8 Cheap Wedding Reception Food Ideas on a Budget

If you need wedding reception food ideas on a budget, try planning a unique and fun menu. Instead of a cheap version of a traditional wedding meal, plan an unusual or unexpected theme, at a different time of day.

Lots of couples are planning non traditional weddings. If you’re willing to let go of the conventional dinner and dance idea, you can get creative and have fun with an inexpensive menu.

You can offer any type of food and drinks that fits your budget. You could plan a daytime fall wedding, with hot apple cider and donuts for refreshments. Or you could plan a vintage themed tea party, for an afternoon wedding.

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How to Pull Off a Cheap Wedding Reception

Most couples don’t want to spend a ton of money on a wedding reception. They just want their family and friends to celebrate their new marriage for a few hours. Luckily, most of our family and friends want the same thing. As long as you’re considerate of your guests, they’ll be happy to show up and enjoy your wedding.

Even if you don’t have the budget for a full dinner and dance, you can still offer your guests refreshments, and a chance to mingle. When you’re trying to pull off a cheap wedding reception, keep these tips in mind:

Be confident.
Don’t reproduce a traditional reception.
Revamp the wedding day timeline.
Serve your food at the right time of day.
Keep your guests in the loop.

Be Confident

No matter what you’re planning, the key to being cheap without looking cheap is to act positive. If you act embarrassed or ashamed, people will feel it. It’s absolutely fine to spend a small amount of money on your wedding. Plan what you can afford and feel good about it.

Once you decide to have a non traditional wedding, don’t second guess yourself. Be confident. Hype it up and have fun with your ideas. Go all in on whatever you’re planning. Enjoy making your invitations or choosing cute decorations. Even if it’s inexpensive, your wedding will still be great.

Don’t Reproduce a Traditional Reception

If your heart’s set on a dinner dance, there’s a few ways you can make it fit your budget. You could choose an alternative venue, then figure out a way to DIY or semi-DIY your wedding food.

But in general, if you’re on a tiny budget, it’s best not to try and reproduce a typical, dinner and dance wedding. If you spend a bunch of money on a venue, a dress and flowers, then flake on dinner, your guests will be extremely annoyed with you. And you will look cheap.

Revamp the Wedding Day Timeline

If you want to be cheap without looking cheap, start by revamping the entire wedding day timeline. Instead of a Saturday night dinner, consider planning an afternoon wedding with a vintage tea party theme. You can serve fancy tea, tiny sandwiches and petit fours. Or plan morning wedding, with a DIY coffee bar and desserts.

Serve Your Food at the Right Time of Day

As long as the food you serve is suited to the time of day, you’ll be fine. If you’re not serving a meal, don’t plan your wedding during a meal time. If you’re only having refreshments, desserts or snacks, make sure your reception will fall in between meal times.

Keep Your Guests in the Loop

You can also make sure your guests are prepared by including the information on your invitation. The timing of your reception will usually let them know not to expect a full meal. To make sure, you can include a line like:

Cocktail reception.
Picnic lunch.
Cake and punch reception to follow.
Coffee and desserts will be served.
Continental breakfast to follow.

Low Cost Menu Ideas That Are Unique and Fun

Most of these ideas are for shorter and more casual weddings. You probably won’t have time for all the wedding stuff, like speeches, bouquet tosses, or an all night dance party.

But you will have a fun and meaningful celebration of your marriage. If you’re a low key couple, skipping a bunch of wedding stuff might even be a plus!

The best part: after paying for a small menu, you’ll still have cash left over to pay for the rest of the wedding things you’ll need.

1. Vintage Tea Party Cake and Punch Reception

A cake and punch reception is a great way to save a lot of money. To make your day feel more special, go all in on the theme. You can borrow teapots and teacups, then serve a variety of black tea, green tea and herbal tea. Add some tiny finger sandwiches and trays of mini desserts for a cute and fun reception table.

If you’re not into vintage, you can choose a different theme for your cake and punch reception:

Cake and champagne
Wine and charcuterie
Desserts and mimosas
Hot chocolate and cookies

2. Fall Wedding With Hot Apple Cider and Donuts

This reception can be planned the same way as a cake and punch, but your menu can be two fall favorites: hot apple cider and cinnamon donuts. To DIY, you can follow this easy recipe from Amanda’s Cookin’. Serve your cider in crock pots to keep it warm. Set out your donuts on trays and platters, and your guests can help themselves.

3. Wedding Coffee Bar and Desserts

A coffee bar with desserts would be great at either a morning or afternoon wedding reception. If you want to DIY, you can set up a coffee bar with fun toppings, like whipped cream, chocolate chips or cinnamon sugar. Add trays of desserts from your local bakery or box store and you’ll have a sweet and fun wedding.

4. Continental Breakfast Reception

If you’ve ever stayed at a hotel, you’ve probably had a continental breakfast. It’s typically a mix of prepared food that’s easy for guests to help themselves to. The dishes will be set up buffet style and you won’t need any cooks or servers.

This kind of meal is easy to serve and inexpensive. Catering for a continental breakfast is very affordable for most couples. To save money, you can even DIY this meal for your guests. You can buy pastries, fruit, yogurt and cereal from a big box store, then have your bridal party ready to set it up on the day of.

Continental breakfast usually includes:

Cereal and milk
Yogurt or cheese
Whole fruit, or a fruit tray
Toast and jam station
Bagels, croissants and pastries
Coffee, tea and juice

5. Picnic Lunch Wedding Reception

A simple picnic lunch is inexpensive to order from a caterer. Some caterers can drop off a boxed lunch for you, or you could order from a local deli or grocery store. If you’re doing DIY, it’s easy to prepare, store and serve the meal yourself. You can offer sandwiches, cheese, fruit and salads. Once you add wedding cake for dessert, you’ll have a filling and fun lunch for your guests.

6. Wine and Cheese Party Wedding

If you’d like an evening reception, but can’t fit dinner into the budget, you can plan a cocktail party wedding instead. Choose a time for your party that won’t overlap dinner time and you can serve wine and cheese to your guests. If you’re doing DIY, it’s easy to set up wine in ice buckets, plus some cheese or charcuterie boards. If your budget is super tight, you could even ask your guests to bring the wine, in lieu of gifts.

7. DIY or Semi-DIY Wedding Dinner

If you want to offer your guests dinner on a small budget, you can semi-DIY by ordering from your favorite restaurant. Most restaurants can deliver family style trays to your wedding. Ask your bridal party ahead of time if they can help set it up buffet style.

If you’re organized and good in the kitchen, you can even cook the meal yourself. For more about cooking your own meal, read this next Self Cater Your Wedding: How to DIY Your Wedding Food.

8. Themed Potluck Wedding Reception

Another option for a dinner wedding is to plan a potluck reception. Potluck weddings aren’t popular in some spots. But in other communities, potluck is a great way to plan a party. If you decide to plan a potluck, you can make it more fun by adding a theme.

Adding a theme will make it easier to plan a well rounded meal. Plus, there’s lots of options for cheap wedding decorations! Imagine a Mexican fiesta with tacos and rice. Plus bright colorful fans and flowers. Or an Italian themed dinner, with checkered tablecloths and wine bottles for decoration.

Theme Ideas For a Potluck Wedding:

Mexican fiesta
Cinco de Mayo
Italian dinner
Hawaiian luau
Tailgate party
BBQ cookout
Thanksgiving dinner

Read more about planning a non traditional wedding in the book Affordable Wedding Venues and Menus. You’ll see how to find unique and inexpensive venues and plan a wedding meal, on any size budget.