My daughter recently got married!  I know, you just cringed when you thought of my out of pocket expense, right?  I am going to help you have a wonderful reception, party or get together for all your family and friends on a very tight budget! 

     We were all happy when Audrey announced she was getting married.  Then, the panic set in for me.  Especially, when she voiced her wish for a sit down dinner reception after the wedding!  "Whoa!", I thought, "Where is all this money for food going to come from?  Not to mention all the other wedding necessities!"

      Back to the sit down dinner!  I feed 200 guests for $218.39!  Yes, it is true.  Here is how I did it!  My daughter wanted turkey, dressing, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls and butter.  Wow!  I wonder how many turkeys that would take.  Then it came to me!  (After much prayer!)  I went to our local Gordon Food Services.  They have a wonderful computer program there, which helps you with portion size and cost.  I spoke with one of their very knowledgeable employees and we were off!  I took the hand held scanner and we scanned food!  It was so much fun!  I found that if I purchased deli turkey breast and had it sliced into serving size slices, I could get approximately 48 slices out of each breast.  Since we were serving two meats, we decided that the turkey was the main meat and the ham secondary.  We used the percentage 60/4, sixty- percent turkey, and 40- percent ham. The mashed potatoes were simply potato pearls, which were made with boiling water and butter, canned corn, packaged dry gravy and restaurant rolls with butter pats.  It was terrific!  I couldn’t believe we fed such a crowd for such a small amount of money!   I am going to do this for our Thanksgiving dinner as well!  Most everyone in my family prefers white meat anyway and it is so much easier than cooking for days!

   Here is a great idea that we use in our Ward that seems to work out for all of us with daughters or sons getting married.  We have a Wedding Inventory. Each of us has purchased things for open houses, receptions and other large parties.  We have one woman who keeps an index card file of who, what and how much we each have.  I have cases of ivy bowls; another Sister has tablecloths, arches, buffet pans, tulle, and silk flowers.  Well, you get the idea.  We share and it sure makes for a less expensive reception.

      Here’s hoping this gets your ideas flowing! 

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