Are we feeding people enough?

[Yissie]

1pm ceremony (hoping guests will think to have brunch before coming?)
2pm-4pm pancakes, waffles, ice creams, teas and coffee food trucks (2 servings of anything each)
6pm-10pm pizza food truck (1 9inch pizza per guest, lots of various toppings)
We will have a wedding cake in the evening
We can also bring crisps, little cakes and snacks like that and do a snack table?
I'm worried it's not enough but we are on a budget. I personally wouldn't need more than that but I don't want people to be hungry obviously so wanted a wider opinion?

No wonders weddings are so expensive, I'd never heard of any truck style catering until now. I thought mid afternoon meal or buffet to be a bit cheaper, then cake, coffee and sandwiches very late after dancing was normal. Have a great day OP, it sounds fun.

@Yissie just in case you missed my earlier comment, can you discuss with pizza van a slightly different approach - pizzas made and sliced and everyone have a slice at a time? Or something like that. Because part of the problem with this is that it will take ages with everyone waiting even 90 seconds for a pizza per person.

[quote SummerBluez]@yissie

Don't go cancelling your florist or decoration because some grown adults on MN have acted like your guests will wither away and starve.

Going without huge amounts of food for an afternoon really will not do anyone any harm. It's not necessary for humans to be stuffed to the gills at all times.[/quote]
No one is suggesting being "stuffed to the gills" just eating at normal meal times

Basing your wedding catering on hoping that people will have lunch/ brunch prior at 11-11.30 is a recipe for disaster.
Weddings shoud be fun and happy and part of that is providing adequate/appropriate food.

I might just be out of touch but £1200 sounds an enormous amount just for florist and stylist if you’re on a budget!

If it helps we are having a 12:30 ceremony and this is what we are doing.

-Arrival pastries and fruit at 11:30
-Afternoon tea at 2:15 (more sandwiches, quiche and sausage rolls than usual afternoon tea)
-Then a snack cart with crisps etc for anytime during the day
-Pizza van at 7-10pm

Could you have a food truck that does nice burgers and a couple of other options for the afternoon? Or bacon and sausage sandwiches?

@caringcarer

The obvious answer is to ask a family member to do a BBQ for you. Burgers from Iceland are cheap, you can buy bags of 24 bread rolls in Morrisons for just a small amount. Hot dog sausages are very cheap and will fill guests up. Do you have a family member who would be willing to do a BBQ on the day for you? You don't have not hire anyone in. We go to a cricket match each summer with about 80 people. They have an average size BBQ. Two people run it. One cooks burgers and sausages. The other cuts rolls, takes orders and dishes it out. They could cook up a lot just before ceremony then put back on BBQ for a minute to heat back up before serving whist next batch are cooking. Just telling you OP because if people drinking they will need more food to soak up alcohol. Also my son went to a wedding with not much food and he offered to do a KFC run for a few friends and loads of other guests asked him to fetch them some too. He had to buy loads. His friends now refer to it as the KFC wedding.

Who wants to go to their family member's wedding and spend hours sweating their cobs off over a bbq while everyone else relaxes and enjoys the day?

OP I think you're going from not enough to potentially too much. If you add a chipy van alongside the sweet afternoon stuff then the pizzas at night are your snack style tea. I think it would be lovely to have some salads along side (maybe a big leafy salad, a pasta salad and a bean type salad) but I do think that is actually enough. No need to cancel.your flowers

@yissie what can you afford without cancelling flowers/stylist? Is there any extra budget at all without doing that?

Just trying to see if there’s an easier way to make it more feasible for you to offer a good amount of food without it adding stress and more work for you - you should be able to enjoy your wedding day and the lead-up to it.

I mean it's not a tiny budget we have £8k to play with, but a sit down meal felt too formal and we preferred the thought of food trucks but they were surprisingly expensive so we can't hire more food trucks alongside them. So far we are spending £2k on catering and bar and it doesn't seem enough food still..

How much drink is being provided?

I'm veggie as our most of my family which makes up a fair chunk of our guests, more than happy to serve meat for those who eat it but a hog roast and bacon sausage sandwiches wouldn't appeal to nearly half the guests so again it's why food trucks seemed easier. Apparently not

@Yissie

I've found a local caterer who does cold buffets they are emailing me a quote now, would it be better to have alongside the afternoon or evening food truck?

Afternoon.

If I was going to s wedding at 2pm I would eat brunch as wouldnt expect to be fed til 5pm

@toomuchlaundry

How much drink is being provided?

We are providing 2 glasses of champagne or 2 bottles of beer (or soft drinks of course( during welcome drinks and then have a mobile bar for the night, guests pay for their own but it's very fairly priced (£3 for bottle of beer or glass of wine, £1.50 for coke etc) free water or squash for kids.

I'd have to leave and get something to eat, especially if the children were with me. I'd ditch the sweet stuff and get savoury food instead. People are going to be starving and go back for multiple pizzas and it will be awful if they're refused. No way near enough food I'm afraid - and unfortunately that's all people will remember of your day.

The problem isn’t £2000 on catering. But that that only allows for £28 per person if you have 70 people.

£28 for lunch, dinner, snacks, ice cream, and drinks all day isn’t going to cover a huge amount. That’s without including alcohol

@Yissie Then personally I would scrap any more food vans. It’s not value for money in this instance, I don’t think. Not necessary.

Get a caterer in to provide a good buffet with a range of foods for your afternoon meal. Have a table full of snacks like crisps/nuts/cheese twists/pretzels/plus brioche & biscuits to have with coffee or tea if people don’t fancy waffles - basically anything that doesn’t need refrigeration. You can go to your local supermarket and just throw things into the trolley. Plenty of soft drinks, squash for the children, juice, whatever. Just to fill any gaps and in case people are hungry throughout the afternoon or whilst waiting for waffles etc.

Then do your pizza as planned in the evening and have plenty of baguette on offer as well as cheeses (they are fine out of the fridge for the day if you have a cool box and ice). I think you said no special considerations diet-wise? Grapes or something on the side, job done.

That’s what I would do in your shoes.

People are being a bit dramatic saying they would be "starving" and "hunting down food." We're all capable of going several hours without eating huge amounts

That's true, but people tend to enjoy an alcoholic drink or two at weddings. People would either realise it would be wise not to drink until they'd had something substantial to eat, or drink anyway and end up feeling crap. Miserable for both.

Personally I'd scrap the ice cream/waffle van for the afternoon if it's expensive and go with a substantial cold buffet at that point instead, and in the evening pizza van and/or fish and chips .

I definitely think a savoury option alongside waffles etc is a really good idea.

I like @Nnique idea of cheese. Our friends had a hog roast and a layered cheese wedding cake.

The hog roast didn't work - we were the last table called up and hardly any meat left, the rolls had margarine on them and DS was young and fussy so only wanted a roll. I think that's the issue if you don't have brought out meals - and I'd worry about queues with a pizza van if it's the main food of the day.

But the cheese was amazing and meant you could fill up.

I'm sure it will be fabulous anyway OP whatever you decide.

That’s true. You could switch it.

Substantial buffet for lunch. Everything covered in one. Cakes/biscuits/pastries/brioche etc for coffee/tea.

Snack table available throughout the day just in case children are tetchy or people get merry and hungry.

Then vans from 6 - pizza and ice cream/waffles. That seems better to me - children can have treats to boost their enjoyment/behaviour when they're starting to get tired, plus everyone can eat as and when they fancy it without feeling too hungry whilst waiting for cooking times etc.

Food trucks really aren’t set up to feed a crowd efficiently. They tend to work better when they are for just a snack or there are a ton of them that are equally appealing.

Your money would probably go a lot further with a buffet. It may seem boring, but it’s an efficient way to get people fed and make sure you can cater for a variety of dietary requirements simultaneously. (Pizza is a nightmare allergy wise because it’s not easy to adapt: gluten, dairy, nightshades)

Oh could also do crackers with the bread/cheese supplement in the evening (just supermarket, don’t need fancy stuff!) plus maybe some jars of tapenade.