My partner and I have been together for something along the lines of 5 years now (he remembers the anniversary, I forget every year). Our budget is pretty small, as we don't see the point in spending loads when that money could go as a deposit on our mortgage! We're looking at spending, tops, £5000. Do-able? Entirely!
Family-wise, mine is quite small (due to a couple of bereavements in the last couple of years, a few of the best characters won't be there), and the FH's is really big in comparison. Allow me to illustrate this - kids, aunts, uncles and cousins included, my side is 12 people. His? 32. I've got some close family friends coming, which evens it up nicely (they're practically family, anyway), plus the best friends we've known for the last 7 years gives our guest count a grand total of 62. We're not having +1's because if we don't know them, we don't really want them there! Food is our way of expressing love - if we love you, we want to feed you! Explains why our waistlines aren't as small as they should be...
Anyways, that just explains a little bit of our family background.
Neither of us are religious, so a civil ceremony was always the way to go. I looked at getting married in a hotel or something, and it was a) money we can't afford and b) the second you mentioned the word "wedding" they were all over us like a rash trying to sell us glitterati seat covers and calla lily bouquets. It's just not our thing, so we looked into the local registry office. It's quite pretty, actually!
Next job - reception venue. We looked into village halls, with criteria being enough space (dancing isn't really a priority for us) for everyone, plus a buffet (I'll explain that in a minute) and a well equipped kitchen, less than 30 minutes drive from the registry office. We found a couple - one was really expensive - kinda felt like Goldilocks at this point -one was really cheap, but a bit on the small side, and one was just about right! It's a gorgeous village hall, wooden paneling, a mezzanine (I love a good mezzanine floor) and a reasonable kitchen! (PS, sorry for the small pictures, they're only from Google. I forgot to take them when we went up to visit!)
Next thing - we'd discussed catering, and come up with three things that we wanted. Simple, tasty and family-friendly. Long story short, on my caterers hunt I found two potentials. I don't know why, but around then I started getting irked - why would we be paying people to do something we could do just as well (if not better) and guarantee everyone would like it?! I worked in mass catering for several years, so I know how hard it is. This, however, would be a labour of love. I researched. I triple checked. I asked The Knot what they thought (I hadn't discovered this site yet) and received some criticism, which allowed us to change and develop what we wanted to serve.
Originally, I was looking at doing a fork buffet style thing - hot chicken, cold salads - but it was pointed out to me by a my best-brides-man that it'll be October, and cold, and therefore salads might be a tad too summery. I asked him what he'd like to eat and he gave be the best answer I've ever had. "Lamb stew. I don't care what it looks like, as long as it tastes good."
So off goes my creativity. I'm discussing this with my partner (also a lover of simple, but delicious, food). To my mind, stew by itself just wouldn't feel special enough, I could make it any day of the week. Then I was thinking about bread to serve with it and I had a Eureka, light bulb moment.
Bread bowls. Bowls made out of bread. It'll be fun (or at least a bit different), it's simple (good food doesn't have to be complicated) and entirely family friendly.
The bowls can be made the day before (they're best if they're a little stale, it soaks up the gravy more). The stews (maybe three different types?) can be made ahead, kept in the freezer, defrosted the day before and re-heated on the stove. It can be served with croutons made from the bread innards, roasted rosemary potatoes (boiled new potatoes, crushed a little bit, oil, garlic and rosemary on top, in oven for half an hour - everything but the final roasting can be done the day before - and roasted vegetables - done the day before, reheated.
WRT helpers, we intend to hire a couple of up-and-coming teenagers from the local catering college to help with keeping the buffet full, serving arrival drinks, keeping glasses full during dinner, clearing away, etc. It'll look goof on their CV and they can earn pocket money. Win-win! Our wedding is intended to be dry; neither myself or my partner drink much, so we've found a couple of fun mocktails, plus the usual tea/coffee/soft drinks, AND there's the potential for a hot chocolate bar. Gooey marshmallows and squirty cream, FTW! There will be a cash bar if anyone is desperate for a drink, but hopefully not. I know it's against etiquette, but as a guest I'd prefer to be given the option of the provided refreshment, or buying something from the bar if I so desired.
My point is, we're all a bunch of foodies, and this is our ultimate way of saying thank-you for coming to celebrate with us. The effort, I think, will be entirely worth it. Logistically, we're hiring the hall for the evening before (setup and get 90% of the food in the fridges) and the morning after (clear down time!). We might be hiring a day-of coordinator just to keep an eye on things while we're not there on the wedding morning/afternoon. We want the whole thing to be relaxed and family-orientated.
What do you think?
