Wood fired pizza at a wedding - does this price look ok to you?

[CatTV]

We have been quoted £980 for a woodfired pizza set up for our wedding for 120 guests - so £14 per head. Includes sauces, boxes and full clear up afterwards. They have glowing reviews on social media and google.

Does this sound reasonable? I have zero wood fired pizza booking experience, so thought I would check in on here!!

TIA!

Sorry I’ve seen she’s even put one slice, not necessarily two 🤣

70 pizzas is not enough for 120 guests - you would need much nearer 120 pizzas.

Surely the pizzas will take ages to cook.
I'd be so fed up having to wait.

This! Wood fired pizzas are 3mm thick! One with a salad would probably fill me up for tea. Not for a wedding party when I’ve been on the Prosecco though!

I went to a wedding that had this in the evening- they didn't do personal orders (apart from some dietary requirements). They just kept cooking and some of the kids (including mine), went and delivered them to tables as they were ready and offering slices to those standing. Worked well. No queue!

Would do this instead of have long queues at a food truck. Would do 2 or 3 Dominos orders, all pre-booked and sorted beforehand but coming 30-60 mins after each other so you've got a new fresh hot batch replacing the previous one so people get a slice or two hot each time.

Have you ever seen one that’s been cooked fresh in a van? They may give the impression of being big, but there’s nothing to them. I’d feed one each, and if they’ve been drinking then I’d assume that by the time the lots actually been served that the first lot would be hungry again

My toddler could probably eat a whole pizza (the wood fired size from a van). My friends (all with regular appetites) ate a pizza each after a 3 course meal, let alone the big blokes eating 2-3 pizzas each!! This was an evening snack, not for the main event. People will be ordering Deliveroo if they only get a slice of pizza each!

I've been to a party where they had a pizza van but they did it NY style so they cooked 3 different large pizzas, sliced them up into 8 slices and just servced by the slice. Most people came back for more but it meant that people didn't have to queue for so long. They also had a burger/hot dog van and a falafel one. It was really nice actually and not chaotic at all.

Do they have separate ovens for these?

Hog roast and an ice cream truck would go with the pizza, I would prefer this to a sit down meal

I also agree with some of the posters saying wood fired stove pizzas tend to be quite small but are indeed lovely. For PP’s suggesting 1 or 2 slices is ample maybe you haven’t seen the “artisan” size of pizza. OP is suggesting 70 for 120 people so already only 1/2 pizza per person ( allowing for some specials) so ages to wait for 1/2 fancy pizza there’s going to need to be lots of other food on offer.

Hog roast and an ice cream truck would go down nice with a pizza stall

Usually if you were to have food provided by the venue they would work on the percentages of 100% catering for day guests and 80% for evening guests.

This is because it is usually the day guests main meal and you do get more no-shows/already eaten for the evening guest.

Based on those figures if you were doing it as just the evening meal you're still 14 pizzas short of the 80% only being catered for!

Yes. Canapés. But hasn’t stated what or how much. Given I think that she could safely double the pizzas which are presumably the main meal, I doubt the canapés are going to make up for the pizza shortage. It could be two crackers or a chicken wing per person as far as we know 🤷🏼‍♀️

If you have gluten free guests please check whether they are coeliac. As other posters have said they won't be able to just have a gluten free base, the cross contamination will be too high and you'll either get very sick guests or hungry ones that don't want to risk it. It's better to cater for them separately or maybe a paella like others have suggested.

Are you having a band/DJ/dancing etc? Is there enough room for that plus enough tables for guests to sit and eat at?

Nipping back in, but I have the opinions/suggestions I need to go forward in helping making our choices for food (thank you!) but just wanted to clear up a few facts:

• Canapes on arrival
• 2 food trucks incl pizza, other cuisine TBD - will now consider a 3rd option, and will look into paella option as a) i love paella and as a few PPs have said t's a versatile dish for special diets
• Plenty of seating both inside and outside
• We are only having a party, there will be no wedding ceremony incorporated into the event. Guest arrive the early evening, trucks to open pretty soon after arrival time.
• Ice cream van = GREAT SHOUT. Who doesn't love a Mr Whippy. Hooray!

Nothing is confirmed, I have some great questions for the pizza people. It was more an opinion on the quote I was after.

Thanks again, massively appreciated!

Over and out!

Of course, we have absolutely considered this. The venue is fine for this.

Op please ensure that the GF and vegan pizza's have separate ovens or are precooked, cross contamination will be a nightmare otherwise.

That is a very cheap price.

Remember, the food truck / staff are travelling to you / your venue - so there will be a booking fee involved to hire the provider and cover the costs of getting there.

I’ve been to two weddings with pizza vans. One worked, one didn’t.

The one that didn’t had a huge queue while they cooked the pizza to order (think they could maybe manage 4 at a time but when there are 100 odd people there…). The pizza was lovely but it was tedious standing in heels for an hour plus waiting for it and meant that I felt I spent more time in the queue than I did socialising, dancing etc. Plus once you had the pizza it was a pain to find somewhere to sit as people earlier in the queue had grabbed a table and settled in.

The one that worked had a separate buffet with snacks (nothing too fancy - pork pie, cheese, sausage rolls etc), a cake table and then the pizza van set up outside. They were just churning pizzas out and slicing them so you could wander by and grab a slice whenever. The food being in different areas meant that nowhere got too crowded people just seem to mix more. If a song came on you wanted to dance to you could go and dance without being worried about giving up your space in the queue.

I have a rough idea of the wedding budgets and the one that worked was definitely the cheaper option but felt much more generous and hospitable.

But there are loads of pizza places that do pizza by the slice and it’s like a fiver and they’re massive! Deffo enough for one person

Sounds great, especially when you are having canapes. People will not be hungry.

I suggest that the first ten pizzas are cut up and brought around like canapes - so to give guests a chance at having a piece quickly if they are hungry...and it does away with long lines.

Icecream is sweet!

I would also have a make your own tea and coffee station and consider some cheese, crackers and grapes being available at that table later on.

This is a great idea.

That way people won't run out over the night and people won't be zooming to get in there before the final order is made so it won't encourage long queues. That or the keep making pizzas and people get a slice or two from a buffet type thing.