Sit-Down Dinners
Format, sit-down dinner receptions are not always the most expensive option; pricing will depend upon your choice of menu and bar elements.
“Instead of offering your guests their choice of three entrées—such as a beef, fish and chicken dish—create a duo plate such as a surf-and-turf with fish and beef medallions to give guests a variety on the one plate,” says Laura Bianco, wedding planner at My Bellissima in Morristown, New Jersey. You’ll save as much as 40 percent, since you don’t have to buy enough of each choice to suit guests who wish to change their entrée orders.
- Chicken, turkey, pork and pasta are the least expensive entrée options. Talk with your caterer about dressing up those less costly chicken or pasta dishes with a delicious gourmet sauce, such as a balsamic glaze, a tropical mango salsa or a creamy five-cheese sauce to give guests that five-star dining feel at a much lower price per guest.
- Christopher Confero, owner of Christopher Confero Design in Birmingham, Alabama, says, “Think local and think seasonal,” since locally acquired, in-season menu items always cost far less than imported foods.
- Serve a vegetarian entrée as one inexpensive menu option.
- Ask your caterer to create a gourmet presentation of side dishes, such as a dollop of pearled couscous with a zucchini ‘slaw’ or asparagus topped with Fontina cheese.
- Combine your appetizer and salad course, for example, by serving a few mini crabcakes with a mesclun salad.
- Serve vendor meals. To the vendors, that is. Most banquet halls offer a vendor meal for $20 or so to keep those eight band members, photographer, videographer and wedding coordinator fed for less than your guest meal price.
Save on Spirits
“An open bar is a must, but just serve a variety of fine wines and beer with a signature cocktail or two,” says Bianco. “This way, guests who have to have a rum or vodka drink are happy, but you’re not paying an enormous price for a full, topshelf, unlimited bar. You’ll save 25 percent to 30 percent off your budget.”
- Leave shots off your bar menu and save a fortune.
- Garnish your signature cocktail creatively with curled lemon peel, colorful sugar rimming or exotic fruit spears to make drinks look pricier than they really are.
- Eliminate corkage fees. Ask your site manager to waive the price charged when bartenders open each bottle of wine. This $2 per bottle (or more) charge is often easily negotiated out of your contract.
- Skip pricy liquor-infused after-dinner drinks like Irish coffee, and instead serve flavored coffee and cappuccino.
Cut Your Cake and Desserts Cost
- Choose a two-or-three-tier wedding cake that is iced with buttercream and piped with dots—instead of an expensive replica of the lace on your gown.
- Display a faux cake made of frosting covered Styrofoam for visual effect, and then serve cake slices from an inexpensive sheet cake in the kitchen.
- Pick from your baker’s basics list—vanilla, lemon, red velvet—and skip the pricier flavors and fillings, including liquor-infused cake flavors.
- Another fee to negotiate out of your contract: the per-slice cutting and plating fees that some sites charge.
- Skip the Viennese dessert table and serve your wedding cake with two or three luscious desserts, like chocolate-covered berries and Chantilly cream fruit tarts.
More Ways to Save:
Cocktail Party
An elegant cocktail party may take place during the daytime or evening hours and is often a semi-formal event.
Mix stations with hand-serving so that guests enjoy the upscale service aspect; be sure the food is presented beautifully at stations or at a bar, with attendants presiding over each to keep everything neat,” advises Michelle Rago, wedding planner and Google’s wedding spokesperson.
- “Consider offering a wine and food pairing, like a wine and cheese station,” says Maya Kalman, wedding and event coordinator at Swank Productions in New York City.
- Calamari and mussels often cost less than shrimp, lobster and crab.
- Skip the raw bar—it’s one of the priciest stations for a cocktail party.
- Guests love inexpensive hummus in flavors like roasted red pepper and pesto, offered with pita triangles.
- Pasta is one of the least-costly station options, but go with choices like pumpkin and goat cheese, spinach and brie, or lobster and goat cheese for a more impressive twist.
- Another always-popular yet inexpensive idea is a Thai station with lots of tasty noodles, colorful vegetables and spicy sauces.
- Instead of pricy seafood sushi, create a guest-pleasing veggie sushi station with hand rolls made of brown rice and filled with avocado, pumpkin or sweet potato.
- Especially in fall weather, a soup bar is a budget-friendly option that impresses and warms guests with shots of creamy lobster bisque, acorn squash soup, clam chowder, potato and leek, and other seasonal flavors.
- A hot trend in budget-friendly stations is the risotto bar, offering creamy gourmet risotto with toppings. It’s a new spin on the old-fashioned mashed potato bar.
- Make your inexpensive cocktail party menu items look more stylish by serving them on unique plates in cool shapes and colors.
In addition to the bar tips from the sit-down dinner section, our experts suggest:
“Have a vodka-tasting bar. Staff it with a vodka expert as a special offering that impresses guests. You’ll still save on the cost of a full, unlimited bar,” says Kalman.
- Add fruity-fresh sangrias to your drinks menu for a trendy drink that stretches how much you get from each bottle of wine.
- Plan a champagne cocktail bar. Guests can select a half-champagne, half-fruit juice or nectar drink that triples each bottle’s serving capacity.
Cut Your Cake and Desserts Cost
- “I always love to create a dessert station of hot, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies,” says Rago.
- Try a late-night passed dessert tray, filled with bite-sized treats, like mini brownies and cupcakes.
- “Have a server hand out little servings of really good ice cream,” Rago suggests.
- A platter of fruits like mango and pineapple isn’t expensive and saves guests lots of calories.
More Ways to Save:
Brunch
"I love brunch receptions," said Michelle Rago. "They're so cheerful, happy and uplifting." Here are some uplifting budget-saving ideas for your daytime reception.
A local restaurant or hotel may make it simple for you by offering the perfect brunch with a wide array of menu options, at just $12 to $20 per person. If you like the options, go for the good price.
- Provide just one seafood station, say, for smoked salmon.
- Have a made-to-order station. Guests enjoy the chef’s attention as they watch him whip up a custom omelet, pancakes or crepes made to their taste. These are also great conversation-starters for guests as they give their orders and wait for their plates.
- Give a classic a gourmet twist. “If your chef offers an eggs Benedict made with lobster or crab cakes, it feels like luxury,” says Kalman. “I also love a blini station topped with a touch of caviar.”
- Some hotels and restaurants will give each guest a complimentary champagne or mimosa. “Champagne cocktails, mimosas or bellinis are elegant drinks for a brunch reception,” says Bianco. And remember that you’ll save lots on alcohol since most guests won’t be overindulging at this time of day.
- “Offer the best Bloody Mary bar ever, with great add-ins, or have a server walk around with a Bloody Mary serving station on a cart,” suggests Rago. Guests will enjoy having their drinks whipped up while they watch.
- Provide a budget-friendly coffee, tea or chai bar.
Cut Your Cake and Desserts Cost
- Choose a simple, pretty cake in a light flavor such as vanilla or lemon, which will be delicious and less expensive without the additional cost of decoration and multiple flavors. Skipping elaborate sugarpaste designs (these are better for a formal evening wedding) will keep the presentation clean and fresh.
- “Brunch calls for light and airy desserts, such as parfaits, whipped mousse with fresh mango—nothing heavy like a chocolate lava cake,” says Kalman.
- Cupcakes impress on a budget, as do mini pastries and fruit tartlets. Platters of eye-pleasing sweet treats are great crowd-pleasers.
- Brunch is perfect for fresh and refreshing fruit platters, or pretty dessert cups filled with sweet mandarin oranges. Remember that a single type of fruit looks more sophisticated than a mixed fruit cup.
More Ways to Save:
► Sit-Down Dinners
► Cocktail Party