Catering your own wedding can be strenuous and very expensive. It is therefore normal for people to feel stressed due to the astronomical prices associated with organizing a successful wedding reception. The question therefore still lingers, is it possible for you to cater for your wedding and more so successfully? This article answers this question by providing different factors that you should consider.
- Have Realistic Expectations
If you are going to cater for your own wedding, you should have realistic expectations and understand that not everything will go according to plan. You might have to make very tough choices such as reducing the number of guests to ensure that you work within your budget. Doing this is crucial since you can be able to cater for a few people compared to many invited guests.
- Come Up With a Good Plan
Planning is vital to ensure that you stay organized. You can start with planning your own menu. After that, determine everything you need to ensure that whatever is present in your menu will be served without fail. When you confirm this, verify and make sure that you have all the equipment needed to prepare and cook all the things highlighted in your menu. You ought to confirm and double-check this. Having a plan ensures you are able to monitor your budget and that you work within timelines. This is made easy by having a shopping list and great recipes.
- Design the Menu Try Your Recipes
It is quite accurate that food options will be so many. Bearing in mind that the task of preparing the food is all yours, you should take it upon yourself to come up with a great menu that is realistic and achievable. It is imperative that you try all your recipes before the big day to make sure that you make any possible adjustments early enough without any last minute rushing.
- Keep Things Simple
By keeping the food simple, you make your work easy. It is great to have very great exotic dishes at your wedding, but this occasion should not be your time to experiment. You can therefore just prepare some very good and pleasing options without subjecting yourself to excessive stress.
- Avoid Buying Single Items
It is more advisable to buy supplies and other items in bulk. Doing this makes it easy for you to secure the best and cheap deals. A wedding will involve cooking for more people than you are normally accustomed to hence buying in wholesale will be ideal than purchasing at your local retailers. Moreover, you can save a lot of money, as renting is quite expensive compared to just buying your own supplies. This also saves you from the burden of having to return things within certain stipulated timelines.
- Polish Up Everything
This entails ironing out and closely examining all the logistics pertaining to the catering for the wedding. You can do this by raising all the questions and hypothetical scenarios and ensuring that all are answered to avoid any surprises that are uncalled for. These factors can range from arriving at the venue, setting up the venue, cooking, serving the food or use of a buffet. You should also pay attention to the timelines for the cocktails and dessert and cleaning up the dishes and the kitchen.
- Adherence to Hygiene and Sanitary Policies
When catering for your own wedding, you should ensure the food preparation is done safely and in a clean environment. You can make this easy by using gloves and other chemicals to avoid food poisoning.
The question “can you cater at your own wedding?” is very subjective, as some people can have the money but still desire to cater their own wedding in accordance to their own tastes and preferences. The fact remains that it is very doable as long as you are ready to strain, exert and endeavor to be fully committed and dedicated to your wedding event. It could mean that you will be moving all the time trying to make sure that everything falls into place.
Although cheap, catering for your own wedding might not be the best possible idea, as you will be stressed all the time and will not have the time and energy to enjoy your big day. It is for this and many other reasons that you should consider hiring a professional caterer to help you. The main reason behind this is that caterers have the expertise and equipment required to cater for both small and big weddings. Instead of overwhelming yourself, consider working with catering experts.