Choosing the menu for your wedding is another thing that might appear difficult during the planning process. If you want to ensure that everyone will feel good on your special day, food is a very important detail. In case you are organizing a bigger event where more than 100 people will come, making sure that there is enough high-quality food can be even more difficult.
That is the main reason why so many people decide to hire an assistant that will help them choose the right dishes, and prepare them as well. If you are interested in hiring a private chef for your wedding, check out TheBespokeChef.
On the other hand, keep in mind that simply hiring a lot of people to deal with the reception food and the main menu in the restaurant can be quite expensive. While you should never go too far when it comes to trying to cut expenses on the main menu, there are some ways to make the reception menu more affordable. Here are some tips and ideas for a more affordable reception menu.
1. Avoid Catering Services
For most people, it is quite convenient to simply order various type of food that is specially decorated for the wedding day. However, these services can be very expensive. If you are looking for ways to save some money, the first thing to consider is to find a cheaper alternative. For example, instead of hiring a professional service, you should look for local restaurants that might offer you a much cheaper menu.
The same is for the main part when guests are expecting to have a nice dinner. Even if you are renting a space that is not a restaurant, you can contact one and hire them to bring food instead of a specialized catering service. There might be a lack of some unique decorations and delicious recipes, but you will manage to save a lot of money this way.
However, there might be a more affordable service available in your area, that will help you save a lot of money, but you won’t have to deal with any preparation and cooking. Research the local restaurants and catering services to see if there is some that will offer you a cheap solution so you can get the convenience and save a lot of time, while keeping a lot of money at the same time.
2. Prepare Food By Yourself
This might sound too complicated, but the fact is that you could deal with the reception menu if you create a good plan. The biggest challenge is to secure enough time for that since there will be so many other things to deal with, starting from the dressing, makeup, checking all the details and more. Still, you could start a day earlier, and make a whole main hall menu for the guests. This is the best way to significantly cut expenses. You will avoid hiring a restaurant or any kind of service.
If you are not sure how to do it, the most important thing is to at least have basic skills related to preparing food. Also, keep in mind that the reception menu doesn’t have to involve a lot of different types and large meals. Consider it as a snack that will make people feel more pleasant after they get their first drink upon arrival.
Therefore, even making small sandwiches can be a great idea. All you need to do is to decorate them in the right way. Besides that, you can add some cookies. There are many stores where you can buy a lot of cookies and sweets. Another excellent idea is to add various salads to the menu. This is a cheap and delicious option. Also, it will be easy to offer food for different categories, like those who are on some special diet, people who avoid gluten, vegans, and more.
3. You Don’t Need a Wide Range of Recipes
One of the things that lead to the increased price of the reception menu is that people often want to add too much different food here. For example, different types of fish, along with fish, shrimps, and other seafood. When you add a couple of salads and sweets to that, you will get more than ten different meals on the menu.
Still, if you want to make it more budget-friendly, we suggest you consider choosing only a simple menu with several dishes. For instance, one type of meat and fish, a couple of salads, and some ordinary cookies. Also, some types of food are more expensive, and you should avoid them.
4. Make it Simple
Focus on the main menu when people are enjoying dinner is much more important. In that matter, you can add only some snacks that will be an excellent combination with a couple of drinks and help people stay energized throughout the evening before dinner. We already mentioned sandwiches, but you can also add mini burgers, pizza, fries, pasta, and many other recipes that are very cheap, but all people love them.
Last Words
We understand that you are trying to take care of every detail and make your special day even more attractive for the guests, but if you are planning to save some money, implementing some of these ideas is the only solution. The best way to find the right option is to research the available ones and compare them.
Maybe there is an affordable service in your area, but the expenses related to the transport are making a difference. In that case, you should organize the transport on your own. Also, try to remove some expensive recipes from the menu since it can significantly lower the price. Besides that, a lot of local restaurants will offer some excellent prices for arranging the reception menu, and it can be much cheaper than hiring a team of professionals to deal with it.
In the end, there is no need to bring so much of different recipes in the first place. The reception menu should have several snacks so people can enjoy their drinks while getting through the ceremony and waiting for the dinner.