When you see the words “potluck” and “wedding” you don’t tend to think those words could possibly go together well. Let me tell you about Mary and Jim’s Wedding.
Mary and Jim surround themselves with “Foodies and Winos”. No one can really cook better than their own friends and they all love to show off their culinary skills.
So when Mary and Jim decided to say “I do” they asked their friends to leave the gravy boats at Macy’s and instead, “gift” them, with their favorite recipe and a plate of it to share at their wedding reception. On the response card their friends told them what they were bringing and sent a copy of the recipe. Three friends coordinated what they would need to set up a beautiful buffet that would not only show off each dish but would keep all the food at the right temperature (not only for flavor but to avoid food poisoning). They prepared a silver framed label for each dish that featured the name of the recipe and cook.
The Bride and Groom chose amazing wine to share with their guests, added a few of their own favorite recipes to the buffet and hired a “Day-of coordinator” and some party staff so they could truly enjoy their celebration. The reception was a huge success and the food… let’s just say it was one culinary orgasm after another…
For a thank you gift, they sent their guests a “Wedding Cookbook,” a collection of recipes from their potluck reception. The cookbook included wedding pictures and a heart-felt thank you letter to their treasured friends.
This was such a special wedding that perfectly reflected the bride and groom and their guests. What could be better than that?
Please share your ideas on how to create a potluck worthy of a wedding day!
Tags: Budget Weddings, Casual Weddings, Creative Wedding Ideas, DIY Weddings, Family Weddings, potluck weddings, wedding planning, Wedding Stories
We had a “Potluck Dessert Buffet.” We purchased a small wedding cake for the center of the table but our friends filled the rest of the table with their own sweet creations. Our guests had so much fun trying all the different desserts; there were fabulous pies, creme brule, homemade ice cream, a fabulous assortment of cookies, a great fruit and cheese platter and my favorite was the chocolate and butterscotch fondues! It was wild! When our friends talk about our wedding they ALWAYS talk about how great the desserts were, and we absolutely agree!
We had a fifties theme Potluck wedding and asked everyone to bring their favorite Diner food-
Our Potluck was well coordinated by my Aunt. My favorite was the mini grilled cheese sandwiches we had as appetizers. We had mini patty melts with grilled onions as well.
The dinner potluck table included 50’s food like meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, and turkey and mashed potatoes and of course several different jello salads – it definitely was a Mel’s Diner type of experience. We also served rootbeer and cherry cokes and had jars of Ice Tea and lemonade.
For me the 50’s style candy bar was the highlight. People brought necco wafers, rolos, tootsie rolls, and bazooka bubble gum. (again coordinated by my aunt)
We had a small wedding cake but several of my relatives made homemade apple and cherry pies – ala mode of course!
We rented black and white and red and white checkered tablecloths and even rented a juke box which played 50’s music during cocktails and dinner.
We hired service staff and asked them to dress up in 50’s style clothes – we actually rented poodle skirts for the waitresses and they looked so great!
We have friends who have a 50’s theme band so they played after dinner and they surprised us by having two professional dancers dance the jitterbug to start off the party – they stayed and danced with our guests and oh my god we had fun! We left in a vintage 1952 red convertible.
Even though this was a “Potluck Wedding” where all our friends and family made it happen – it took a lot of coordination. If my Aunt wasn’t an event coordinator I am not sure we could have pulled this off. I know I am prejudice but it really was the funnest wedding I have ever been to and having our friends and family participate in the planning really was a great experience. Since our wedding 3 of our friends have had Potluck weddings – they have really spent a lot of time planning them out but they have all turned out really well! Absolutely don’t do this without hiring day- of- service staff though – we would’t have enjoyed our wedding if we had to serve everyone!
We all asked people not to bring any other gifts other than their Potluck contribution so I think that was one reason why people really went out of their way to make sure their potluck dish was just fabulous – and they really were!