Wedding Catering
When you think about the meal you want to have at your wedding, you
can choose a caterer, which could be a hotel or a non-profit
organization who does this type of thing to raise money for charity.
You can also consider catering your wedding yourself. This is
especially true if you live in a rural area where the options for
choosing caterers are limited. While you might think that catering
your own wedding is a gigantic task it really isn't. You just have to
take it one step at a time and plan carefully.
First you have to decide what you want served at the meal. You will
need to engage the help of servers and people to help cut out the
suppers. Since you will not be present for this part of the day, you
must make sure that the ones you choose a re reliable. Decide whether
you want a hot or cold meal. A cold meal can be prepared in advance
and the plates assembled on the day of the wedding with the tables set
and the plates laid in place covered with protective wrap.
Purchase the cold cuts the day before the wedding and either have them
sliced at the store or slice them thinly your self. If you prefer, you
can make arrangements for friends and family to cook turkey, roast
beef and ham and then slice them for the plates. You will have to
decide what kinds of salads you want and make arrangements for people
to make them for you. If you wish you can supply the ingredients
needed for the salads, but quite often the ones you ask will volunteer
to make them on their own. You can purchase large cans of cranberry
jelly and the lettuce and tomato. On the morning of the wedding, make
arrangements for the food to be brought to the location of the
reception where a team of people will then prepare the plates. For
dessert, you only need to have a tray of cookies for every six guests
and these can be purchases at any bakery in whatever quantity you
want.
If you want to have a hot meal served, then the preparations are a
little different. While the meat you choose for the meal can be cooked
the day or night before the wedding and sliced, the main portion of
the meal has to be cooked just before the guests arrive for the
reception. You will need people skilled in cooking for large crowds to
help you plan the amount of food you need as you wouldn't want any of
the guests to not have a meal. It is best to plan for too many people
and have some left over. You will also need many servers bringing the
plates to the guests so they get a hot meal. The problem with this is
that some of the guests may be finished eating before the last ones
are served.
You can also have servers circulate among the guests and tables
serving tea or coffee or you can have canisters of both these
beverages situated so that the guests can serve themselves.