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5 Cheap Wedding Reception Ideas For The Food & Drink Menu
With the way the economy has been recently, many newly engaged couples are trying to find any way possible to save money on the total cost of their wedding. However, this seems almost next to impossible because the cost of everything is on the rise. While there are many ways to save money, one particular aspect of the wedding you can save money on (believe it or not) is the food and catering.
How can you save some money on the wedding food and catering? Well, consider some of these ideas:
Forgo having servers.
As a wedding caterer in Philadelphia, we give our clients the option of serving the food throughout the wedding without servers. Even though it’s more convenient to have people walking around serving appetizers, you will be able to save some money by having everyone help themselves—especially if the rest of the night in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Inevitably, your guests only care about what they are eating and not who is serving the food. So, this is one thing you can cross off your list.
Keep it simple with the appetizers.
Of course having bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp cocktail sounds yummy, but having appetizers like this will most certainly raise the cost of the wedding. Therefore, one thing you can do to save money on the appetizers is by offering traditional ones such as cheese and crackers, vegetables, and fruits. These “typical” appetizers cost much less than the more extravagant ones.
Consider what costs more – a plated dinner or a buffet.
Many Philadelphia catering companies give their clients the option of having either a plated dinner or a buffet. The price you pay for either a plated dinner or a buffet will also be entirely dependent upon how many people will be in attendance, as well as your budget. This is why we suggest that you shop around for prices. If you have your heart set on a certain type of dinner, you should talk to several different companies or venues before you make your final decision.
Have an open bar for two hours instead of the whole time.
Although most of your guests will look forward to the open bar, many of them will only have a drink during the first couple of hours. Also, a lot of people leave after the first couple hours of the reception, so there is no reason to keep it open bar the entire time.
Serve wine, beer, and one signature drink.
Serving liquor will certainly raise the cost of the wedding. But, if you still want to serve the adults some alcoholic beverages, limit it to just wine, beer, and one signature drink.
When it comes to dessert, just serve cake.
Some couples get carried away with the desserts. These days, couples are having things such as a chocolate fondue station, cookies, as well as candy stations, and more. Whatever happened to having just the wedding cake? There is no denying that skipping out on these extra “desserts,” such as a chocolate fondue station will certainly save you money!
In all, how much money you spend on the wedding depends on how you want it to be. If you want to save money, you might have to sacrifice some things that you would like to have, but do not necessarily need.