Yesterday I shared the menu for the family wedding I'm catering this weekend. Writing up the menu, though, is the easy part. Now — how to get it all done? How do you safely cook, transport, warm up, and serve a meal to 120 people without going crazy? This is the big scary piece, right? Here's a look at how I planned out what we'll do and when. Read on for my notes on each dish...
How do you pull all these dishes together and have them ready and hot when the meal is ready to be served? This is hard enough to do at home for six, let alone 120!
Here are a few questions I think through when planning out a big meal undertaking like this.
Questions to Ask
Where are the bottlenecks?
Where in the process of cooking this menu will there be bottlenecks and constraints? In my case, I have a reasonable amount of time and space in the kitchen at the venue, but when there I will only have one oven and a pretty poor stovetop. So heating the food will be the primary concern.
How much time do I have?
The previous question leads to this one. If I only have one oven in the venue kitchen, I need to make sure it can get everything done in time. It's always tricky to calculate time, especially when multiplying a recipe. Recipes that bake in 30 minutes with regular portion sizes may run long when multiplied. So I am being very conservative in estimating baking times.
What can I make ahead?
And again, since oven and stove space are my constraints, as well as time, I want to make as much ahead as possible. I chose the rolls, for instance, because they are extremely moist and dense, thanks to extra sugar and fat, so they will be just fine made a day or two ahead. The same goes for the pudding, cookies, and pre-dinner nibbles.
What can be served cold?
Again, save the oven and stove space. I switched from a cooked vegetable to a cold salad when I realized how constrained I would be.
How will I manage refrigerator and freezer space?
This is the hidden challenge of much self-catering. Since you need to prep food ahead, you need a lot of refrigerator space to hold it safely. I have an extra refrigerator in my basement, which I saved after our home renovation for exactly this purpose. If you don't have a lot of fridge space, think about taking your food to the venue ahead of time.
What kind of help will I have?
And last but not least, really look at the help you'll have. I try not to underestimate every part of the process. You don't realize how exhausting and time-consuming shopping for this kind of dinner can be — hauling 100 pounds of cabbage or 80 pounds of meat home is a whole different thing from shopping for a regular dinner party. I also tried to anticipate the help when planning the recipes; there are so many things that seem simple when doing a dozen, but get truly unwieldy when multiplied up. Try to enlist help at each stage, not only at the event itself.
Make sure at the event that people are prepped ahead of time for their job duties, too. I, for instance, am meeting the night before with some friends who are kindly helping out with serving the tables and food prep. This way they know what they'll be doing and it will cut down on the amount of direction I'll have to give on the day itself.
All right — on to the cooking plan!
A Homemade Wedding Dinner Menu for 120: The Cooking Plan
Pre-dinner snacks
• Homemade White Cheddar & Rosemary Crackers (adapted from this recipe) - About 5 days before the wedding I made about 30 cups of homemade cheddar crackers (they're teeny-tiny!). They are in a giant airtight Rubbermaid container, and we'll just portion them out into bowls and set them on the tables.
• Roasted Herbed Almonds (see recipe) - I also made the almonds ahead and have them stored in an airtight container. These and the cheese crackers will be set out on the tables before dinner.
• Fresh vegetables - After yesterday's discussion, I decided to add a bowl of fresh vegetables to each table, too. I picked up big bags of sugar snap peas and mini sweet peppers. They're not terribly in season, but the tables needed something fresh and snappy. I'll put these out in bowls with a little (purchased) spinach dip. Very easy, with minimal prep and work.
To drink
• Citrus & Rosemary Spritzer (see recipe) - The church doesn't allow alcohol, so I am making Emily's spritzer and serving it in 1-liter glass bottles, with a sprig of rosemary inside. I am making sure that the drink isn't too sweet — I want it to be a refreshing thing to sip with dinner. I made the syrup ahead of time, and we will mix the syrup with chilled soda water just before dinner. (The soda water will be left outside to chill, since it will be in the low 40s. This will save room in the refrigerator.)
• Water with citrus slices - Just water, served in the plastic pitchers from the church. To dress it up a little I'll add orange and lemon slices to the water.
Dinner
• Roasted Chicken Thighs with Bacon & Parsley - As the main dish, this was the most critical part. I decided that the chicken will be the one thing I actually cook at the venue itself. I will prep the chicken ahead by tossing it with olive oil, salt and pepper, chopped herbs, garlic, and bacon. I'll hold these overnight in large disposable foil pans in the refrigerator, and roast large pans of chicken in the hour before dinner.
• Braised White Beans with Rosemary & Tomato - I will cook the beans the day before the wedding and hold them in the refrigerator in large disposable foil pans. A couple hours before the wedding, we will warm the beans on the stovetop in batches in large pots. Then we will transfer them to slow cookers to stay safely hot until service.
• Potato Dough Rolls & Whipped Salted Butter (see recipe) - The rolls were made two days ahead of the wedding and sealed tightly in plastic zip-lock bags. If there is time, we will warm them briefly in batches in the oven or microwave before serving.
• Lemon-Dijon Slaw - One reason I chose slaw vs. salad is that a crunchy slaw will hold up a little better in the refrigerator, as opposed to a more delicate salad. So we'll make the salad the afternoon before the wedding and keep it in large foil pans, well covered and packed down tight to minimize exposure to air.
Dessert
• Butterscotch Pudding with Whipped Cream - I am making the pudding the day before the wedding as well, and portioning it immediately into little 3-ounce cups that I'll pack into a large foil pan and refrigerate. The day of the wedding, I'll add a dollop of whipped cream.
• Cookie Platter of Butter Sablés & Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunkers (both from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours - I'm making all the cookies ahead of time and sealing in airtight containers.
That's the plan — a good mix of do-ahead and day-of. As you read this I'm probably busy working away on prep.
Have you ever done a big meal like this? Any suggestions for ways to improve or smooth out the process?
(Image: Faith Durand)
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It's nice to see some actual bigtime planning from someone else, I really learned something here :-).
And isn't it a nice thought that right now somewhere a couple is getting a bit nervous and excited because they're getting married this weekend?
Reading your notes reminds me of when I owned a catering business (18 years). It sounds like you have your all your bases covered. You said your using the church's china. Make sure you have enough dishes to pass all the food and enough help to clean everything up, so you rest with your feet up!
Remember even if something goes wrong, the goal of the day is to get the couple married. Everything else will be unique memories.
Good luck and congratulations to the newlyweds.
I catered my own wedding, but it was only for 50 people. I did all the cooking and prep, but left it to a caterer to do the actual heating and serving on the big day. My biggest help through this process was SPREADSHEETS!!
Make one for each element. I had a seperate spreadsheet for groceries, supplies, and one for scheduling tasks for the 2 weeks leading up to the wedding. If I were in your place I would make a very detailed task spreadsheet for the day of and before the wedding, with 15 minute increments. Spell out every single thing, cover all details, this way you can sort of turn your brain off when everthing is going a mile a minute and you're prone to extreme stress. Instead of thinking, you just look at your nice list. If you have helpers you can count on you can split up your task list for each person so they don't have to think either.
As for keeping things warm, if you were planning on buying all those slow cookers consider some chafing dishes instead, they can hold a lot more and you won't need to worry about plugs and cords (just sternos).
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/8-qt-economy-chafer-stainless-chafing-dish/100ECONCHAFE.html
Good luck.
Also, have you thought about what people are going to do with their dishes when they are finished? Are you going to have some people acting as bussers? Or are people dropping off dirties in a specific spot?
I am getting married this year. Neither my mother nor I live in the city where I'll be married (I actually don't even live in the same state). I'd love to cater my own, but when my mom suggested it to I had to bite the bullet and say no. There's is just no way we'd have the storage/cooking capcity/transport, not to mention I won't get in til the day before. Ugh. No. Leaving it to the experts. Luckily I found a CSA that does weddings AND cakes, YAY!!!!
Good luck this weekend Faith!!
Have you thought of renting a portable oven? When I had my catering business I had two Farberware portable convection ovens that went with me to every event. You never knew what condition an oven might be in the day you plan to use it even if you checked it out of your site visit. Do you know anyone who might have toaster ovens, etc you could borrow? Heating chicken for 120 people is going to take longer than you might think. Also, if you have access to some heating trays to keep the food warm as it comes out of the oven might be of help.
You have done a great job. Enjoy the day and I always told my cooking classes that a cooks best friend was parsley and whipped cream. You can cover a multitude of 'misteps' with parsley or whipped cream.
Good Luck! Looking forward to your report of the wedding.
I agree with @ccp mbd. Heating that quantity of meat may take longer than you have planned for, especially if it is chicken on the bone, and if you are aiming for a degree of caramelisation (I find the addition of honey and citrus helps with this, and the flavours marry well with chicken). How big is the oven? I have a 90cm range oven, and additional steam oven, but for that quantity of meat, I would need to cook in at least 3 batches, using both ovens, with each batch taking at least 1 hour at 180ºC. And remember, even with a fan oven, the meat on the lower levels will cook more slowly.
I'd love to cater my own wedding, but I don't attend church, and venues that have kitchens and let you cook are hard to find. So I'll settle for making the cakes and desserts (Norwegian fruit soup and Swedish rice pudding).
One question: If the beans are already fully cooked, why warm them on the stovetop before crockpotting them? Why not just stick them straight in the crockpots? If you do it before you pop the chicken in, an hour is more than enough time for them to heat through and you'll save yourself time, dishes, and potential spills transferring hot beans from stockpot to crockpot.
Otherwise, it all sounds delicious!
I agree with heating the beans in the crockpot! You can even put them in really early in the day and put it on low and then keep warm if needed. It will be one less thing to worry about as the day goes on.
Likely too late for this, but I'm thinking that coleslaw might be best stored in non-reactive containers.
Will look forward to hearing the follow-up report.
Beg or borrow an electric roaster for those beans; I would not attempt on a stovetop.
And ditto the more crowded the oven, the longer it will take for the chicken. For this size event with only one oven I usually plan for a warm temp/cold meat dish and save the oven for a warm side that can be heated quickly and stored in a hot storage box you can either rent or buy.
Good luck Faith!
You've done great planning; the only concern I have is with the chicken, and the time and oven constraints, so just echoing ccp & pearmelon.
It will all be delicious!!
If you decide you're worried about the chicken, ask if a few congregation members can help you by putting a pan in their own ovens and getting it to the church on time. You really will be spreading the wedding happiness further. Best part of my Christmas was the Saturday afternoon e-mail saying "we need more cookies for the prisoners by 9:30 Sunday morning."
Quick update!
- Chicken: After looking at the oven again we decided to roast it off the night before in my own double ovens (took four batches, keeping all ovens roaring for a couple hours!). We'll reheat it at the church, which should be much less time intensive.
- On beans in the slow cooker, I think the official line is that it isn't safe to reheat food in slow cookers. It takes too long for them to come up to temp. So we'll warm the beans in the oven then transfer to the slow cooker. If it were just me I might risk it, but I am being super, super careful on the safety side.
Thanks so much everyone! Was up all night but other than that everything is going swimmingly.
Good luck! I catered my best friend's wedding this summer on a similar budget and it went really well. It may be too late, but my best advice is to bring someone along on the day of who knows what they are doing. I hired a dear friend and fellow caterer for a couple hours during the wedding and it took the stress down big time. Plus, I got to actually see some friends and family and enjoy a bit of the wedding.
It sounds like you have it under control.
Good idea to cook the chicken ahead, too. I've done food for 100 several times and I've always had one dish that lagged behind and wasn't finished when everything else was ready. In fact, that happens even when you're cooking for ten!