Want to serve fresh, hot, delicious pizza at wedding reception!
I’m getting married (on a budget), and want to serve Caesar Salad and pizza. A menu that is inexpensive, delicious (who doesn’t love pizza?), easy to serve and creative.
The venue has a large convection oven (which I don’t know how to use), as well as a regular commercial oven. I expect 90 guests. I will be using mostly volunteer labor and friends (wedding guests) who will help serve (though I am hiring a woman to supervise the kitchen).
My fiancé nixed frozen pizza (though I think they’re pretty good).
We could do pizza crust in advance so that they’re partially baked? – or order same from a local pizza place. Any sources to secure a large quantity of pizza dough? (I live in northern part of LA.)
Or we could simply order a quantity of pizzas from a local place – though they are typically sloppy with their toppings (I want them pretty!), and I am concerned about getting them delivered hot and fresh and perfectly timed so they don’t have to sit. (The reception is on a Saturday evening, so we’re competing with peak time for pizza deliveries).
We’re thinking to serve each table three different flavors – traditional (pepperoni and sausage), vegetarian and “gourmet” (i.e., some creative combination).
Need advice, suggestions, recipes, etc. Also – advice on convection cooking is welcome. A good Caesar dressing recipe is also needed.
I don’t want to be stressed out on my wedding day (or my fiancé will divorce me!) – and hope that this menu will come off as I’ve envisioned (easy, delicious and memorable!).
Thanks in advance for your help!
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16 Comments:
I like the options of giving a choice of three types of pizza. The first type of "gourmet" combo that came to mind was BBQ chicken with maybe like red onions or whatever else. I came across California Pizza kitchen's menu online and here's the link.
http://www.cpk.com/menu/pizzas.aspx
Not that I would necessarily make any of these but I think the variety of choices like the mango tandori chicken or thai chicken would be really interesting.
Here's a list of recipes for ideas from another site that I found
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/16/
Not sure if you'd be interested but in case you wanted to carry the theme on with dessert here's something you could consider as well.
http://kitchenklique.blogspot.com/2008/08/chocolate-macaroon-pizza.html
zekks at 3:27PM on 08/26/08
You could prearrange with a pizza place tell the manager it is for your wedding reception and you want them lovely. You can also then discuss the exact time to deliver. It might be less stressful then making your own. I hope your day is all you envision.
organic mom
love2cook at 4:40PM on 08/26/08
In my experience, if you call ahead of time and tell them you'll need 25-30 pizzas (or whatever), you don't have to compete with anybody - they're happy to have the business and will usually accommodate what you'd like.
That said, if you want to make your own, a lot of pizza places are happy to sell you dough. You could also buy really beautiful artisinal flatbread and make the pizzas on those (though that might get spendy).
BangieB at 5:18PM on 08/26/08
LOVE this idea - how fun for a wedding!
I agree with organic mom and BangieB about prearranging with a pizza place - I'm sure with a large order they'll make whatever you want, however you want it (if you name the city I bet people here would recommend great pizza places to do it), and deliver it at a certain time. Also, you should be able to relax and enjoy your wedding, not running around making pizzas.
What's for dessert?
Best wishes, mmurphy!!
CookiePie at 5:42PM on 08/26/08
I'd look for an outfit like this one in your neighborhood.
Try googling PIZZA TRAVELING OVENS and see what comes up.
kjgibson at 6:01PM on 08/26/08
My advice is don't try to do too much yourself, or using immediate family members. When my sister had the first wedding in the family, my mother and another sister and I basically catered it. The guests hardly saw us and we were tense when we did appear. Not fun for us -- and the guests who realized what was going on were uncomfortable about it too.
Enjoy your day!
Blue Iris at 6:14PM on 08/26/08
Yeah, you won't want to be making these yourself. You won't have time, you'll be hot, running around, etc. Definitely order out, but start calling around at least a month ahead so you aren't panicked the week before when no one in your area can fill this order.
Then again, if you have 5 pizza joints in your area and no one can fill such a big order, you could order pizzas from different joints. :) Most pizza places won't have the facilities to make 30 pizzas at the same time, so the pizzas will be sitting around at the restaurant anyway.
If one place can do the job, hopefully you can get a quantity discount. The downside of ordering it from one place is if they fail to follow through and you have no food. I think it was a SE'er that said they had their wedding reception and the caterer got into an accident so the food didn't show up - they ordered pizza in the end. :)
I don't care for pizza. I doubt you'll have many guests like me who are picky and lactose intolerant. :D I'm glad you'll have salad for those who don't eat pizza, are on a low carb diet, etc.
Before you make a big order of pizza though, try their pizza out first to determine you want that stuff going to your guests too. ;)
Cassaendra at 7:15PM on 08/26/08
I know you're on a budget... but why not hire a culinary student or one of the guys at the pizza place to make these wonderfully pretty pizzas at your reception... that way, you have the best of both worlds - the professional making and the cooking on-site so they're crispy and hot and delicious and pretty for your guests. They would bring teh doughs already make, they just need to shape them and layer the toppings.
They can also make the ceasar salads for you and give them a wedding flair, with maybe some parmesan crisps or a twist to the traditional ceasar dressing, making it nicer for a wedding.
I thought that the vegetarian one could have a whole wheat crust... for those who prefer it that way... my intention is to give you ideas, not complicate things.
Have fun and best of luck...
MadelynRodriguez at 8:19PM on 08/26/08
Depending on how many pizzas you can cook at once, and how many total you plan on producing, it could be a bit of a nightmare to have someone in the kitchen doing the cooking and cutting. If you could do three pizzas at once, that's one table. Figure 10 minutes in the oven if you can crank it up hot enough, but it might be 15. Let's say it's 10, just for ease of math. If you serve one table at at time, and there are 10 guests at a table, that's 10 tables (9 plus the head table.) Your last table will get served at least 90 minutes after the first one (you'll aways have some time in between batches when you're removing one batch and putting in the next. If you can cook 6 pizzas at once, it's still 45 minutes from the first table to the last. If the pizzas take longer than 10 minutes, if some get burnt, or if the people topping the pizzas can't keep up with the ovens, that's yet another problem. Also, you might need to be swapping positions in the oven if you're doing 3 at once on three different racks, in order for them to cook evenly. So the person manning the ovens isn't going to have much time to be dealing with topping the pizzas in a pretty way.
I'd suggest ordering from 3 different places, have it timed so they all arrive at the same time, more or less, and if something happens to one delivery guy, the others will probably make it. A lot of folks are going to take a piece of each pizza, so not having them all at the tables at the same time isn't such a huge deal. Having them arrive within 15 minutes of each other would be better than having the last table served an hour after the first, which is very likely if your crew is doing the cooking.
What you might do is have your friends and family make appetizers that could be served at room temp, and have them on the tables for the guests. That way, the people are seated and they have something to munch on, and if the first pizza guy is 10 minutes late, it's fine because the appetizers are there.
dbcurrie at 9:35PM on 08/26/08
you can always ask the pizzeria's to make up the pizza on a large sheet pan (sicilian style) which you could easily get 24 pieces out of .... and you can keep them warm in the convection oven.... if it's a large convection oven you should have at least 4 shelves.... (you can get the pizzeria to pre cut them for you, as well)
assuming you will have 2 pieces per person that will be 8 sheet pans....the convection heats things up very quickly and it isn't hard to use..... ask
the people at the place to show you how to use it....
but then you've got to have a few helpers to get them out of the ovens and
served .... and that's the problem with volunteers .... usually they
have attention deficit.
pooch at 9:51PM on 08/26/08
I do love this idea! I really love the BBQ chicken and Thai chicken pizzas at California Pizza Kitchen. You can find these frozen in a lot of grocery stores, and they are pretty good. They are a bit smaller than regular pizzas & a bit more expensive, so that might not be the best idea.
I like Madelyn's idea of hiring a culinary student or someone to help with the cooking. I got married this past December, and it get very stressful (and expensive). Hang in there and have a great time!
barbara_flay at 11:18PM on 08/26/08
I don't know if there is a Papa Johns pizza place in Cali, but there you can have the pizza's made to order (not cooked) all ready to go, you pick up and they give instructuins on how to cook them. So when time is right you just throw them in the oven. I love that idea having pizza for a wedding come on who doesn't like pizza one way or the other? There are so many styles out to accomodate anyones dietary needs. The basic red sauce, white sauce, peanut sauce, olive oil base, Bbq sauce is all good, but I also like pesto sauce with chicken, red onions parm cheese, mozzarella and spinach. Or shop around to see if ordering a certain amount in bulk you would get a discount. Belive me that is the last thing that you want to do is slave in the kitchen (your makeup might melt) its hot and you will already be stressed out. Make it as easy as possible for you and the helpers. As far as caesar salad how are you going to serve that, are you going to have a big bowl per table. or buffet style?
pjracz10 at 12:42AM on 08/27/08
In theory, it's great if the delay between the first people to eat and the last people to be served is within 30 minutes.
This would also mean that you have at least 10-15 members of your family who will be running around for however long it takes until everyone is served instead of enjoying the evening. They are there to help, but it would be nice for as many people to enjoy the evening with a minimum number of casualties.
The more things are left to the last minute, the higher the probability things that can go wrong will go wrong and become more difficult to fix. At least that's the way it goes in my experience. I'm also a pessimist. :)
I've been to parties (my section will occasionally rent out Cleveland city hall for the evening -- excellent acoustics and old architecture makes for a great party) where it was a buffet line and tables went up in sections. It took over 2 hours to get to my table, so we ended up having to eat (at ~9:30 pm -- dinner service started at 7 pm) and run (at 10:30 pm) because it took so long. People took a lot longer and then we had to stand with the people in the first several tables for food since they were lining up for seconds. After that party, they stopped buffet service and went to table service.
I was going to suggest some kind of low cost appetizer in my post above, but unsure where you would put the stuff. I suppose mixed nuts (if no one is allergic) should be okay at the tables. Only problem with that is that you'd have to have drinks around all the time, since people will get a lot thirstier faster. That could cut into the budget.
What kind of thirst quenchers are you serving? Soda? Juice? If it's something that is outdoors and in the warm months, a punch bowl is pretty fun (read: retro and cost effective)...except if it goes on people's clothes, then it'll stain. The drink I'm thinking of is that carbonated red fruit punch type drink made with ?oranges. I haven't seen this since the 1980s, so I dearly miss whatever it is called.
Cassaendra at 7:58AM on 08/27/08
how about 6 foot hero's.... get different choices..... a lot of pizza places make them.
pooch at 8:41AM on 08/27/08
What a great idea! Pizza! I wholeheartedly second the notion of delivery. Let your guests be guests and not employees. Have the pizza delivered and just keep it warm in the oven.
By way of beverages, how about individual soda bottles? We once had a backyard party with all different flavors of soda in glass bottles. They were in a big metal tub with ice-- very pretty and fun! Your table favors could be bottle openers!
orangemiles at 9:30AM on 08/27/08
Here's another idea about getting the work done: old fashioned Quaker, and no doubt other groups', weddings included friends of the bride and groom who were invited as "servers". They worked, sometimes for several days, before the wedding (cooking, cleaning, decorating) and were possibly involved in the service as attendants and/or ushers. It was an honor to be a server. There was, of course, much fun, flirting and a few hi-jinks along with the work. However, once the ceremony was finished, the servers became guests for the rest of the day.
I'm suggesting that you might get friends and family to help quite a lot before the wedding and, if you can afford it, leave the cooking and cleanup to people you hire as MadelynRodriguez and others have suggested.
Also, I know you can sometimes get a caterer to deliver dishes, pans, glassware, flatware a day or two before, have friends and family set up tables and fill the platters with homemade appetizers or whatever, and then have the caterer come back to supervise the kitchen and clean up.
Another also: I recently attended a large wedding where the Italian-American groom's family provided beautiful plates of cookies to supplement the cake. They said that was their tradition. There were cookies from five different households. It was such a nice gesture and a big help to the bride's family.
Blue Iris at 5:26PM on 08/27/08