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 don't think you can have a gluten free layer on a cake. Anyone with coeliac will need a separate cake made with separate, uncontaminated whisks/bowls etc. or you risk making them very unwell.

If you have someone with coeliac, you would need to consider bread choices for your sandwiches and ensure rest of your catering contains some options for gluten free food. Everything gluten free will need to be uncontaminated/labelled and have its own serving spoons.

People can look at the timings and plan their day accordingly. Perhaps have a large breakfast and/or a snack before leaving the house.

Mead and giant pies

When we do our afternoon teas I prepare all the GF stuff in a separate kitchen. I don't allow anyone access to the fillings until I have taken what I need for the GF sandwiches. I put all the GF sandwiches and cakes on separate plates and cover them with cling film. I make sure that whoever does the egg mayonnaise gets GF mayonnaise as well.

I have a couple of friends who are coeliac and completely understand what their requirements are. I must be getting it right because we get repeat GF guests who know that they won't get ill from attending.

If the only savoury food is the vegetarian sandwiches and crudites it doesn't sound enough to me? Unless you meant that stuff was additional to the buffet?

The scones and cakes sound lovely.

I really wish people would stop giving the OP advice or asking questions about things that are non-catering. They asked about the catering plan…
they didn’t ask about toilets,
they didn’t ask about how people would get to and from the church or the reception.
they didn’t ask about how they would get to talk to everybody.
They asked about catering…

I think it sounds like a good afternoon tea if it’s between lunch and dinner. I assume there are local places people will be able to get dinner instead of going straight home?

I think the cucumber sandwiches probably won’t get touched, they are traditional but are they really anyone’s first choice of sandwich? I would prefer something like vegetable tart and a couple of salads (maybe Greek etc.) to crudités. Not everyone is a finger eater, and raw vegetables are a snack and/or vessel for a dip, not afternoon tea or wedding food IMO

This sounds like my DBs wedding- early afternoon ceremony followed by afternoon tea. It was great. (DB had a party the following day too with dancing, pizza, etc. at a different venue, but the first day worked fine as a stand alone event). So long as it fits sensibly in the space between normal lunch and dinner times that is fine.

Erm. Yes it does. She has added egg mayonnaise as well. The OP has updated to add other people's suggestions so the buffet now sounds quite substantial.

I don't understand why it being a completely vegetarian buffet is such a problem for some people.

Nor me, plus it sounds as if there's enough variety.

@PermanentTemporary I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I would bin off the crudites and dips - I'm not sure they really work as a finger food being circulated. If you wanted to serve something a bit lighter than the sandwiches/ cakes/ scones, what about fruit kebabs or could you do maybe a little tomato, basil, mozzarella canape on a skewer?

Linda McCartney sausages me lovely sausage rolls with a bit of red onion chutney.
Sounds lovely but I would consider if all the cakes are a bit similar and swop out Victoria sponge for ginger or fruit loaf for variety.
Two rounds of sandwiches is ALOT.
Most people get 3/4 round at places I've worked so maybe one round roughly per person.
So long as you have plenty of adequate fridge space catering for so many people.

Tbh I'm hungry now 🤣🤣

@DelightsandFripperies your wedding spreads sound ridiculous. But I would have to have you come round my house and prepare them for a free testing to be absolutely sure.

Two rounds of sandwiches is ALOT.

A lot of posters on this thread don't think so. They must have very hearty appetites.

@Statsquestion1 actually I think it can be helpful to pose other questions with receptions like this, which are slightly different to standard, because OP may not have thought through the logistics of everything.

Some of us have been to similar style wedding receptions so can highlight potential pitfalls. Certainly wish the couple had asked a few more questions for the similar wedding I went to! Luckily someone reminded them about toilets when they were organising theirs, but there wasn’t enough seating (majority of people had to stand for hours), there was no savoury option, just cake until the main meal 8 hours later, and that meal was only pizza/burger. There wasn’t sufficient shelter for everyone. You could see what the couple had envisaged it just didn’t translate well into reality.

I've not read the whole thread but I think many guys would prefer bottles of beer rather than fizz or cocktails.

My friend had a wedding like this. It was lovely. As it was quite a relaxed vibe there was no need for everyone to spend half a day getting dressed up. A few of us had brunch on the way to the venue. Then lovely service, gorgeous afternoon tea and toasts and goodbyes by 6pm. The bride/groom and their parents, siblings went for a nice meal after. We thought this was a good idea so did the same (somewhere else obviously) but really it was a great day, not loads of hanging about, relaxed, fun, no forced mingling with a load of people you barely know for hours on end. Just ceremony, nice food and then off to do something else with closest friends after, or back home to watch some TV.

I think that does make it fairly clear, but you need a non twee version of 'carriages at 6' to emphasise that it's home time at 6 and nothing afterwards.

Each to their own, but I have to say that I wouldn't travel to sit on a hay bale and have a sandwich and cake with everything done by 6 (and in an expensive city to boot) so it's good that people can decide from the invite.

Also, if there's no paid bar option I think you need a much wider range of drink options (alcohol and no alcohol). Not everyone likes cocktails.

Is this canapes before a 'wedding breakfast' style main meal?
Surely a few finger sandwiches, crudités, cakes and scones isn't it for a whole wedding?

I don't think that scones freeze well. Delegate to someone else to bake them freshly.
If you are serving houmous as a dip, I wouldn't also put it on the sandwiches. Maybe have roast veg and pesto as a sandwich filling or replace the houmous dip with whipped feta.

Realistically (hopefully) it will be a warm day, I'd take inspiration from cuisines that are from hot countries, so go greek or Italian? Lots of olives, antipasti or meze. Or at least put the sandwich fillings in nice rolls/ focaccia as there is nothing worse than a dried up curling sandwich on sliced bread.

Yes, all that plus the extra bits OP has also listed if you take 2 minutes to read all OP's posts and it's for an afternoon tea reception finishing at 6. So a perfectly well catered event.

A three course meal and an event going till midnight isn't compulsory.

Also, is this the full bar option? No beers? My DH would be stuck with not a lot to drink all day with that selection. And me TBF, I'd have a mocktail or 2 but I wouldn't want to drink them all day, id prefer a soft drink option e.g coke, lemonade etc

I've been to a wedding recently where that is exactly what was served. Times are hard for lots of folk.