-get-stuck-in variety. I'm sure we can rustle up either a crew of volunteers from friends to help out - or alternatively people she knows locally who might do it for mates rates.

Afternoon tea could be great actually, as it's typically British (or do I mean English?!) so it'd be a bit of fun.

She does need to actually feed people though - perhaps afternoon tea isn't "hearty" enough... hmm...

How about:

Afternoon tea (Home made scones, jam and clotted cream, platters of Sainsbury’s sandwiches)

Cold Buffet (I’d suggest massive amounts of only a couple of dishes to keep it simple eg lots of nice bread and butter, and get local friends to help out with bulky food like pasta salad, potato salad, home made coleslaw, cold chicken legs - these are all things can be made a couple of days in advance).

I'd second afternoon tea. Cheapest party in ever did was basically an old fashioned birthday style tea and it went down a storm. You could fill bowls with sweets like skittles for colour, tons of sandwiches and cakes on stands, sausage rolls etc. Cheap and crowd pleasing.

You’d need scones for afternoon tea. Those bulk it out a fair bit! Plus ice cream would be great, if they have a decent freezer it could be cleared out to make space for a good few tubs. Your numbers aren’t huge so very possible.

How about a barbecue, it goes with the garden party vibe although she’d have to find someone to do the grilling. Then ask everyone that lives nearby to bring a side dish and set that up as a buffet. Hire an ice cream van for pudding. Oh and if you need to source lots of glasses and have a Waitrose nearby they have free hire on champagne flutes, wine glasses, tumblers and pint glasses.

And local chip shop could deliver just chips late on to mop up any booze?

For the kids - good shout on the popcorn. Hotdogs and buns (hot dogs in slow cooker in stock on warm through the day), with ketchup and mustard, corndogs on sticks for veggie kids. Plain cupcakes with bowls of toppings to do their own.

Adults - bread rolls, butter, roast two meat joints the day before and serve warm, slow cooker of gravy with a ladel, cous cous salad, slaw, leaves, different cheeses and deli meats, roast potatoes or jackets. Dessert - either wedding cake or meringue nests again with self serve toppings (chantilly cream, fruit sauces, fresh chopped fruit and berries).

Some friends of ours held a dessert party for their reception in their garden. It was kind of like afternoon tea without the sandwiches or savouries. Several large round cakes, (Victoria sponge, chocolate, walnut, carrot) apple pie, cherry pie, raspberry trifle, cookies, doughnuts, cheesecakes, fresh fruit platters. Practically everything was homemade, served with lashings of cream, custard or ice cream and accompanied by tea, coffee, pimms and prosecco. It was just a couple of hours of (polite!) celebration with music in the afternoon then they chuffed off on honeymoon and we went home. It was lovely.

First thing she/they need to work out is how much of a meal are they going to serve - would substantial refreshments (e.g. afternoon tea) be OK? Or do they want a full meal? Does it need to be a hot meal?

One friend on a limited budget had a hog roast (provided commercially) then got local guests to bring salads/deserts. The major advantage of this is that local guests didn't spend all day in the kitchen.

Or she could go for really easy prep stuff - e.g. pizza which just has to be heated in the oven (along with salads, deserts etc.)

Or a cold buffet with the odd heated bit - e.g. sausage rolls, spring rolls etc.

Basically, she wants to minimise how much work her friends are doing during the party! If she has really, really kind friends, then a big casserole/curry would be possible - one friend did this for her wedding (including the lovely friends!) but she did have use of a catering kitchen.

As you can tell, I have plenty of friends with limited budgets!

Sandwiches, pasta salad, potato salad hot dogs in hot dog rolls with fried onions and ketchup/ mustard. Is there a Costco anywhere, or a Lidl, halved baked potatoes,

Loads of responses, thanks people! Just reading now ...

I say barbeque. Do a big pasta salad with tomatoes, onions, garlic, oil. A rice salad, a potato salad in yoghurt and chive. Then make a huge lentil salad., and a 3 bean salad... then a fresh one... ask others to add.
For dips you can slice bread thinly and make melba toast in the oven, make your own hummus dip (super cheap to make)... Cheese straws in the oven are super easy....

The thing you need to make this feel weddingy are table clothes and glass glasses, don't use plastic...

Or do a chilli con carne....

We had a big party once which was just baked potatoes, fancy sausages (meat and veggie) and salads... it was great..... no one needs to realise its on a budget...

We used to decorate tables lots of mirror tiles and tea lights and ivy running down the tables..

Some friends of ours asked for 'bring a dish' instead of a gift.. it was the most amazing spread I've ever seen

For our very small and inexpensive wedding we did a meat chilli and veg curry with rice. Made the night before and reheated on the day (rice cooked fresh). And bread/ cheese/ salad buffet for grandmother who wouldn't eat the other stuff! Then a few pizzas to heat up later in the evening. Various cakes and a friend made a pavlova. This was for about 20 adults and similar number of young children.