Gluten Free Wedding - Help!

[moosemalibu]

So I had a wonderful gift for Christmas: an engagement ring! My beau and I have been going together for a little over 2 years. He has been with me through my diagnoses and has been the absolute wonderful partner and champion through it all. He absolutely insists that we have a gluten free wedding menu so I can eat anything I want. 

 

We have been going back and forh whether we want to elope or not due to wedding costs and our desire to own our own home soon (we have been saving for that). We plan to ask his dad to have the wedding at his cabin in the mountains by Tahoe. We want to have a good menu but likely will be having family prepare it (and not all are trained on gluten free yet).

 

Our plan is to do the menu and shopping list and provide the pots/pans/utensils etc so nothing gets cross contaminated.

 

Any recommendations on what is easy for a group of about 50 people?! The wedding is overwhelming already! haha FYI - no date and may end up eloping anyway!

 

FYI - wasn't sure where to put this thread... Mods - please move if necessary!

[bartfull]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

I humbly suggest you elope. You'll save the money you would have spent and you'll save the hassle of food. But if you do decide to do the 50 people wedding, seeing it's going to be at a cabin in the woods how about chili with cornbread, a huge salad, and a gluten-free wedding cake? If you ask others to bring something you KNOW there will be CC at best or downright gluten ingredients at worst.

 

To save money you could even make the chili a vegetarian type. But even if you decide to put meat in it you won't need that much.

[moosemalibu]

Thanks!! I love the idea of chili. We have carnivores and herbivores in our family so I like the idea of having two types. That sounds pretty easy. I will definitely save that idea! 

 

Yeah... hard to justify a wedding with costs but we both are family oriented and want our families with us to celebrate. But again, nothing set in stone just yet. 

[mamaw]

CONGRATLATIONS>>>> Was  you  expecting  a ring  or  was  it a total surprise?

Another  thought  would  be  a lot  of gluten-free  finger  foods, gluten-free cheeses, crackers, dips, salsa,  hummus, veggies, olives, pickles, cubed  meats, all fancied  up, fruit  salad, &  a big  gluten-free  wedding  cake  or  gluten-free  cupcakes,  ice  cream......

We  did  a  bridal  party  with  finger  foods, made  canapés, &  mini quiches, marinated gluten-free  veggies, cheese

[nvsmom]

Congrats!  

 

I second Bartfull's vote to elope.  I loved wearing a wedding dress but the wedding was a big expense that could have been spent on other things, and it was such a busy day that I barely remember any of it as it is.

 

But, if you do have a wedding, a pig roast is a fun thing to do and not likely to get contaminated.  Roast some potatoes and some corn with it, have a couple of types of salads, and you have a great meal that suits the mountain setting.

 

Or, you could not focus on a meal. Just do appetizers for a morning or afternoon thing.  You could also do an evening weenie roast if you want to keep it causual.

 

Have fun planning!

[cyclinglady]

I say elope and go for the house! That is what we are telling our daughter. Besides, I am the fourth generation only daughter to be married by the Justice of the Peace! My daughter would be the fifth!

Just our parents and siblings attended the wedding. We had lunch afterwards. After our Honeymoon to the East Coast for Fall Foliage (funded by frequent flier miles, hotel and rental points....those were there days!), we had a simple reception/open house at my parent's house: finger foods, cake and drinks. Then we moved into our bungalow. A year later, we went to Europe (by then we were sick of each other -- NOT!)

I wish you well in whatever you decide to do! Just have fun!

P.S. I wore my simple wedding dress to three other occasions. When my husband's sister got married, he stood up and wore a Tux. I was guest book attendant and wore my wedding dress. We got some lovely professional photographs six months later and no one was the wiser!

[LauraTX]

Congrats on the engagement!  I definitely recommend not going beyond your means for a big wedding.  You can do something nice for a reasonable amount.  

 

Definitely the easiest ways to cut costs are skipping a meal-have the wedding mid afternoon and just do snacks, and since gluten-free food can be expensive, focus on things that are naturally gluten-free.  Wedding cakes are expensive to begin with, so if you have a family member (or even yourself if you want to do that) who can do cupcakes, you can get away with buying a couple boxes of gluten-free cake mix, make frosting, and then whatever small decorations for the tops, like some of those fancy sugars, etc.  If you are blessed to know someone who can do a cake and make it look really nice, same thing with that... just have them make it in your kitchen on your gluten-free cookware.  Even if you have to buy extra pans and such for this, it will be much lower than the cost of getting something from a bakery plus the added cost of a dedicated gluten-free bakery.  

 

For food, definitely meat and veggies, fruit, things that are naturally gluten-free and not as costly are a good way to go.  If you have veggie people, you can do something like Kabobs and make various kinds.  (I am assuming you will be doing this in warmer weather, lol)  They can all be put together the night before, cooked in an oven or on a grill the day of and kept warm.  Can do some with chicken, beef, tofu, then various veggies so everyone gets what they like.  In general, avoiding gluten-free substitute foods will help keep the food costs down, especially if you want to do a meal.  Salad is something that is cheap and filling and easy to make, and you can have a few bowls of naturally gluten-free salad dressing out for people to dress their own.  Fruit salad as well, just get whatever is in season and good and throw it together.  Brisket you can feed a huge crown with, at a decent price.  Could do BBQ type sides or something like mashed potatoes and corn, etc.  A taco bar would be an easy thing to keep everyone happy and gluten-free.  Just do the meats, keep hot in crock pots, and all the sides.  White corn tortillas and hard taco shells, etc.

 

Lately I have heard a lot of people doing things other than cake for weddings.  Like root beer floats, chocolate fondue with fruit, sundae bars, etc.  If you aren't a cake person this may be a fun thing to do, especially for something like an afternoon wedding where you don't do a meal.  Appetizers that would be easy to do... wings (can cook in batches on grill or in oven and keep warm in crock pot/warming trays you can get at party stores), veggie trays with olives, pickles, hummus, ranch, basically everything but the crackers.  They sell crunchmaster crackers in bulk at Sams club if you don't want to go without.  Lastly, not serving alcohol will save on the budget, and also ensure no bad drunk guests, lol.  

 

Here are a few other good ideas that would go well with family doing it and budget friendly:

 

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link (I make this with a pork roast and bbq sauce, put it in and forget about it, few hours later perfect pork)

[julissa]

I can't add much to these great and creative ideas, I just wanted to say congratulations! 

[BlessedMommy]

Congratulations!

 

A wedding definitely doesn't have to be a budget breaker.We spent maybe $1,000.00 on our wedding (including our dress and tux). We had a lot of friends and family helping out. 

[notme]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!  our little moosie is growing up too fast

 

first wedding:  giant & expensive.   you can tell how the marriage went because there was a divorce and a...........................

 

second wedding (to a different guy!):  his uncle has a pond and a picnic shelter.  we got a keg.  the kids all went swimming and the guests threw us both into the pond.  our wedding song (dance) was:  ok, whatever the next song is (sam cook, 'you send me' - turned out to be a good one!)   lolz, we used a ring he had already given me for the previous Christmas (wearing it right now)  my girlfriend video-taped it (see how long we've been married!?)  at the end of the ceremony everyone had balloons and they released them as we were 'announced' for the first time.  first dance?  big bad bill (is sweet william now)  we had food that we ordered in trays <you could make easy, inexpensive stuff and freeze trays of it)  the rest was a sunny day and people who loved us.  see where i'm going, here.  if you want to celebrate your day with your people, it doesn't matter what the wedding is like...  it's really about the marriage    eloping would be probably less stressful with less to plan, but if you have a cheap wedding, you will get more presents    what does the mister want to do?  our son just got married impromptu in october, with just a few family members present.  they are going to have a celebration in may.  50 people is totally do-able.  i think we had 125 and nobody starved, lolz

 

i want to hear the proposal story!!!!!!   

 

very happy for you, kiddo  

 

edited to clarify i didn't marry the same guy again.  eww.  

[SMRI]

If you do want to do the wedding at the cabin--sounds lovely by the way---there may be a caterer that is well versed in gluten-free cooking.  Buying all the food and the time to prep and clean it up just might be worth the cost of the caterer, especially since the rest of your costs will be minimal.  The last wedding I was at (guest) the caterer was very well versed in gluten-free food and those of us that were gluten-free had a lovely meal.

[Serielda]

We eloped at first but going on our 7th yr married, our renewal will be big, with the wedding dress and all the other things. Just saying in short if you do elope you can always have a sweet renewal.

[icelandgirl]

So excited for you! Congratulations! !