How could you possibly fill the stomach of more or less 300 HUNGRY guests in a low cost? It took me quite some time in checking for affordable resorts or catering services that can offer a good deal in this huge number of people. But sadly, me and my husband decided that we have to do it the hard way. We personally catered for our wedding with the help of our close relatives and friends.
But don't be surprised that we resorted to this option as my family already have a history in catering business. I remember helping my aunts in doing the skirting for the table linens. So, if you're planning a wedding of your own and can't afford the extra thousands for a caterer, I suggest you continue reading through my blog to see from my own experience if you will be able to pull it off by yourselves.
In order to make all this possible, you have to have a lot of manpower, time and a detailed list of your ingredients.
MANPOWER
Cook - We were blessed to have Manong Junior in our team. He was suggested by my dad as he was one of the best cooks in our town. My parents keep on telling me that I know him but I totally can't recall. I have this image of a big fat old guy as the cook but when we came to meet him few weeks before the weeding, I was like: "oh, I totally know you." The thing is, he was the cook for my family's catering business way back 90s. He still have the same look the last time I saw him as a kid. So, me and my parents talked to him regarding the things that he will bring, those things that we need to provide, when he will start cooking and how much is the fee. He came to our house a day before the wedding to start preparing the menu and we provided him an area at the back of the house for him to cook. It was a big help in having Nong Junior as he is an experienced cook and he is a good old friend of everybody. He knew my family and also most of my relatives from both of my parents' side.
He is the one comfortably sitting in the chair.
Waiters - I can't imagine our reception without these guys. I was planning to go for a "serve yourself" kind of setup but it's not applicable for weddings in the Philippines(it will be too chaotic). Again, my dad suggested that we should ask help from Tita Kling (my aunt who is in contact with the waiters). Ta Kling gladly helped us to contact them few weeks before the wedding. On the day before the wedding, my cousin F accompanied them to our house and introduced them to me and my parents. It turned out that some of them were also the waiters for my family's catering business before. I can still remember Nong Johnny and the other old guy who seems to be the leader of the team of 6 people. The best thing with having them is that they already know what to do. They organized the utensils, covered the fork and spoon with table napkins and they even went with me to my grandmother's house to borrow some more serving plates and to borrow Tita Alet's (my dad's sister) plants. They also have the initiative to do the table setting, skirt the other tables and to arrange the tables and chairs. During the reception, they are the ones serving and refilling the foods. And after the event, they made sure that all rentals and utensils were organized.
The team leader of the waiters supervising the whole reception.
Rentals - Our dinnerware were mainly from Tita Kling and the Bolina family (my husband's cousin). They also let us borrow their food warmers. The Bolina family also offered to cook the rice and got them delivered in the morning of the wedding.
TIME & DETAILED LIST
Thanks to Manong Junior (cook) who gave us a detailed list of the ingredients that we need for the menu. I got a lot of help from my parents and my husband's family. I even went one time to the local market with my parents early in the morning were all of us haven't taken a shower yet due to our busy schedule.
I also did some grocery shopping to finish off the list with my husband's cute cousins (Angel & Gabz). I'm calling out the ingredient and they're the ones who are getting it from the store rack.
Manong Junior also listed down all the meat needed for the menu. My husband's mother bought the buckets of fish. His Uncle Bucky ordered a big bulk of chicken meat. Our brothers from the church helped in preparing the other meat for the menu. They also suggested one person from their place who cooked the lechon. The pigs that were poked with metal poles were delivered to our home early in the morning and were roasted until the reception.
At the end of the reception, we had lots of left overs so there were too much food that most of our relatives even brought home.
Pros
We were able to choose the number of foods in the menu that we want - we had a total of 7:
Lechon
Lumpia Shanghai
Bakareta
Sweet Ham
Embutido
Fried Chicken
Sweet & Sour Fish
We saved a lot and was able to allocate 100,000php for everything related to the menu.
There is no price per head (guest) compared to the hotel, resort or catering company so the guests were all free to put any amount of food in their plate
We were able to make use of the resources that our family have (free of cost)
Grocery shopping - It was a good bonding moment for me and my parents/husband's cousin. Me and my mom had difficulty in searching for one ingredient - we literally asked every store inside the local market and found nothing
Cons
TIME is our number one enemy. We spent the last week before the wedding mainly doing some grocery shopping and asking other relatives to contact the meat supplier. I have big eye bags due to lack of sleep in trying to facilitate everything
Expect for some hidden costs as you might buy some big containers for the raw meat before it gets cooked and other small things which will add up to your overall budget.
If you will borrow or rent dinnerwares, better get everything from one place only so that you will not get confused with things getting misplaced or mixed up later on