There are a few areas in wedding planning, as in life, that if done right can save you a lot of money. There is a lot of room in a wedding food budget for saving money. Here are a few tips on how to save money on food at your wedding reception.

1. Do it yourself
Depending on the type and size of wedding you have, DIY catering could save you a lot of money. If your wedding is very formal or large, you may have a harder time pulling this off, and if DIY really means you, the bride or groom, preparing all the food, it may be a gigantic disaster. But if you can get a little help from your friends and family and they are people that like to cook anyway, you can get a lot of mileage from preparing your own food for the wedding reception. Believe it or not, this doesn\’t have to look tacky or homemade. Concentrate on preparing a few really good finger foods and maybe one or two heavier main-course type foods. Using a buffet station format for food delivery is very helpful when making your own wedding food. Without a catering staff, it is just easier than doing a sit-down dinner, and affords the guests many more choices in what to eat.

Try thai chicken kebabs with peanut and sweet chili dipping sauces and spring rolls (you can find wrappers for these at a well-stocked grocery store) at one station; pulled pork and sweet onions in barbecue sauce over toast points with pineapple and papaya on skewers at another; and another with tiny meatballs on toothpicks in three flavors: Swedish, barbecue, and Italian.

2. Serve Ethnic foods
Ethnic foods are often based on rice, beans, pasta, and inexpensive cuts of meat. This type of food lends itself well to a theme wedding, but you could work ethnic foods into any type of wedding. You could serve pasta dishes with stuffed shells, fettuccini Alfredo, and spaghetti with meatballs. You could serve Indian food with spiced chickpeas, lentils, and chicken dishes over basmati rice and served with Naan. You could have a taco bar with stewed and spiced meats, beans, cheese, and tortillas for wrapping. If these foods don’t seem formal enough, try making them smaller. Putting them on a fancy cracker or toast point or serving them with a toothpick or skewer can make anything into a fancy hors d’ouvre.

3. Bring the food to you
For an informal wedding in a close-knit family or community, you could ask your family and friends to bring covered dishes to share in lieu of gifts. This creates an intimate, family feeling and is a staple of parties everywhere for good reason. This may be a good option for you if this is the norm for your family gatherings and you want to create a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere. If you are interested in a formal atmosphere, this will probably not be for you.

4. Cut corners, in style
It is not necessary to have cheap foods at your wedding for the total catering budget to be small. Instead of spreading your food money out over several cheaper foods, it is just as good to focus on creating one or two really spectacular dishes. Serve that shrimp dish you’ve really been craving. Make steak an option. But do it well and let the rest be crudites and pate.

You can save money on your wedding cake when ordering from a bakery if you don’t tell them it is for a wedding. Bakeries can often charge much more for a wedding cake than a regular one. You could also bake the cake yourself or choose non-traditional wedding desserts like cupcakes (arranged artfully on a tiered cupcake server), crepes, or even an ice cream sundae bar.

Save money on alcohol by showcasing wine from a local winery or beer from a local microbrewery to the exclusion of all other alcohol. You can usually get a discount on cases of alcohol, and wine or beer from a local establishment may be substantially cheaper than providing several kinds of hard alcohol and ever-flowing wines.

Remember that this is your wedding and you get to make the final choices about what to serve your guests. Your guests may have several other weddings to attend this season, and they’ll all blend together in their memories. But you only get one wedding of your own. Serve something that pleases you, make the ceremony and reception intimate and personal, and your guests will remember that you enjoyed yourselves. That’s more important than impressing them with your culinary skills any day.

Author Bio: Alex Lemone writes about family and wedding topics. For more interesting reception ideas and to see more wedding ideas, go visit Wedding Ideas Etc. Note: You may reprint this article on your website, newsletter, or blog as long as the resource box remains in tact and hyperlinks stay active and dofollow.

Category: Marriage
Keywords: cheap wedding reception, cheap wedding catering, saving money on catering, wedding, catering