Chinese food isn’t exactly what comes to mind when organizing a wedding, but if you’re on a tiny budget, this is definitely an economical option you should take into consideration, especially as Chinese food is pretty widespread – there’s a reason Chinese restaurants and fast-food joints are popping up everywhere. SERVICE While you could certainly waste money and hire waiters to serve Chinese food to seated guests, the good thing about this kind of food is that you can present it banquet-style so that your guests can serve themselves. MENU IDEAS For appetizers, egg rolls, spring rolls and dumplings (balls of dough) are a no brainer. When it comes to entrees, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chow Mein, beef and broccoli, ribs, stir fried vegetables, rice (steamed or fried) and noodles are popular dishes that should satisfy most of your guests plus there are enough veggies to make your vegetarian guests happy. The good thing about Chinese food is also that there are also plenty of soups to choose from including Hour & Sour soup, Egg Drop soup, Manchow soup and Corn soup, which can be served as entrees, sides or even appetizers. Regarding desserts, I’m assuming you will get a wedding cake from a bakery, though you could serve some Chinese sorbet or mocha ice cream (small balls of ice cream wrapped in sticky rice cake) right before the wedding piece. Other than that, candies and jellies might not be of everyone’s taste and I can’t imagine using fortune cookies as desserts! If you think about serving drinks, I don’t think sake might be the right choice or you might take the risk to get your guests drunk. That said, you could go for some Chinese beers such as Tsingtao (the easiest to find here), Yanjing, Harbin and Snow Beer or you can cheat and serve Sapporo, which is Japanese. PRICES Here’s the best part about picking Chinese food for your wedding – it’s dirt-cheap should cost you less than $10 per person and, in some cases, even less than $5 a pop, depending on the caterer you select (not including service, alcohol and...
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Italian food is one of the most popular choices when it comes to wedding catering? Why simply because everybody likes pasta and chicken plus it’s quite affordable. SERVICE You have 2 options when it comes to serving Italian food at your wedding: You can go formal with waiters serving guests at their table or you can go the buffet route where people can serve themselves, which allows you to cut costs on waiters. MENU IDEAS What’s great with Italian food is that there are a few popular and easy dishes you can’t go wrong with. When it comes to appetizers, Antipasto is your go-to choice, featuring salami, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. Of course cold pasta salads are another easy option – for example you can toss penne with basil, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and olive oil. You can also offer calamari but be aware it’s not for everybody. Even cheaper, you could start with garlic bread with oil and vinegar if you don’t have enough budget for appetizers. For entrees, typical dishes include Chicken Marsala with mushrooms, lasagnas, grilled zucchini, penne pasta with tomato sauce, ravioli, risotto, gnocchi and the good thing is that they’re all easy to make and cost-effective. Finally, regarding drinks, you should pick some Italian wine, Chianti being the most obvious choice and it’s not that expensive. You could even push it further by offering Italian beers such as Peroni and Birra Moretti. As you will notice, we didn’t include desserts as we recommend getting a wedding cake at a specialized bakery. However, if you still want to offer Italian desserts before the cake, tiramisu, gelato, cannoli and biscotti should do the trick. PRICES The cost for Italian wedding catering (lunch or dinner) starts usually around $20 per person (and can go up to $50 a pop), not including tax, service and desserts and wedding...
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Mexican food, whether it’s authentic or Americanized is pretty popular – all over California and most particularly here in LA – and this is a great choice if you’re working on a budget; that said, because it’s so varied and rich in flavors it can also be used for more sophisticated menus. 3 options are available if you wish to serve Mexican food at your wedding: The first one is going the Gringo way, which is serving the kind of Tex-Mex food that you can find at chains like Taco Bell and Del Taco. While this is the cheapest option, I would stay away from imposing this on your guests … unless you really don’t like them. The second choice is almost as cheap and simple but the main difference is that it’s good: Hiring a taco man who will grill meat and make tacos right in front of your guests will have several benefits: it is not only appetizing but it will bring extra entertainment to your wedding party while allowing guests to socialize while waiting in line. Finally, you can go for authentic Mexican food and in that case, you have the choice between family-style cooking, which will work for average budgets and sophisticated dishes for those can afford it. SERVICE For the first two options (see above), a self-service buffet will work while for the third one, you can either take the buffet route or have servers bringing food to the tables (best for sophisticated dishes). MENU IDEAS If you go Gringo-Mex style, hard tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas and chicken bowls are the most common choices. They will certainly do the job when it comes to get your guests full but you probably won’t create a memorable experience – at least not the way you wanted it! If you hire a taco man, you can actually offer your guest some very tasty tacos – and trust me they will be back for more – and even make them discover some flavors they didn’t know: Of course, you have classic choices like pork, beef and chicken but you can also make them with shrimps, fish, lobster and even dare to serve tongue and brain. Keep in mind that tacos made with fresh ingredients taste great and that your taco chef can come up with some fancy sauces to make them stand out even more. Finally, there are authentic dishes. You can go the easy way with carne asada (marinated beef steak with tortillas), carnitas (slow-roasted pork simmered in broth and spices and served with tortillas), enchiladas, ceviche (sea food or shrimp cocktails), chile relleno (peper stuffed with beef and cheese) but I would suggest selecting more sophisticated dishes from Oaxaca, which are mole-based (a sauce made of peppers, chipotle and chocolate) or entrees featuring chipotle sauce (a sauce made with chilis). Mole (red or green) works best with white meat such as chicken, duck and turkey while Chipotle is most commonly served with chicken, pork tenderloin and...
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