Delicious Noms ~~ Pt. 1 ~~ the options

As with any wedding, food is one of the most important and costly items.  It one of those things that you don't really think about when attending a wedding but when planning one, the cost adds up quick!  Take for instance the idea of paying $20 per meal.  At a local restaurant with a couple friends, it's not that big of a deal.  But if when looking to feed 300 people then you're paying at a minimum of $6,000 (more than half of our wedding budget).  Hence why in our search for reception food, we are attempting to keep it between $10-15 per person.  But in limiting the cost, we realized that we had to do something that was more of a buffet/BBQ picnic style rather than the traditional 4 course meal.  We just love the idea of a BBQ at a wedding reception although I'm sure some of the guests may frown upon it.  So I sent Josh off to contact a couple catering companies around our T -5 month mark to find out what types of meals and costs they could do.

~The first company wasn't taking on large events as she was unable to handle a large reception without her former partner.

~The second, which I had before at a few of our departmental retreats in grad school, said that they could surely feed 2-300 for around our $3-4000 catering budget.  They also offered the picnic style food including pulled pork, BBQ chicken and even a pig roast if we so decided.  And the owner makes homemade ice cream that he perfected before starting his BBQ business.

~The third was a company that could only do $20 min per person with full 4 course meals.  While the food is said to be amazing...it's too much for our small budget.

~And the 4th, which I found through my grandma's church, had a menu online containing all the BBQ favorites.  But it would come out a little more costly than #2 when factoring in sides and varieties of meats.  Plus this caterer had just started his business and we'd prefer to have someone a little more established if we are paying around the same price.

After a tiny bit of discussion and telling Josh about #2's homemade ice cream bar, he was sold.  So we set up a tasting with Mitch's Mobile BBQ and was told to "Come Hungry!"

Check out Part 2 for the tasting!  =)