Rhiannon’s “Talking About Weddings”

While talking to a couple, Lori & Nathan, last weekend about their wedding I instantly thought, I have to write an entry on this! Their reception idea was a major hit with their guests and their pocketbook! Keep reading to learn what they did and why their guests loved it!

We covered a really great wedding last weekend. The couple, Sarah & Jason, really went “all-out” with details and personal touches. I will be writing an entry on some of the things they did (including pictures) by next week (between writing blogs and working on 700+ images we shot this past Saturday alone—I’m a busy gal!).

Okay, back to today’s topic! I ended up knowing a few people at the wedding and while Alex was covering the reception I sat with some of the people I knew. We talked about babies (as two of us are pregnant!) and weddings. (Two of my favorite topics!)

We started talking about Lori & Nathan’s 2004 wedding. Lori said that they were paying for the whole thing themselves and had a 300 person guest list so they had to get creative on how to afford food for so many.

They had In-N-Out come and cater the reception with with their catering truck, guests got to order what ever they wanted from the menu. You haven’t spent much time in California if you don’t know who “In-N-Out” is! I personally do not eat red meat, but I’ve only heard Five Star reviews about how great their hamburgers are. Men especially love them. I love their milkshakes, fries and grilled cheese sandwiches. (Now I’m hungry!)

Those who were at Nathan & Lori’s wedding went on and on about how cool it was. And the rest of us agreed that it was a great idea, especially the men! A friend of the groom’s who was sitting at our table later brought back a guy to have him meet the “awesome couple who had In-N-Out cater their wedding!” He said he was telling everyone about it and everybody thought it was the greatest idea. He brought this guy to talk to them about cost because he was interested in doing it too (I don’t think he was even engaged, but he decided it was what he wanted for his future wedding!).

It was very affordable! They said that they had to pay a minimum of $1,200 for In-N-Out to come out to their reception, and only had to pay more if food orders exceeded that amount. Lori said the food total for their 300 guests came to $1,400, so they had to pay an additional $200. That’s just over $4.50 per person! And, unlike most food services they didn’t have to pay an 18% gratuity fee! Those can really get you, as you may already know.

The thing that impressed me the most about their idea wasn’t that they saved so much money (they could have just served cake and punch) but they surprised their guests with great food and people are still talking about how fun it was two years later! I envisioned everyone mingling with burgers and drinkss in hand. What fun! Not every couple looks at weddings and receptions in the same way, but I think it’s important to ensure your guests have a good time.

If you are on a tight budget and have a lot of guests, or are just looking to treat your guests to something so casual and unexpectedly fun this would be a great idea! If you don’t live in California, I’m sure there are similar restaurants in your area that you could get a similar deal with.

What do you think about this idea? What creative ideas have you seen at weddings? (Were they a success?) Leave a comment with your thoughts on creative reception ideas. And keep your questions coming!

Technorati Categories: weddings, wedding planning.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at 6:18 pm and is filed under General Information, Wedding Planning, Money, Saving Money, Receptions, Creative Ideas, Real Weddings, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.