So…I’m catering a wedding. How did this come about? Simple really. I volunteered myself, the offer was accepted, and here we are.
The wedding is my cousin’s, well actually my husband’s cousin. But in my book a cousin is a cousin. Second cousin, cousin-in-law, is just too complicated for me. So this is for my cousin Kyra’s wedding.
Well second wedding? No this isn’t the second person she’s marrying. It’s that Kyra and Matt (see the photo below) are already married. This occurred last year in a private little ceremony before they moved to Scotland for Kyra to do her graduate work. But, they are home now, and planning a ceremony and reception so that they can celebrate their marriage with everyone! Fun right? So now you know the basic background. On to the challenge!
The wedding is going to be in one of their friends garden paradise, type backyard. I haven’t seen it yet, but it sounds lovely. However, this means there will only be table seating during the reception for some of the guests. (You can only stuff so many tables into a backyard.) Older folks and children will likely take up the tables, but for everyone else’s sake it’s important that the food can be eaten while standing i.e. no knife! Now I would naturally think finger food, cocktail type stuff…But the wedding will be on a Friday evening late enough that people will be expecting a real dinner. So obviously dinner is a must. There should be about 80 people attending, and we are looking at a budget of about $1000 (including anything needed to serve the food, dessert, and alcohol). Our date is July 25th.
So our challenge: serve a nice wedding dinner to 80 people for under $1000 in a backyard. (And we have a little over three months to get it all figured out!)
I feel like this is challenging but possible. It will require some careful planning, pricing, and lots of recipe testing. But it can be done. And I thought you all might enjoy coming along with me for the ride. I’ll be doing a series of posts detailing everything from budgeting and food cost, to menu choice, to cooking, to the big day. I’d love to hear any feedback you have on the project and any wedding stories of your own! (Especially wedding food stories!)
The first step will be selecting a tentative menu. Coming soon, so stay tuned!
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