Catering questions

I have to second this. Empty stomachs and alcohol are not a good mix. If you go with the heavy finger food route, look to get more of the less expensive items, especially if they are filling. Pita chips and hummus instead of shrimp. You want quality as in good quality pita chips and hummus. You don’t need ritzy. I always tell people to avoid shrimp anyway – it’s too expensive per piece, and people go crazy for it. Aunt Martha could take out half the shrimp platter!

You might also want to find out if the caterer offers a choice of pricing of an open bar. Two standard ways are on consumption and per head. With on consumption, you know up front that you will be charged a certain amount for every bottle the bar uses. Per head, obviously, is a per person cost, usually broken down per hour. So $X per person per hour, no matter how much or how little each person drinks. Some places will exclude children from the total number of attendees in determining the head count, but beyond that, it’s $X for every person in the room. You can’t pick and choose by saying Uncle So-and-So doesn’t drink – the rationale for the caterer is that some folks will drink a lot and some will drink a little, making for an average consumption that is reasonable.

My general rule of thumb in event planning is that if you suspect guests will drink little, on consumption is the better deal, and if you think people will drink a lot, go with per head. Also remember that people tend to drink more than they might otherwise at a wedding. Unless you have a lot of people who never drink, say for religious reasons, you might go through more alcohol than you expect.

Congratulations! I want to pass along the very best advice my wife and I received in planning our wedding.

Choose three things that you hope people will remember about your wedding, and make them rock. For the rest of them, say–repeat after me, you’ll need these exact words–“Fuck that shit!”

For example, maybe you want people to remember the delicious food, the lovely flowers, and the poetry of the ceremony. Make sure you’ve got delicious food, lovely flowers, and a poetic ceremony. Now, is your mother stressing over whether the napkins match the tablecloths? What do you say?

Fuck that shit!

Are you worried about whether the DJ has your complete list of music, or whether the bridesmaid dresses match the shoepolish that your nephew’s shoes will wear? What do you say?

You get the idea. Honestly, nobody’s going to remember three things about your wedding, but choosing three is manageable. You just need to make sure that nothing else is memorable for being awful (don’t scrounge the napkins out of the back of a restaurant’s dumpster, don’t let the DJ play all Phillip Glass, and and don’t have the bridesmaids’ dresses be greasy black), and you’re good to go.

Daniel

I think I can handle this, with a bit of practice. :slight_smile:

So you saying Pabst Blue Ribbon instead of Heineken?

Okay, song list - AWAAAAAAY!

Dung Beetle, thanks for the welcome. I just had another thought - you might even try to line up 2 students to photograph your wedding. That way, if something went wrong with one, you’d have the other as a backup. I’d bet most of the students would be agreeable to that. Let me know if you need any help tracking down someone to email. Go Gators!

September5Photo, if you could give me a name or something to get me started, that would be great. My e-mail address is juliarmstrng@yahoo.com.

featherlou, got the list! It is very much appreciated.

Ok, here goes. These can be adapted to serve larger groups.

Artichoke Salsa
1 (6.5 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts
3 roma (plum) tomatoes
2 tablespoons red onion
1/4 cup black olives
1 tablespoon garlic
2 tablespoons fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
I also added some hearts of palm but it is not neccessary.

Toss all but tomatoes into food processor. Pulse til chopped. Add tomatoes last so they don’t get too mushy. Serves 5.

Shrimp and Dill Deviled Eggs
6 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 (4.5 ounce) can shrimp, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill weed
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 pinch ground black pepper
fresh dill weed

Cut hard boiled eggs in half and remove the yolk into a bowl. Add everything but srimp and mix. Fold in shrimp gently so as not to mush it and fill egg whites. Top each egg with one shrimp or some fresh dill.

Pesto Deviled Eggs
6 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayo
favorite pesto

Add mayo and pesto to taste. Top each with toasted pine nut, if desired.

White Pizza Dip
1 (1 ounce) package herb and garlic soup mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine in 1 quart baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve hot with french bread or breadsticks. Serves 10

Cream Cheese and Leek stuffed Mushrooms
Mushrooms (I used two of the bigger packages…don’t know what size they were)
2 leeks, chopped and rinsed to remove sand
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
garlic powder
olive oil

Remove stems from mushrooms. Place mushrooms on oil coated cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees while you are preparing the filling. Saute leeks til tender. Add to softened cream cheese. Add garlic powder to taste. Stuff mushroom caps and broil til tops are brown.

Bacon and Cream Cheese Crescents
2 pkgs refrigerated crescent rolls
8 oz. cream cheese
finely chopped onion
bacon, cooked and crumbled

Mix softened cream cheese, onion and bacon. Unroll and separate crescents. Place small spoonful of mix onto each. Roll and bake as directed. Make a lot…these are so good. They can be made ahead of time and frozen then popped into the oven to warm.

I also used the hummus, honey sesame li’l smokies, tapenade, stuffed mushroom and sweet chili meatball recipes from here.

Good luck!

Oh man, I am so ready to go to lunch now. I want some of those bacon and cream cheese things.