It's great fun to throw a big and luxurious function but sometimes you have a champagne (expensive) appetite with only a beer (cheap) budget. Here are some ways to keep the cost of your function down while keeping the luxe aspects up.
Use local drinks
Many studies have shown that when people are not aware of the price of a wine, they rate less expensive wines as more pleasurable than when they know it's cheap. You can use this to your advantage by decanting wines and not showing them with 'brands' so that people are not aware of the type of wine on offer. You can also use simple tricks to make your drinks seem more expensive such as serving cocktails in hip rustic options such as mason jar's and using garnishes such as lemon slices to turn bulk drinks into fancier looking gourmet drinks.
Cut down the finger food options
While you can use all sorts of fancy options for finger food, often the most popular options are some of the simpler items. Rather than offering supermarket chips and samosas, you can opt for inexpensive but delicious items such as rustic papas bravas (Spanish potato fries), bruschetta (toasted Italian bread topped with tomatoes, basil and olive oil) and pizza squares.
Often, having some self-service items, such as fruit platters, can reduce costs as well, as the cost of plating small servings of finger food can add a lot to the overall cost of your catering. It's also good to have less items on offer in total, as this adds to the complexity and cost of your catering. Why not sit down with a caterer and discuss your guest numbers and budget to work out catering that could work for you?
Lower the labour costs
As mentioned, the cost of serving the food and drinks can be a large part of the catering costs for a function. You can lower labour costs by having a function during an 'off peak' time, such as a weeknight, or by having a shorter function. You can speak to the catering company to understand what factors are at play when they work out the labour costs of your function.
If you are looking to have a luxe function on a low budget, it's worth having a chat to your catering company to explore options that look 'like a million dollars' but cost a lot less!
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