“You must let me do the catering” – a cry from a well-wisher heard pretty much the moment a couple first announces their joyful engagement. It happens all the time and is indeed a noble gesture, but realistically speaking turns out to be nothing of the sort.
Is it impossible for anyone with a kind heart and an ambitious nature to take care of the catering for a friend or family member’s wedding? Technically speaking, no, but just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it. Many DIY wedding catering efforts meet with huge success each and every day, but at the same time you have to question whether or not it is really worthwhile. Yes, it’s a wonderful gift to offer and an interesting experience to say the least, but when compared and contrasted in accordance with the benefits of the pro alternative, it’s a pretty one-sided argument on the whole.
1 – It’s a Mammoth Undertaking
For example, anyone with experience of preparing a meal for more than around four people at any one time will understand how the logistics of getting everything done are simply mind-blowing. Increase the audience to a group of say 50 hungry wedding-goers however and you find yourself staring down the barrel of an undertaking it’s almost impossible to convey the complexity of. 50 guests with three courses per guest and all other nibbles that go along with the main event adds up to a genuinely mammoth undertaking that demands a heck of a lot more than good intentions alone!
2 – It Costs a Fortune
One of the most common reasons a person or persons decide to go with DIY wedding catering is as a means to save money. Professional quality catering doesn’t come free…rarely does it come cheap…so it seems like common sense to take care of things personally and eliminate the expense. Sadly though there’s one big problem that comes with this way of thinking – all the supplies you’re going to need to put the feast together don’t come free either. Worse still, you won’t have access to the same kinds of wholesale discounts as catering companies, meaning that after doing the basic shopping alone you might already have spent more than a pro package would have cost you – and that’s before you take into account hiring or buying all the plates, cutlery, cups, glasses, serving bowls etc.
3 – The Right Tools for the Job
Still on the subject of tools for the job, the idea of DIY catering always seems like a good one at first – until you realise you probably won’t be able to cook 50 servings of roast beef and 150 servings of vegetables at the same time using your conventional cooker. Industrial scale feasts like these demand industrial scale equipment to take care of both the preparation and the cooking – chances are not a single piece of kit you currently own is up to the job. Buying is of course out of the question, which in turn leaves the option being that of rentals – again tipping costs further out of balance.
4 – If It Fails, It’s All on You!
Even in the case of things technically going well in a logistical sense, there’s still always that unfortunate and glaring possibility that you yourself will mess something up…big time. The dinner at any wedding represents one of the day’s most important events of all and is something of a finely-tuned balancing act it takes incredible skill and experience to pull off. When a catering company makes a mistake…which doesn’t usually happen of course…you have a third party to blame. However, if it ends up being YOU that made the mistake that threw the whole afternoon and evening into disarray, this is the kind of red-facedness you’ll be carrying with you for the rest of your life.
5 – Pure and Simple Enjoyment
Last but not least, if the couple set to marry is important enough to you that you were considering doing the catering for them, surely it would make so much more sense to spend the whole day sharing and maximising their enjoyment. Take care of the catering and you’ll inevitably be spending 75% of the day or more behind the scenes, only to emerge as the party is winding down completely exhausted and fit for little to nothing more. The most important gift anyone can give on a couple’s wedding day is the gift of their time and their happiness – there are pros out there to come in and help with the catering, so it pays to use them!
