We DIY catered our own wedding reception.
Not because we’re super DIY crazy or because we’re amazing chefs or anything.
Nope, we were just so damn poor that we could afford the food or the labor – but not both.
Create a Buffet: DIY Catering Ideas for Your Wedding Reception
So, I devised a plan to host a “forkable” buffet.
Do you know what that is?
What Is A Forkable Buffet?
“Forkable” buffet is my totally made up word for a stripped down buffet with no premade entrees or sides.
It is entirely created from items that can be opened and dumped into a serving container – then eaten with a fork by the guests.
This made prepping and maintaining the food at the buffet really simple for our planner.
She could just open a box of crackers, dump them into a berry basket, and move on.
Why Do One?
Another reason we did a “forkable” buffet was because many of our guests had food issues that we just didn’t want to deal with.
Gluten-free, dairy-free, diabetes, low-salt, vegetarian, pre-Lapband, and on and on.
My life is too short to mess with that many different issues.
By offering just the basics (and no premade dishes) we allowed guests to select the food that they COULD eat – without all the fuss.
What Did You Serve?
For the Cocktail Hour:
- Assorted cheeses (goat, cheddar, and mascarpone)
- Assorted crackers (wheat, salt and pepper, and club)
- Grapes and berries (blackberries and strawberries)
For the Reception:
- Spring mix lettuce
- Romaine lettuce
- Sliced mushrooms
- Sliced cucumbers
- Cherry tomatoes
- Sliced sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange)
- Sliced carrots
- Assorted lunch meats (ham, turkey, and chicken)
- Assorted deli cheeses (cheddar, Muenster, and Swiss)
- Sliced breads (artisan, wheat, white)
- Chips (BBQ and plain)
- Boiled and ready-to-peel shrimp with cocktail sauce
// I may earn money from the companies mentioned in this post. //
How Did You Serve Them?
For our guests, we preset the reception tables with a large white dinner plate and a smaller glass salad plate.
This allowed guests to fix up to two different styles of meals without “letting them touch” (not joking, another guest issue).
Also, we provided a fork and knife for each guest.
No spoons since nothing needed to be eaten with a spoon.
We also gave everyone a handmade cloth napkin.
How Did You Set Up The Buffet?
To lay out the buffet, I bought berry baskets (tobacco baskets would work, too!) and small metal tins to use as containers.
Our planner lined them with extra cloth napkins and added bamboo serving utensils – it looked great.
The key to making this style of DIY catered wedding reception was to keep it simple.
Nothing needed to be served warm or hot.
Everything could be opened and dumped (no worrying over presentation or mixing).
And by grouping our serving containers together, it made the simple food look more impressive.
Would you DIY your own wedding reception?
Courtney says
Can I ask where you got those baskets from??
Victoria Caffee says
We’ve been looking into doing something like this ourselves. But we werethinking about doing a walking taco bar. Idk how we’d keep warm stuff warm and cold stuff cold though.
Cris says
Look for those cheap foil pans/trays at the grocery store. Fill the cold ones with ice or ice packs and they sell Sterno can thingies for keeping the hot stuff hot. Hope that helps!