Tell me about low cost catering options

[MistyKoala]

Hi all,

I wonder what advice people have about low cost catering? Getting married next summer in the south east, UK and am stunned by the cost of some caterers!

I was hoping to get food for 100 people for about £2-3k or cheaper if poss. Canapés and main meal only, no desserts (have cake) or drinks. How can I get costs down?! Even BBQs which I thought would be cheaper are coming up as 50£ per head and we just can’t afford that.

I’ve thought about catering myself but it’s too many guests and we don’t have a lot of family near enough to help. Would like hot food as people will be around all day and be wanting a fairly substantial meal I’d imagine.

So which low cost caterers in the south east do you know of? Or what other advice can you give me to hunt out more affordable options?!

When you make the enquiry don't mention the word 'wedding'.

You can often get exactly the same package for half the price if it's for a 'function' or 'party'.

I went to a wedding near Brighton recently where they hired a fish & chip van - it was actually really tasty! Could have been one of these:

www.poptop.uk.com/westsussex-county/suppliers/catering/fishandchipvan/

You could also buy the canapés from Waitrose. Do you know any teenagers you could pay to serve them?

Buffet is the only option really, I (long time ago) did a mixture of macro, Tesco's and local shops (eg fishmonger supplied whole cooked salmon and seafood platters, bakery delivered bread). I was cutting up carrot sticks in my wedding dress! Things are better, the main supermarkets have catering options. One option could be a hog roast, our local butcher charged £800 including 2 staff, the meat, rolls etc.

I went to a wedding catered entirely by M&S. It was far nicer than many a wedding meal I've had.

Paella (check out Paella Fella)
Hog Roast
Wood Fired Pizza

Or cut out a main meal all together, I went to a lovely afternoon wedding last year where it was afternoon tea. Have a lovely day whatever you decide.

Have a late afternoon/ early evening wedding so that you only have to provide one meal and not a wedding breakfast and evening buffet.

Dominoes?

Seriously though a decent pub should be able to throw together a buffet and mains package for £20pp, with £10 for half a bottle of wine each.

Hog roast
Pizza van
Fish and chip van
Street food - look them up but don’t mention wedding

Catering for a party I was quoted for the above £7-10 per head. Think wedding is where you are going wrong.

Canapé from France? Go over and pick up frozen canapés - excellent and super cheap.

Waitrose/m and a - all excellent for that sort of thing.

Good luck - caterers can be c expensive - dm if you need any further recs

Agree with poster who said don't mention wedding to caterers. Just say 'party' or function. I'm in London and have about 75 guests. I have spent £550 on a waitrose delivery of sandwiches, salads, snacks, cakes. £600 (£8 per head) on hot food that is delivered ready to serve at a requested time. Found this through requesting a quote on bark website - didn't mention wedding. spending about £800 ON booze , another £100 or so on compostible plates, cutlery, table clothes etc.

Will be paying a couple of friend's grown up kids to help with drinks etc at reception. Spent about another on glasses hire but we'll get that back on reurn. In total not too much more than than £2k so I think your budget is achievable if you do similar for a few more guests but don't need desert.

First place I got a quote for a quick drinks (2 per person max) and light snack buffet style reception for 35 guests just after the ceremony quoted me £1k Reason being I told them it was a wedding and they slap on ridiculous charges such as £130 for a table cloth as well as enless preparation/admin charges.

Good luck but it can be done to a budget.£2k-3k is quite enough to spend on food/service for a 'party' .

Gosh thank you so much, I wasn’t expecting so many responses. Great ideas, I’ll have a look at all suggestions.

This may be a silly question but will I not get into trouble when people realise it’s actually for a wedding rather than a party? Won’t they realise when they come to set up etc?

Or could you have a luxury sort of afternoon tea instead - sandwiches, scones, cakes etc which would make it much cheaper?

I have the same question as the OP- won’t caterers realise it’s a wedding when they turn up and feel cheated out of money? They could refuse to serve or at least be a bit difficult, no? My friend did get her wedding cake a lot cheaper by telling the bakery it was an engagement cake, but the bakery weren’t attending the wedding so no awkward situation there.

OP, Poptop is what I used to find local caterers. Bbq should be about £15-20pp, not £50, but that maybe depends on the amount or meat quality.

Hi
I have got a great caterer 120 guests and it is 1.5k. We are having Chicken breast in bourbon, beef brisket chilli and pulled pork sauce with 3 sides such as rice, fries, wraps etc and 3 salads such as coleslaw, mexican corn etc. The set up is really pretty and includes staff, plates and cutlery etc. They know it is a wedding too :)
PM me if you want more details
We are taking our own mini desserts that I will make and freeze in advance and we will put nibbles out beforehand.

I’m in a different area so don’t need the exact caterer details, but was wondering, how did you find them? A particularly good website? Poptop doesn’t seem to bring up a lot of quotes at all.

Hire a pair of catering students with the promise of good references from the guests if it's good - that's what my friend did. Organised half a dozen student friends to serve the food and run the bar (bar licence easily obtained from the council)

I got a basic party buffet in a pub function room for £7 a head. Curry, sandwiches, quiche, etc. It was adequate but not amazing. Tbh the cost was my main concern - you can’t have amazing and also cheap.

With regards to your original question about cutting costs down OP, can you not cut down on your guest list? I barely managed to write down 30 names for ours, surely you aren’t close with all 100? If you were to go out with each of them for a catch up, would you be happy to pay for the meal? That’s how someone suggested I look at things.

Thanks so much everyone, I’m still wondering how people got away with not saying it was for a wedding!

Some great ideas here, have been looking at BBQ/hog roast type things but they still seem to be pretty pricey. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong areas! Will have a nosey at the Pop top website.

I’m afraid I can’t cut down on numbers - my fiancé and I both come from large, close families.

I'm a chef in devon and I charge around £30 per head for a 3 course wedding meal.

This may be a silly question but will I not get into trouble when people realise it’s actually for a wedding rather than a party? Won’t they realise when they come to set up etc?

They will probably realise before that, but if it is a big deal to them then they will ask more questions about what you are celebrating.

Generally they charge more for a wedding because it is more work and pressure (more communication in the lead up, wanting tastings and more requirements to be catered for as it is your special day etc) if you are a laid back bride who treats the reception as any other party to your suppliers then they most likely won't mind

I dont charge any more for a wedding than I do for any other event. The food and staff costs the same so I don't see the need to add extra to my charges.

Thank you @FallenSkies and @Duvetdazed, that’s really helpful. I appreciate your replies.

@Sundaychiller I’ve PMed you for more details!

I could easily cater that event for under 2k and with a high quality menu.

@DartmoorChef I’m assuming you are in the South West from your user name?! I don’t suppose you have any buddies in the South East who could do similarly?