What Are Budget-Friendly Recipes I Can Make for My 60-Person Wedding?

There are millions of recipes on the internet, but you still don’t know what to cook. Tell us about it! Dear Bon Appétit is an advice column where we answer your culinary conundrums with hand-picked recipes and well-seasoned advice. Submit a question here.My 60-person wedding is going to be a DIY affair at a small inn-turned-Airbnb. The big meals are going to be handled by professionals, but there’s a couple meals—Friday breakfast and lunch, Saturday breakfast—that we're hoping to cobble together ourselves in the inn’s commercial kitchen. While we regularly host groups of 20ish at our apartment, 60 people feels like an entirely different beast. How can we (simply! not-too-expensively!) scale up and make sure everyone is well-fed? We’re nominating some friends to help prep and serve food for each meal, but where do we start with the menu? How do you think about how much food you need? —I DoCongrats are in order! Thanks for writing in about your big day—I’m honored. This is a great size for a guest list. My husband and I invited a similar range (scandalous in pre-pandemic times) and the room was overflowing, bountiful, raucous at times. The funny thing about a small wedding is…it’s still a lot of people.And you’re right, it’s an entirely different beast than your everyday dinner party. I applaud you for tapping in friends. Delegation is—begging my editor to let me keep italics here—of the utmost importance. Not just because, unless you are a Top Chef contestant, feeding 60 people should not be a one-person endeavor. But also because, ahem, you’re the one getting married! As corny as it sounds, I hope that the top item on your to-do list is: Have fun. Everything else can wait, or should be someone else’s problem.Okay, speech over, taking a sip of pét-nat, onto the recipes!BreakfastsNot actually a recipe: My family has a reunion at the shore every summer and our foolproof feed-a-crowd breakfast is bagels plus fixings. Can’t be beat. BA Bake Club has a wonderful homemade bagel recipe, which you should save for later and not use for this occasion. Now is the time to buy and assemble: bagels (if they’re fresh, skip toasting; if not, broil on a sheet pan); a few flavors of whipped cream cheese; smoked salmon (skip if this breaks the budget); sliced tomatoes and onion; capers; pickles. Optional fruit alongside.The math:1¼ bagels per person = 75 bagels1½ oz. cream cheese per person = 90 oz (12 eight-oz. containers)2 oz. lox per person = 7½ lb. (Costco is your friend)⅓ tomato per person = 20 tomatoes⅙ onion per person = 10 onions1 tsp. capers per person = 1 giant jarWho can say how many cornichons per person = 4 jarsHam-and-Cheese Croissant Bake. A charming, crowd-pleasing dish that you can assemble in advance, then bake the next day. Serve with some store-bought, pre-washed mixed greens splashed with Three-Minute Vinaigrette. Simple and chic. Mix the custard in two batches, each in a humongous bowl. (I have one of these and, honestly, can’t recommend it enough. Sure, it only comes in handy two-ish times a year, and my family makes fun of me for it, but when you need it, nothing else will do.) Bake in disposable aluminum pans.The math (recipe times eight for 64 servings):80 croissants (cheap supermarket ones! Lidl is known for them)3 lb. Gruyère (could do cheddar for a cheaper alt)3 lb. ham40 eggs8 pints heavy cream1 cup Dijon mustard2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt*2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg2 handfuls thinly sliced chives*Please get Diamond Crystal for this measurement or adjust the quantity for another brand. The type of salt always matters, but especially so in large batches.LunchesOlive Bar Pasta Salad. As my colleague Rebecca Firkser writes, “The beauty of this pasta salad is its flexibility.” In your case, I would actually avoid the supermarket olive bar; it can get pricey in large quantities. Instead, find a Trader Joe’s or Costco and make the most of their shelf-stable antipasti offerings: marinated artichokes, roasted peppers, pitted olives, white beans, etc. More cost effective and just as yum. If you have an ambitious pal who wants to grill or sear chicken for a crowd, that would be a nice addition, estimating ½ breast per serving, or 30 breasts total. But not needed by any means!The math (recipe times 10 for 60 servings):20 garlic cloves5 cups finely chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes2½ cups sun-dried tomato oil (cut with olive oil if you don’t have enough)3 cups plus 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, plus more to taste1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper2 ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt10 (1-lb.) boxes short pasta5 lb. small mozzarella balls or torn mozzarella10 quarts (40 cups) mixed antipasti (see above)Marinated Mixed Beans. I can hear someone scoffing in the distance at the audacity of the suggestion that you serve your beloved guests canned beans. But hear me out. They are delicious and cheap, can be assembled days in advance, and can confidently anchor an unfussy menu. Serve the beans in the same bowl linked above (see? Already coming in handy again), along with: crusty sliced bread; one to three cheeses (burrata, brie, whatever strikes your fancy); soft-boiled eggs; olives and pickles; maybe some charcuterie. Nosh-y and fun.The math (recipe times 15—gasp—for 1 cup per person):15 shallots, finely chopped (use a food processor if you have one)2¾ cups plus 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar, plus more to taste7½ cups finely chopped tender herbs (again with the food processor)5 cups olive oil30 (15.5-oz.) cans beans (bride’s pick!)5 Tbsp. Aleppo-style pepper or gochugaruKosher salt, to tasteDrinksFor breakfast, get some travel boxes of joe from a nearby coffee shop and call it a day.For either lunch: If one of your friends (read: not you) wants to go the extra mile, set up a vermouth-spritz bar with: bottles of rogue and blanc vermouth; cans of seltzer; lots of ice; lemon and lime wedges. Celebratory but won’t have everyone sloshed in the middle of the day.Readers, what’s the best wedding food you’ve ever had? (Yes, sure, it can be from your own wedding. But only if you’re telling the truth!) Share in the comments.Warmly,EmmaQuestions may be lightly edited for clarity, length, and style.