Catering

Budget is your key point for what you want to get for your buck.

Personal caterers can add up fast with per person cost of how many guests your expecting. Restaurants can offer the same given you do have variety to choose from their menu.

Pot luck is an alternative to allow guests bringing their best dishes you know they make for everyone to enjoy. Do make a list of selection that will allow no repeats of the same dish from each selection. Drinks and alcohol can be purchased by immediate family to help out for guests to enjoy beverages.

Menu themes made at home can be creative to put out condiments and sauces to burgers, hot dogs, sausages and ribs to offer guests with sides of salads and assorted variety platters. Asking a family member who is a baker can be helpful to make your wedding cake.

WW Checklist is a great source of getting what you need as you mark each task completed. I didn't end up using all of it because it wasn't applied to a small size guest list. Keep a binder of folder with all your vendors/venue information and emails/contracts to have on hand for planning process.

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I personally wouldn't do pot luck, especially if you're hosting more than 20 people who are not close family and friends. There are just too many factors to consider:

-Coordinating who brings what: you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out who brings what so that you don't end up with 50 sides of potatoes and 30 sides of salad

-Volume: will everyone bring enough?

-Storing and heating it to proper temperatures: do you have the fridge and oven space to store and reheat all these meals in time for your reception? They can't just sit outside the whole time when people arrive prior to the ceremony. Not to mention, if I'm bringing food, I'm making it the night before, not the day of when I have to get ready and travel to your venue.

-Ensuring everyone adheres to food safety: there are a lot of friends where I would never trust eating what comes out of their kitchen

-Dealing with the leftovers: Would I want leftovers that have been sitting outside for 8+ hours?

Lastly, food is the single biggest cost in hosting a wedding so if you're expecting guests to feed themselves at your event, expect the gifts to be super low value or none at all.

View quoted message Is it a bad idea to think of like a pot luck kinda type for food? Or is it better to be looking at catering???

To add to what Amelia says, you can choose to only spend what you can currently afford right now or, since you have two years, you can work towards a certain budget. Planning this far out in advance gives you the opportunity to save if you don't have the funds at the moment.

In regards to catering, most venues will have in-house options so when you do site visits and ask for pricing, make sure you get a comprehensive view on what their menu is. Most venues will typically have a minimum spend but it doesn't mean you have to go for a fancy four course meal. It could be brunch, it could be cocktail party style hors d'oeuvres, it could be stations (all pending covid restrictions).

My one advice with catering is asking about all their cultural options. For example most major venues in the Greater Toronto Area will have a Chinese, Indian, and Italian menu on top of the typical chicken and steak options, which really gives you the chance to explore options.

Planning doesn't need to be a scary stressful thing!


I would recommend get the big stuff figured out (budget & guest count, these will determine location and some vendors). If you know you want 150 people you'll need enough space for them and enough money to feed them. Once you know the budget and the guest count you can figure out how fancy you want to go with the food too. If food is important you might need to balance a more budget friendly photographer or skip the fancy decorative lighting package etc. Food was low on our list so we're skipping a full meal to do appetizers and an evening reception.
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