Expert: Teri Davis Newman - 4/14/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi! My name is Devita, and I am planning a spring wedding for a total of 75-80 guests. I wanted to know how you feel about this menu for the wedding.  My fiance is Jamaican, and his family will be providing their traditional food.  My mom is going to be cooking our traditional food as well.

The menu for us is:
Chicken
Ham
Mac and cheese
meatballs(?)
pasta salad-Would it be tacky if I used spaghetti noodles for this?
Potato salad
String beans
rolls

His mom will be making:
Curry Chicken
Curry coat
rice and peas
cabbage
jerk pork


We are doing Wedding cupcakes, which are so pretty.  How much liquor would we need?  I was going to purchase 2 kegs of beer, which will serve 200 people.  They each serve 100 people.  I wanted to get maybe 10 bottles of wine.  

How much would I need to budget for flowers?  My favorite flower is the carnation.

Any suggestions that you will have, would be greatly appreciated.

Also, the hall is $950 for 6 hours.

ANSWER: Devita,
I would look into a different hall because $950 for 6 hours is insane. Where are you having this wedding? Most venues WILL NOT let you bring in your own liquor/beer as you have to buy it from them.
You are going to have way too much food if both you and MIL are cooking, I'd go with all Jamaican food and make it a theme island wedding and have it at a beach or a park which will save you a ton of money.  I'm assuming that "curry coat" is actually curry goat which I'd love to have the recipe for if you could talk your future MIL into giving it to me! You could use macaroni for the pasta salad but rotini (the spirals) is a better choice because the dressing will cling to the pasta better.  You can't use spaghetti because it won't come out right--but macaroni is fine to use.  I can't really tell you what your flowers will run since I don't know what time of year you are doing the wedding and seasonal flowers like seasonal fruits vary depending on the time of year. I would strongly suggest that you use silk flowers because they cost about the same and you will have the arrangements forever that way.  I tell my brides that flowers are such a waste of money--balloons and confetti are so much cheaper and much more festive--it looks like a great party going on!
I wouldn't serve pasta salad with mac and cheese in the same meal. I'd lose the chicken since MIL is making a chicken dish. I'd also skip the potato salad--you are way starch heavy on this menu! A beautiful seasonal fruit tray or salad would be more in keeping with the island theme.  Calculate 4-5 drinks per person for liquor and if you make a spiked punch it will really stretch your liquor budget and again is more in keeping with the island type food.  A good punch at a wedding is the best thing--you can use inexpensive liquor in it and don't have any waste and a frozen rum punch would really carry the theme. Let me know if you need more help--and I need to know where/when you are doing this to answer the flower question.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for responding and for the wonderful ideas.

Yes.lol I do mean Curry Goat.  I will be sure to ask her for her recipe.  We are getting married in April of next year.  I really love the idea of a beach or at a park.  We live in Maryland.    I wanted to split the cooking up, which I said my mom and his mom would do the cooking.  If my mom cooks the Jamaican food it will not come out right.

The idea of silk flowers is a great suggestion..Thank you so much.

Wow I never thought of any of this.. All of your ideas will save a ton of money.

HOw do you feel about the wire trays for serving the food?

Thanks!

Answer
I'm a wedding planner dear--it's what I do.  As for the wedding: Do it in late April or early May and the weather will be perfect for a Jamaican-themed island wedding--not too cold and not roasting hot either.  Most parks have pavilions that you can rent for about $100 or less and they will allow you to bring in beer kegs for your guests and they will have plenty of parking and probably grills so you can heat your food. I would do silk wrist corsages and silk flower hair combs--easy to make with hot glue guns and plastic combs. Get a good rum punch recipe and make it up a day or two ahead and you can put it in washed plastic milk jugs you can throw away--just dump them in the punch bowl and toss them.  You could also get married right there too and save the cost of the church and church decorations.  I'd spend money and get a good DJ with a good sound system so you can set up for music and dancing--that's what really makes a great wedding is the dancing and music. If the park has grills, you can put the food in big foil pans from Sam's/Costco (think big--like the Thanksgiving turkey roasting pans) and the one thing you need a lot of will be ICE.  You can keep the punch cold by freezing some punch in ziploc bags and using them for ice instead of ice in the bowl so it won't get diluted.  A party like this is much cheaper than a dinner in a venue and a LOT MORE FUN!  One thing to keep in mind--you will need a place (like a minivan parked where you can see it) to secure the wedding gifts so that strangers can't just pick them up! Feel free to email me if you need more help.