So, first, a disclaimer: this post was supposed to be prettier, more in-depth, and Pinterest-level inspiring, but I was too busy planning, executing, and enjoying my wedding to really plan for this blog post.

Long story short: we catered our wedding on our own.

Long story longer: we catered our wedding on our own, and miraculously survived.

Long story longest: we catered our wedding, beginning prep months in advance. In the weeks leading up to our wedding, our aunties and close family friend who were going to be in charge of frying, fixing, setting, etc. either decided not to attend or had health and family emergencies. Everyone is fine now, thank goodness, but their absence left us missing them and left us in a major bind. Like, you know, we were having a wedding?

So, my sweet, beautiful mother took the reigns in the kitchen, and our prep work paid off…mostly.

The Menu

There were several iterations of this menu, but we had to knock things off bit by bit until it was manageable for us, and we even had to change menu items in the spur of the moment. Here’s what ended up on the serving table:

Pastelitos (filled with our special meatless recipe that few believed was meatless)

Guineos escabeche

Arros con habichuelas

Sorullos

Pasta salad

Veggie and Cheese Tray

Spinach Dip

Three Lovely Cakes, courtesy of my amazing mother

Wine and a signature fall-flavored May Tai cocktail, courtesy of our good friend Blake

 

How It Worked Out

All hands were on deck setting food out, getting everything ready while Kent and I took our post-ceremony shots. My sweet cousin and his wife graciously consented to fry the fryables and were the best-dressed, most sparkly fryfolks I ever did see. We had to stall the schedule just a lil bit, but food was served up nice and quick thanks to my amazing family.

The Puerto-Rican cuisine was new for most folks, but we got tons of compliments, even for the guineos escabeche, which are definitely an acquired taste for some. We had biodegradable cutlery, and had leftover alcohol, so I hope that means that people drank to their hearts’ content, since we’re still drinking from the same rum bottles and still have wine.

We made hundreds of these little things, froze them, and then yes, we deep fried them.

What Went Wrong, or What We Learned that Might Help You

During our months of prep we also made a few hundred rellenos de papas. Because 1) the day was hotter than it was supposed to be in October when the day before had been perfectly cool, 2) we had to therefore freeze the wedding cakes so their delectable cream cheese icing didn’t melt, and 3) the venue didn’t have much freezer space, the frozen rellenos were left to thaw on the counter. You can probably guess that they felt apart as soon as they touched the oil. We still have bags of those that we need to find another way to cook–new post when we figure out what to do with them. Um, so don’t thaw your frozen rellenos and they should fry just fine.

Probably just go ahead and get a caterer if the people you’re depending on don’t live in your house or aren’t immediate family.