Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Step1
HORS D'VOEUVRES
Make sure that you have plenty of these!
steamed shrimp with cocktail sauce
steamed shrimp wrapped in bacon
cheese squares and crackers
mini-quiches
teriyaki beef
mini-egg rolls
chicken poppers
stuffed mushrooms
check out appetizerstogo.com for ideas and ordering
Step2
THE MAIN COURSE:
Start by thinking about the meat: for a larger wedding or for more variety you can have three (and a vegetarian dish)- fish, chicken and beef. A low cost fish could be tilapia or salmon. These are easy to make and for a spin or elegant feel add a mango sauce or salsa or a citrus fruit sauce. Chicken dishes are easy - you could use an italian restaurant menu to choose from an array of dishes. The most popular chicken dishes are Chicken Marsala (wine sauce)and Chicken Murphy (with potatoes). A different chicken dish is Chicken Oscar (crabmeat stuffing and white cheese sauce). Beef should consist of a Wellington or Filet Mignon style with potatoes (mashed, baked, or any style) with a medley of vegetables.
Step3
Desserts (Other than Wedding Cake)
Cookies: cookies can be baked at home and stored nicely for a week. To make the cookies more classy, they should be shaped with cookie cutters and iced (you could also add the couples initials or a small tasteful decoration). Tortes: tortes can be made with layers of cake, fresh fruit and either butter cream or whipped cream icing.Fresh fruit that is more classy include ( mango, passion fruit, kiwi) or you could also use bananas, strawberries, peaches; or a combination of some or all of them.
Cupcakes: you can make cupcakes in the couple's theme colors, or white for an elegant look.
Candies: Chocolates are a great choice and can be done in a variety of creative ways. e chocolate and the molds can be purchased at a craft store such as Michael's or AC Moore. If you are running low on time, you could also order the choocolates on-line or from a nearby chocolatier.
Enthusiast 
Comments
Nyko said
on 2/27/2008 Childofhistory, what if the reception size was about 20 people or less? I'm having a very small wedding.
childofhistory said
on 2/21/2008 This is a good article but it makes no mention of who will be refilling the food or who will be heating it. If you are doing it yourself these are things to consider as you don't want to be doing this if you are the bride.
H2onsandchick said
on 2/19/2008 AWESOME! I LOVE the Cookie cutter/Initials idea! That idea would even work for valentines or an anniversary! love love love it!
Katie
www.BrokeWAHM.com
AllanaBaroni said
on 2/11/2008 Nice article idea! Another great tip is to set up "do it yourself" stations around the venue. Have a make your own panini station with different breads, meats, cheeses, spreads, veggies and grills. Then compliment that with a do it yourself cocktail bar or hot chocolate bar for the kids. Just place framed menus on the tables, along with all the neccesities and leave the work to the party-goers.
revisitingnixon said
on 7/23/2007 Congrats on having this article be picked as the winner for the "Top Written Requested How to Article!" Check out the forums and see which other winners we have this week. Check it out at:
http://www.ehow.com/community/forums/forum_1728_ehow-winners:-article-requests.aspx
-Rich