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Hello Kraft Community, we are very excited to share some great news with you. As loyal Kraft Community members we have heard your desire to do more fun things in the community and we are happy to announce in January 2010 we will be making some changes so you can connect and share food ideas in more ways than ever!
We want to let you know we will not be transferring the existing discussions to the new enhanced message boards so if there are discussions that you would like to save please make sure to either print them or copy and paste into a document that you can save to your personal files.
We will remind you again before the transition occurs but wanted to let you in on the exciting news!!
If you have any questions on how to do this please contact Customer Care at Contact Us
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Posts:
5
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Aug 8, 2008 6:14 PM
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Do NOT make crab dip ahead of time and freeze it (haha...my cousin did that and it tasted rotten)
On a serious note, there are alot of simple recipes that can be made in bulk and heated up to taste good...think pasta...baked ziti or lasagna, and a chicken dish with alfredo or cheese sauce. Different types of squash are inexpensive and can be placed in a marinade and heated right in a heating tray when ready to serve.
For appetizers, you can get frozen wings in a Warehouse store like BJs or Sams...Cheese, olive and cracker trays can be done yourself...you can wrap practically ANYTHING in burrito shells and roll them up and slice for cute finger foods...
I have a million other ideas if you are still looking...
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Posts:
6
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 6, 2008 4:17 PM
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Congrats!
I got married in Feb and only had 6 weeks to plan - talk about stress and a small budget! I feel your pain!
Catering is usually expensive! We went cheap and had The Chicken Shack do ours! Haha - everyone likes chicken! It was inexpensive and besides that, ppl are not focusing on what you serve as much as they are on the happy couple! If you can't get cheap catering, maybe try cold cut platters, crackers and cheese, veggies and dip, and fruits... Since you are getting married in the summer, a lighter, cold menu can not be frowned upon. Decorate your food tables well, and your presentation will take their breath away!
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Posts:
493
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 6, 2008 9:49 AM
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Congratulations!
As fun as it is to start doing a little planning, slow down. Before you even THINK of food, you need to settle on a budget and a guest list. Feeding 150 people is a very different thing than feeding 300 people!
Also keep in mind that what you would like to do may not fit in with what you can afford to do. No one will criticize you for staying within a budget. Of all the weddings I have attended, the best were all about the people, not the food.
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Posts:
1,787
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 3, 2008 10:20 AM
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Unless you have a ton of friends and family helping you I would strongly encourage you to hire a caterer. If you want to save money you could have them deliver the food and have your own servers or serve buffet style to save the $3/plate serving fee.
I have helped several friends plan their weddings and a couple have wanted to do their own food. In my experience by the time you buy everything, spend the time to prepare the food, transport it to the facility, set up, serve, clean-up, and cart the leftovers home it is almost the same price as having a caterer come in and do it. Especially since you said "I would like to have a somewhat formal wedding..."
To ease costs for catering you can opt for a lettuce salad vs fruit salad, 1 entree vs having 2 or 3 choices (keeping in mind there may be a vegetarian). Buffets are cheaper than plating/serving the food. Offer punch, coffee and water for beverages vs having open bar. Cupcakes are not always cheaper than having a cake but what IS cheaper is to have a "fake" decorated cake w/your topper and having sheet cakes for the guests.
Make up a menu and go the the store for a trial run and add everything up. Then go through what the week before your wedding is going to be like. Final fittings, tux pick-up, decorating, flowers, making favors... See what kind of time frame you would have to make the food. Do you have the kitchen space and storage space for all the food? I don't want to totally discourage you b/c I think that homemade food is better than catered food but it is a huge undertaking that you need to really think about. Good luck and congrats on your engagement!
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2
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 1, 2008 9:02 PM
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Congratulations!
My husband and I got married last July, and you're right, the catering is super expensive. We planned our wedding in the middle of the day, between meals so we could just serve light stuff. We didn't have to pay for waitstaff, there was a little bit of everything to make everybody happy, and everything was great!
But if you do decide to go with a meal, I really recommend Mexican food. You can make pans of enchiladas, beans and rice for really cheap, freeze and reheat. And it's pretty easy to tweak them for special diets (my mother-in-law is a strict vegetarian). And if you have a friend that's a little strapped for cash and can't afford to get you a present, you could have them make them for you.
Also, instead of a big cake, we ordered lemon flavored cupcakes for a tower. It was really beautiful and everybody loved it! If you need any more help, let me know! I miss planning my wedding, it was so much fun!
amy
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Posts:
16
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 1, 2008 2:25 PM
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My husband and I were married in April on a very tight budget (we're both in our early thirties and already have kids) and so I couldn't afford to do anything fancy, but the important part was that WE were happy (and by the way, nobody complained!!)
We had a CLOSE family and friend taco dinner (EASY!) the night before (which was followed by decorating) and completely skipped having a "wedding dinner." We chose a middle of the afternoon time for our wedding (so we weren't really expected to feed everyone something substantial). A cake and a couple of dips (one cheeseball and one more of a dip) were the only things I had brought in by a local store. My family and friends helped with the rest (mints, nuts, variety of crackers and cut up veggies, etc) and it was SOOOO easy! I made a vow not to stress out about anything and by golly, I didn't!
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Moderator_Deanne
Posts:
1,706
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Re: Wedding Help. Please!!!
Posted:
Jun 1, 2008 10:13 AM
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> I'm starting my planning a little early since I'm not
> getting married until next July. We're going to have
> an afternoon wedding with an evening reception. I'm
> expecting anywhere around 150 to 300 guests. We
> havn't made a formal guest list yet since we're not
> sure how many from his side we want to invite (HUGE
> family). I'm thinking about making all, or at least
> part of the food myself since catering is SO
> expensive (especially with that many people). I
> would like to have a somewhat formal wedding since I
> am the first grandchild getting married.
>
> Any food ideas would be an excellent help!
Congratulations!
You are very brave to want to make the food yourself. I got so stressed out with planning a wedding that we eloped. (Maybe I'm not the one to ask, huh? Heh)
Do you have friends that are good cooks? Maybe you can help divide it up? Often times renting a hall will come with catering, at least up here in the north they do. My niece is getting married this fall and rented on at one of the bigger colleges in the area; they use the students to do the cooking and catering to get credits.
What sort of things are you thinking about having on the menu? Do you want to handle the desserts or main entrees?
I'm full of questions. Did I scare you yet? =)
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Posts:
2
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Posted:
May 31, 2008 4:49 PM
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I'm starting my planning a little early since I'm not getting married until next July. We're going to have an afternoon wedding with an evening reception. I'm expecting anywhere around 150 to 300 guests. We havn't made a formal guest list yet since we're not sure how many from his side we want to invite (HUGE family). I'm thinking about making all, or at least part of the food myself since catering is SO expensive (especially with that many people). I would like to have a somewhat formal wedding since I am the first grandchild getting married.
Any food ideas would be an excellent help!
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