AisleDash

When you plan your wedding, you'll soon learn that you're going to eat most of your budget. Reception catering is likely going to have the biggest cost. Ilona wrote about choosing between full service receptions, where the food is provided, and self service receptions, where the food is not. Once that's decided, your next choice is what you'll be serving, exactly.

If you are having your wedding in the evening, etiquette demands that you serve dinner at your reception. The more formal the wedding, the more formal the meal, so you should start your estimates no lower than $40 per person for an evening reception.

You can save a lot of money by moving your wedding up in the day so you don't have to serve a meal.You are still expected to feed your guests something, but heavy hors d'oeuvres will satisfy them at a much lower cost, and without the hassle of a seating chart.

I had an afternoon wedding with a finger food buffet, and it was great, except for one thing -- I never got to eat anything! Without assigned seating, guests are up and mingling for most of your reception, and everyone wants to talk to the newlyweds. I never got close to the food, because people kept coming up to congratulate me, and I hadn't eaten anything at all before the wedding, because I was too busy. So be sure to eat something before the wedding if you're not serving a meal, because you may not make it to the food at your reception!

In retrospect, I should have assigned a bridesmaid to get me a plate of food while I chatted up my guests. If you don't have caterers wandering the room with food trays, at least be sure to have someone catering to you.