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.

In all honesty, I wouldn't add that final paragraph.
It's not part of the wedding.

It sounds great OP, food is food, whether it is a hot meal or a high tea. I don't get why people are saying that you aren't feeding them a proper meal, or that you need to tell them. It's a meal! Just make sure that there is plenty of it.

You are allowed to do what you want on your wedding day. I have been to 2 high tea weddings and both were fine with plenty of food available and nobody went hungry.

On the invites, you could put wedding at 2pm followed by a high tea, ends at 6pm, but you don't need more detail than that.

I do think adding veggie quiche and sausage rolls would be a good idea. I would offer a non fizzy soft drink option like a decent orange juice. I would have egg mayo sandwiches.

This sounds absolutely blissful, my ideal wedding. Only comments are as follows (and apologies if they have all been said already, haven't RTFT)-

• mini savoury tarts or skewers might fit the afternoon tea vibe better than pizza- whether that matters given that you know they do good pizza is up to you
• am sure you can find a pro baker who can do good scones and cakes fresh. You don't need that additional stress
• as this thread shows, people come to the idea of a wedding with preconceptions as to format so it's worth spelling out in the bumf that at 6pm you will be leaving- it's not tea 3-6pm and then an evening party. You could add some recommendations for local pubs people might like to move on to.
• plenty of seating

I’m not sure why you would choose to have anything frozen. Ime there definitely is a decline in quality between frozen and fresh scones.

If money is not an issue I would get some freshly made by a baker.

What about tea and coffee ?

Already confirmed just after 8 this morning.

I’m both vegetarian myself, and have organized a number of afternoon tea type events for corporate so have a decent sense of what you are going for.

I would make a few tweaks:
Add in some mini quiches, these could be passed early on as canapés or out out on the buffet
Add a couple more GF options on the savoury side - little cocktail sticks with cherry tomato, mini mozzarella balls, olives work well and are easy. Devilled eggs also work.
I would avoid communal dips. Instead have the hummus / tzatziki / salsa etc. in individual glass pots with some veggies and or breadsticks added to each pot. They look pretty and you avoid the ‘dud they just double dip???’ issue.
Veggie sausage rolls or cheese and onion rolls would be a lovely addition especially if they can be served warm.
A good cheeseboard can be great but post-Covid people are a bit fussier over others touching things, so you could also look at individual mini cheese plates (whilst this sounds weird, I had one yesterday in the Avanti lounge at Euston - 3 thick slices of cheese, crackers, apricot, chutney and subdried tomatoes).
Vegan wise, I’ve had some lovely mini plates of roasted / char grilled but cold veggies drizzled with flavoured olive oil - asparagus, peppers, courgette, etc. Also work as GF. Asparagus in little pots with a vegan dip would also be yummy for June.
Vegan options that others will also enjoy could include a bruschetta on a toasted garlic ciabatta, a sun-dried tomato / vegan pesto pasta salad in individual pots, or a potato salad made with a herbed vinaigrette instead of mayo, again I’d do them in individual plates, or you could pop a dollop on an endive / chicory / romaine leaf ‘boat’. A side benefit is that those are also quite filling and may satisfy those wondering where the meat is… lol!

People won’t eat as much as you think but my personal preference is to have more options, with lower quantities, it looks nicer, and the staff cab whist away any plates that are emptied to avoid it looking under catered. I’d do a mix of passed and buffet unless you decide to go full sit down - personally I wouldn’t, I would just make sure there are plenty of cocktail tables for people to rest glasses on.

Drink wise, I’d offer a selection of different teas - you could make it a little station and one way I’ve done this is to have little jars with the teas in that people can smell to decide what they’d like. Fortnum have some brilliant new flavours that are very different - I bought some rhubarb and custard one to try yesterday, they also had rose and violet cream, knickerbocker glory, a love tea, etc. Ir more traditional if that’s more you but I though they were fun especially if I don’t have to buy whole boxes to try!

I’d reduce the cocktails to pimms plus one other and one non alcoholic. People never drink as much as I expect either. You could consider adding a local cider which is an option men tend towards over cocktails ime.

@PermanentTemporary I took the liberty of asking ChatGPT to make up a little chirpy fun rhyme to get the message across to people. This is what it came up with. They are basic because I don’t know the full information, but if you ask ChatGPT, it will help you.

Option one
Join us as we say “I do” at two o’clock on the dot,
With hugs, vows, and happy tears—there’ll be plenty, we promise, not a lot 😉
Celebrations follow from three until six,
With laughs, cheers, and merriment in the mix.
When the clock strikes six, our day will conclude—
No after-party plans, just gratitude and good mood.

Option two

At 2 pm sharp, we’ll tie the knot,
Then celebrate from 3—yes, that’s our slot!
We’ll toast and cheer and laugh some more,
But when it’s six, we’re closing the door.
So dance, delight, enjoy the fix—
Just know the fun wraps up at six!

Option three

Two o’clock vows, love on display,
Three to six frivolities carry the day.
We’ll eat, we’ll cheer, we’ll laugh and mix—
But fairy tale ends right at six.
No late-night bash, no sneaky encore,
By six pm sharp, we’re done for sure!

I went to a wedding that did exactly this - fully vegetarian afternoon tea style buffet, all made by the bride and frozen in the months leading up. Best wedding food I’ve had and very filling.

I would have a platter of crudités, olives, dips, breadsticks, charcuterie and breads etc on each table, I guess this is what’s called a grazing board.

It’s inexpensive and looks great.

Forget the pizzas, afternoon tea is afternoon tea.

I think 2 or 3, you will have the problem of people not eating beforehand because they are getting ready or travelling. My advice would be to feed them asap after the ceremony.

I see you have taken on the pizza idea, which I think is good as some (out of 150) surely won’t have a sweet tooth and you’re ides of sandwiches, scones and cake was quite sweet heavy. Could you also have some summer salads? Maybe a few grain based? That would be lovely in June and also lighten the stodge.

As an allergy person, buffets are stressful, even with inclusive options. It often happens that there are only 1 or 2 things I can eat and then they get eaten by others or someone digs a yoghurty spoon into the dairy free salads. I prefer getting my own cling film wrapped plate from the caterers than joining the free for all.

I saw in another post you mentioned having thought about asking guests to bring cakes. My brother did this (instead of canapés) and it worked well but he is part of a large friendship group that have all had very DIY weddings so they are used to pitching in.

Cheese sandwiches and pizza? Very cheese based. The cake is boring too - most people don't like fruit cake and would prefer sponge.

Please don't use a terrible poem.

It’s a suggestion, sometimes people need a terrible poem to make a message clear…

if the pimm's is the trad one, I believe that is gin based too? so you are not serving one gin based cocktail but 2?

@Isthisreasonable

why would someone need an evening meal if they’ve had an afternoon tea?

That's a good idea. I like most of your ideas but don't like any of those sandwich choices. Egg would be a good choice to add in.

I would also think doing the pizza would mean that people can have that as their dinner or if they are hungry after the sandwiches.

This. Don’t do a gluten free layer.

Do a gluten free / separate cake (or no gluten free option at all). I also wouldn’t put the gluten free options next to the regular ones. The risk for cross contamination is much too high.

I think that wording of the invitation will help
Sarah and Daves Wedding
Followed by Afternoon Tea Reception (3-6pm)

I’m from Oxford and would only be eating crudités and tzatziki from your original savoury options! This may not be a problem if you know the eating habits of all of your guests very well but I would be mightily disappointed if my only savoury option was some dip, especially at a wedding with alcohol being served.

I consider sandwiches and a few cakes as more of a late lunch than a dinner, so I'd have an evening meal after. But I feel like you aren't genuinely bewildered and are more trying to highlight that this would be TOO MUCH FOOD. Sidebar, I don't eat a lot of sweet things so afternoon tea is not my bag, as could be the case for many of the guests.

Also, I suspect PP meant it would be a gentle way to write on the invitations that an evening meal is not provided as part of the wedding.

Bringing my best viper here …. And I recognise this is a me issue but I absolutely hate buffets and find afternoon tea very weird (it’s the wrong time to eat in the day and messes up all other meals).

The absolutely only thing that could possibly improve this situation for me would be an amazing cheese board and crackers (with butter - also controversial).

I think I would go full afternoon tea and hire stands.

1. Sandwiches
2. Scone scones
3. Cheese scones
4. Some sort of savoury bits - I have seen very dainty mini sausage rolls (could adapt them to being squash-age rolls). Could do mini quiches. Maybe the sorts of things that come out for canapes.
5. Cakes as you've planned.

That is plenty of food if you move the ceremony back half an hour or an hour so you are genuinely after lunch time and people have time to eat lunch before hand.

Dips (and sandwiches) won't be great after an hour or so sitting in the sun...

We did have an evening do. Think we got married at 2.30pm and then hopped across the road from the church to the village hall (it was a very pretty village) where we had a buffet consisting of cold meats, such as a cooked ham, chicken all carved by a catering company alongside x 4 salads. Can’t remember the puddings, it was 42 years ago but felt it worked out well. Afternoon tea and pizza sounds lovely. Do you have to do Vegan options?