diy catering

I am planning on doing mostly DIY catering for my wedding. My plan is to order the meat already cooked from somewhere or if I feel that's too expensive for my small budget I will see if my friend's husband is willing to smoke some meat for us (wed pay for the meat) as our wedding gift. Then we are also planning on asking some of our family members to make a side dish as our wedding gift. As for day of we are going to hire someone to tend to the buffet so no one has to worry about it. Also planning for 50-60 guests.

I am doing DIY catering for my wedding this coming June. We are ordering BBQ beef (pre-cooked and cooled) from a local butcher, we will only have to heat up in the oven. And we are also doing salads, cesar and potato. We have a family friend who is prepping everything for us and will also set out the beef, buns, salads, and condiments right before serving time (buffet style). If self serving is not allowed (due to covid), the same friend will dish up each guest. It's a simple meal, which makes it very easy for everyone involved in prep and serving.

Our guest list is also sitting around 50-60 atm

I was in a wedding party where they had family do the catering, it was stressful for everyone involved. The wedding was a backyard, small wedding but there was a certain amount of chaos amongst the family members who were doing the cooking, some stuff wasn't ready on time, and there could've been much better organization as far as who was doing what while the couple, immediate family, and bridal party was off taking pictures.

As much as it saves money.... Who knows how COVID will factor in and it might be super stressful

My advice is to rent or buy things to keep hot food hot and cold food cold so you don't end up making your whole group sick.


As others have brought up you'll need a designated team to prep, tear down, and serve if needed. Even slicing cake for 50 can be a big job so you might want to look into hiring a small catering company or a few students as wait staff.

The disadvantage to diy catering is you need someone who isn’t you or your party or your immediate family to do the work. You, your parties, and your parents will be way too busy the day of with other things to also worry about cooking, plating and serving food. As much as I loved my day, it was very busy and chaotic at times, if I also had to worry about food, I’d have probably melted down at some point.
What you could do if you want a homemade meal is see about your community. When my in-laws married, they married at a Slovenian Catholic Church that my FILs family went to. The ladies of the parish offered to cater the whole thing and it was so amazing that everyone still talks about it 30 years later. If there’s one thing that people remember about a wedding, it’s the food and you don’t want to be stressed out about if the food is going to be okay when you should be enjoying yourself.

Well, I would come up with a really strong game plan. Who’s cooking, who’s plating, who’s serving, and who’s cleaning?

Personally, I highly advise against it. Imagine all the time it takes for typical couples to get ready on the day of the wedding. Some couples and their families + bridal parties are up as early as 5am just to get ready for a noon wedding. Now add the task of having to make and serve a hot meal for every guest. You and your family won't just be line cooks, you'll also be waiters at your own wedding. Not to mention the insurance and liability issues if you're using a rented venue, or anything that's not your personal property.