Pot luck

Potlucks are relatively common where I am currently living. Just be careful about food borne illness! (And allergies!)

I 100% agree with Valerie and Melissa. A potluck for that many people is a health risk and it would be a logistical nightmare. If it was a close group of 25 of your family members - maybe, but 125 is very risky.

What we're doing is having a local restaurant do "take out" catering that I'll pick up the day of. It's easy food like hummus, bababa ghanouge, bruschetta (toast on the side), mini falafels (bite size - tahini dressing on the side so people can top the falafel themselves), tzatziki, feta, salad - it's about $1000

We're also doing antipasto items (meat, cheese, crackers, baguette, preserves, fresh fruit, some veggies, etc.) which we will buy from the store and only need to do a little prep - people can cut pieces of cheese themselves from the bricks

We will also have a dessert table (from a local bakery) and a late night nacho bar (again store bought stuff, with very little prep - take out of jar, put in nice bowl lol!).

All together we're looking at $2000 for 100 people. We also have two people hired to refill tables and to do the clean up as food shouldn't be out of the fridge for more than 2 hours - even less if its hot indoors/outside!

Guests' willingness to participate will certainly vary between groups. I would not be comfortable asking my family and friends to work when I have asked them to come celebrate with me.

The liability of not having trained food handlers just makes me too nervous. I am a certified trainer for food safety, and I wouldn't want to cater my own wedding unless I had a team of pros with me...and then I would just be working, and that's no fun for me! I would not want to host a large potluck.

I think it depends really on your family and friends. My future inlaws love cooking. We are providing the burgers, hot dogs and pork loin and my fil and a cousin will be grilling. and we'll have 3 bbq's to use. The aunts and MILs who will be cooking side dishes are really excited to contribute and be involved. We don't expect everyone to bring a dish to share. But those who want to are more than welcome to. My wedding is at the high school I work at so we have access to multiple large fridges to store food starting the day before.

Ours is a potluck supper. We have encouraged people to bring either a bottle of wine or a dish to share. We will have about 130 people and will provide burgers, pork loin and hot dogs. Plus we'll make side dishes too like 6 bean salad, caesar salad etc based on what others say they will bring with them

I would have to agree with both the advice of melissa and val ... they bring up great points

Hi Meggan! I think a potluck is a great idea! Will you ask people to bring mostly salty or sweet food? You can also reach out to the brides in these discussions to have more opinions and share ideas together: Potluck? What do you have in mind for your wedding cake?

One of my cousins had a potluck for her wedding and I lived in a village of about 300 people that has community wide potlucks... You would need to assign courses to your guests and hire someone to oversee your kitchen... The ladies auxiliary or other service group would probably have experience with large scale potlucks... If your venue is a community hall they can probably provide contact info of a group familiar with the venue... We considered this but our guests are all travelling to attend.

Thanks Amanda, Our venue is a blank slate as well with a kitchen at our disposal originally we were planning on doing it like you and preping ourselves. However we have recently discovered we may not have access to the site untill day of and we will need to decorate as well so we are trying to find a way to cut down on prep time, and like to said make it more interctive and inclusive.

I'm having a self catered buffet style dinner for 150 people. We are just renting a hall that has a kitchen we can use. We are planning on coming in the night before and getting most of the prep done before hand along with the decorating. Then we are hiring someone to refill the buffet trays so everyone can enjoy their dinner. We aren't having a complex dinner, salads and meatballs pretty much, so we thought that doing dinner this way was very viable. If you and your family are willing to do that (cause 125 people is a lot to feed) then it'd definitely be a fun way to include people in your wedding!

I completely agree with Melissa! Health and safety concerns are something to be considered and I definitely wouldn't want my guests to have to stress about making something to bring while getting ready and having to travel.

You can find local BBQ or Italian places that will cater for a very reasonable price! You can just get a few pre-made trays and you and your guests won't need to stress a bit

Generally, for large groups (more than 10 people) I don't think a pot luck is a great idea, because of the logistics and food safety concerns.

I would think you might be better off to have your platters and snacks delivered rather than making yourself or asking people to bring them in. Saves stress for you, and avoids asking your guests to work and provide for a celebration that you are hosting. I think it is a lot to ask of your guests to prepare something to bring with them, when they will have travelled to your wedding, and likely brought a gift for you already.

Heating, cooling and storage of food would be a big undertaking- especially for 125 people. Depending on your venue, they might not even allow this, due to the food safety hazzards, so if you do decide to do this, make sure you check first.

I do like the hot dog cart idea- casual, but fun for a warm day! These, with some catered trays can make for a really great event, without the unnecessary work of a potluck.