Critique my catering plan

[PermanentTemporary]

Give me your most viperish take - I’ve got 18 months to sort this.

Plan: early June. 2pm ceremony, 2.45/3pm reception. Gorgeous huge local garden, marquee/stretch tent for cover as needed. Seats and occasional tables scattered about. Circulating staff facilitating the food. Vintage china (hired). Buffet food tables/tablecloths.

Fizz on arrival (cremant de Loire) or sparkling elderflower. Jugs of water available.

Cocktail bar making jugs of 4 different cocktails for the staff to circulate- likely Pimm’s, a gin cocktail and 2 nonalcoholic ones.

Vegetarian sandwiches from local sandwich place: cheddar and chutney, Brie and grape, roasted veg &hummus, cucumber.

Crudites and 2 dips, probably tsatziki and hummus again.

Cake: 2 mini scones per guest with clotted cream and jam (300 scones). Choice of rich chocolate cake, lemon drizzle, Victoria sponge with strawberries and cream. Additional gluten free and vegan option depending on numbers needing this.

Wedding cake bought from local
cake maker: fruit cake layer, gluten free layer, vegan layer.

Also plain strawberries with/without cream on offer (the venue is a farm that does pick your own strawberries).

Big question: is it crazy to think I could make the scones and basic cakes myself and freeze them over the months, and hire someone to defrost them over the previous 24 hours, ice them and manage them on the day? Money isn’t necessarily the issue so much as preferring my own baking. 300 mini scones, 10 each of the large cakes above.

I have no idea. The OP is planning an afternoon tea and wants food ideas.
I would assume there's enough seating for everyone.

I think the principle sounds lovely. Not sure about the timings though @PermanentTemporary

If the church service is at 2pm even 3-6 pm for the afternoon tea sounds like it is pushing it a bit for a 3pm start - and I notice you say in an update that you are now thinking of the church service starting at 2.30 pm instead of 2pm. If the church is a 30 minute walk from afternoon tea venue then even if folk are driving to it, it'll take time to leave the church, get in the car once people have been 'collected together' for each car, get to the venue and get parked/ sorted at the other end. How long will the church service take? They tend to take longer than a quick, registry office affair which can be over in 15 minutes from start to finish!

Also, as a non-vegetarian myself, (because I hate so many things which make vegetarian food tasty), I would also suggest that the invitation says the afternoon tea will be a vegetarian one. It's a me problem, not anyone else's but I would want to know beforehand so that I can plan what I eat before the wedding so that I won't be hungry during the afternoon. As you've added in egg mayo sandwiches now, I could eat those - but the other sandwiches - no way. Hate onion, chutney, cucumber and hummus ! But as I say, it's a me problem - but might be some of your guests problem too?

Finally, as others have mentioned - will there be enough seating/some kind of tables, for all the guests - some guests may find it difficult to stand around for 3 hours with no or little seating, especially when trying to eat and with a drink in one hand at the same time?

Just thoughts though, I'm sure it will be lovely and congratulations 💐

Well surely if you’re that specific you know to notify hosts when you attend events, and if they’re as diligent as the OP comes across then you’re catered for accordingly. It’s pretty standard these days. (Unless you like to have an excuse to get trollied 🥂)

Plenty of food for afternoon tea.
I would make it clear on the invitations that the event finishes @ x o'clock, in case people are expecting dinner as well.

If you make the scones yourself you may find a hired caterer may not be able to defrost and ice them. Their insurance and health and safety may not cover something like that if they have not made everyhing themselves.

Very true 😁

For me everything seems perfect but very "carby"

Could you do little shot glasses of gaspacho or cold pea and mint soup (doesnt need to be homemade - the alvalle tetrapacks are fine for gazpacho) ? Oeuf mimosa? Little cherry tomato, mini mozza balls and basil brochettes? Endive leaves with betroot (or another hummous)? Quails eggs? Boiled halved new potatoes on toothpicks with tapenade? https://www.floraandvino.com/eggplant-rounds-with-herbed-yogurt/ ? This sort of thing.

Congratulations on your upcomming wedding. I'm sure it will be lovely.

As a diabetic my husband would unfortunately not be able to eat any of this food, apart from the crudites. I mention this because almost nobody ever considers this and he has to eat salad/meat/vegetables in the car. Of course you may not have any diabetics attending in which case this does not matter, but thought I would mention it.

From what she said, I'm not sure that there WILL be enough seating/Tables for everyone to use at the same time. I've said the same thing in my post.

Agree with those saying be clear on the invite what your plans are. (A small note attached to invite) I hate the expectation that you must spend a fortune & feed, feed, feed at a wedding. Yours sounds lovely, but as long as I was warned of food/timings, I’d have a late breakfast/brunch, so not starving before afternoon tea was served.

Your offerings are lovely but a plain sandwich among them would be good for the picky/plain eaters. Also, gluten and lactose intolerance often go together, so non of your 3 layers of cake wouldn’t be suitable (I would make the vegan one also GF to combat that problem, or make 2 of the layers like that, as anyone can eat them if not enough of the std one)

Do consider the possibility of freezer/electric failure at any point during your prepping stages… that would throw all plans out with the spoiled food.
I think it sounds lovely and informal. I’d be delighted to get an invite to this sort of wedding.

I did something quite similar for my wedding many years ago. My suggestion is that you have a 3pm ceremony with the tea finishing at 6 or 6.30 so that people have lunch first. We had sandwiches, cakes, quiche, Crudite, savoury pastries and drinks on each table and at a large buffet table.

We also had large fruit platters on offer at the buffet and I think that a mix of fruit or a separate platter of something like sliced apples, grapes and tinned pineapple cubes would go down well. Some people don’t like or can’t eat strawberries. Most of the fruit and veg got eaten.

My DH and DS are diabetics. They manage their diet and check bloods. They'd do the injection to eat just before leaving the house. They'd be fine with sandwiches, as they are with most food.
I would imagine that any guests like your DH with more severe forms, or other medical issues, would inform the bride and groom beforehand?

That sounds like plenty for the timings you are thinking. I'd just make it very clear on the invitations that this is a daytime only event.
"Carriages at X O'clock" is the phrase used for "kicking out time."

Just really, really make sure there is enough for hydration. A day in June has the potential to be hot, and if it's all outside, there needs to be constantly flowing cycle of glasses and jugs of water, and plenty of seats.

One memorable wedding I went to in August, in Wales... A hot day, and we were left outside for a good 2 hours with no seats and about 3 cartons of Innocent Smoothie to share between 100+ people. We ended up having to sit on the parched dry grass in our wedding finery, getting sunburnt and wildly dehydrated.

Ok, I didn't get that, but perhaps she can clarify.

I think the food you propose to offer sounds delicious, and it's good you're letting guests know what to expect. I once went to an elegant afternoon tea type reception that leant much too far into the style zone and neglected the feeding element. I was one of a very few to travel any distance, and didn't have time or the opportunity to eat lunch, so to then discover that supplies weren't being replenished once gannets had emptied them before I got to the table left its mark on my memory of the day.

Don't tell me....was the 2hrs while they were getting photos taken? I find that so rude and inhospitable!

Sorry if this had been said already.

I am a non drinker and sparkling elderflower or non alcohol cocktails don't appeal massively, esp when eating. Both can be quite sugary and make me thirstier- I'd like a sparkling water or diet coke like option. Unless there's a bar in which case I'd happily buy my own.

Also, I think you mentioned staff circulating with food. This always stresses me out as you end up politely taking one or two nibbles, anxiously hoping you don't miss all the stuff you like and feeling quite hungry. (I do anyway!)

Glad you are adding the pizza as none of the sandwiches would appeal to me.and my husband at all! (I know we're not going but as examples)

I too am a diabetic - but could manage my diet/bloods for this. I agree that (only if I had severe difficulty in managing them) then I would be telling the bride/groom when asked about dietary requirements

@PermanentTemporary I really hope you’re reading all of this and realising that you will not and cannot keep everybody happy. It’s literally impossible. You need to do what suits you because it’s your wedding do what you need to do to suit the masses, and as for the rest, if they don’t like it…tough shit. It’s one day in their lives. It’s your day.

The veggie sandwiches sound very boring. If you could get some interesting fillings, the veggies would love you - things with a bit of flavour, like Mexican beans or even bhaji.

Sorry to be a bore, but that isn’t what the OP says. It’s says ‘occasional tables and chairs’ which implies guests not seated. For afternoon tea you are usually seated and it not, you’d expect food to be miniaturised to accommodate many guests standing. OP asked for feedback on the plan.

This, x 💯.
Apart from medical issues, you cannot cater for everyone's individual tastes. People don't like cake, or scones, or cheese, or say the sandwiches are boring, .... it's a catered event for a wedding. You eat what you want, join in the celebration and maybe treat yourself to a meal out in the evening if you want to. It's just an afternoon tea to celebrate a marriage.

Ok. Perhaps leave it there with tagging me, because in all honesty: I don't know.

Yes, I think that's fair enough.

Sounds amazing! I am gluten free and would struggle with anything that wasn't kept completely away from other non-gf foods, so it might be better to have a completely separate 'tier' of gf cake rather than incorporate it into the actual cake (my wedding cake was only 2 tier, that my mother made and my father iced, but as we had tea and cake on arrival at the venue after a 2pm wedding, we had a big, separate slab of cake that was used for this prior to the 'official' cutting later on - same cake and plain icing but exactly the same cake etc etc - no one seemed put out about this!). Similarly make sure any gf sandwich options are kept separate.

In terms of making them yourself, have you tried making mini scones and freezing them and then defrosting them later and are you happy with the result - if so, yes, this is a doable option if you have freezer space - if not, you need an alternative option.