DIY Wedding Food

Everybody said I was crazy when for wanting to do the food for my own wedding. I think its crazy to pay a caterer upwards of $6,000 when I know I can do something for 1/4 of the price. So I decided to do it. I love a challenge, plus I couldn't keep face with my blog readership if I didn't take care of this myself. Forkable is all about promoting DIY cooking while dealing with restrictions and when catering your own wedding, there's nothing but restrictions.


A tray of zuchini slices ready to be roasted and frozen to be used as a topping for the sandwich buffet we're serving .

When I started planning the food, I wasn't sure where we'd be having the event, but I couldn't count on having access to a kitchen. I'm not a professional caterer, so I don't have a lot of fancy equipment to heat things up on premises or to keep them warm, so I knew the food I served would have to be room temp. Since I'm going to be busy that day, I wanted to plan for food which could be prepped days earlier and have as little work to be done as possible the day of. The answer to all these problems: a deli themed sandwich buffet.


Peppers, zucchinis, and eggplant can be roasted weeks before hand and frozen to limit the amount of last minute prep work.

With the help of a friend who has an account with a food wholesaler, we're going to purchase multiple roasts of precooked meat and bricks of cheese which we'll cut deli style and arrange on platters. The menu will include a selection of sides and fancy condiments which people can pick and choose from to design their own sandwich. The deli theme will allow us to serve the food using disposable materials (which I usually hate) while keeping in the theme, saving us money from having to rent china and flatware. All in all, I'm thinking the food with place settings for 150+ people will total around $1500.


A tray of red and orange peppers to be roasted.

I've enlisted the help of a few friends who will take care of setting up the day of and prepping all the last minute stuff, so I don't have to worry about it the day of. But, I've been trying to get as much stuff done before hand so the day of, Kirsten who's heading up the food for us will be ready to go. I've got lists coming out of my ass right now but staying organized is the best way to keep things running smoothly when you're dealing with so many different people. I know this is a brief intro, but I promise I'll have much more detailed posts about the hows of the wedding food after the fact.


A jar of roasted poblano peppers ready for the freezer.

I know my blog has been suffering the past month or so due to this wedding planning, but we're in the home stretch. I'm going to take a short vacation from the blog to allow myself time to get all my other stuff done. Oh, did I mention beside being my own caterer, I'm also the florist, the DJ, as well as making food for the rehearsal dinner? I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. Just hang in there, and in a little over a week, I'll be back to making Forkable priority number 1!