Some Tricks To Cut Down Wedding Food Costs

Filed in archive General Planning , Wedding Budget on June 15, 2010

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The cost of food in your wedding reception can eat up to as much as more than half of your total wedding budget.

Of course you can always cut your wedding guest list to save money, but even that may not be full enough to lower the costs of food.

Here are a few suggested tricks in order to lower the costs of your wedding food:

1. Order in Season

Make sure to pick out menu items that are in season and locally grown. The food will not only taste better with those but will certainly cost a lot less.

2. Pass Hors d'Oeuvres

Instead of setting up a buffet, have waiters pass appetizers during the cocktail hour. This way, people will tend to pick one item at a time instead of loading their plates full every time.

3. Enlist a Culinary School

Instead of a country club or a catering restaurant, why not enlist a culinary school to take care of our wedding food, cake and reception in general. You can end up cutting the bill to as much as 60%. Also, a bunch of students can attend to your wedding guests during the reception, making them feel truly pampered.

4. Stick to Cake

For most wedding guests, cake is enough dessert. So there really is no need for a separate dessert buffet table.

5. Scale Back Menu Options

Instead of multiple entrees, stick to just one or two but similarly priced. Bottomline, your guests wouldn't mind if that is the case.

6. Order Brunch

Instead of major meals, make your wedding reception a brunch reception. The cost would certainly be a lot lower as compared to opting for a major meal.

7. Skip the Shots

If hosting an open bar, ask the bartenders to adhere to a "no shot" policy to help keep down the added costs of late-night trips to the bar.

8. Schedule at Off Times

Like what is mentioned in the previous item, opting for an off-time schedule (like brunch!) will be a lot cheaper than major meals. Just make sure your guests know before hand that you are serving brunch instead.

9. Create Kids' Meals

For younger guests, have your caterer create a smaller plate. That's definitely a lot cheaper. This is also way of not wasting food as kids don't normally consume food as much as adults do.

10. BYOB

There's no harm in bringing your own wine bottles to your wedding reception. This way you can buy in bulk from a local liquor store and discount clubs that caters to non-members. Bulk buying is lot cheaper of course!