How much food & drink to buy for 50 people at an informal wedding reception/ picnic?

[lubby]

what about cut up rotisserie chickens, side of roasted potatoes, cole slaw, corn on the cob, biscuits or corn bread and a tossed salad, a sheet cake and fruit platter, beer, wine, soda and water.

[luzianne]

I think the idea of ham is a good one. If doing that I'd get a spiral sliced honey ham (Honeybaked or Holiday Ham) and then egg rolls/dinner rolls so people can make little sandwiches, and cheese slices, mustard, etc. to go on the sandwiches. Chips or potato salad or make some potatoes.

For my daughter's graduation party I ordered sandwich trays from Jimmy John's, assorted sandwiches so there was something for everyone. I had them leave off the condiments and I provided condiments instead so the sandwiches didn't get soggy. I bought a couple of big containers of baked beans from Costco and heated those up, and I made cheesy potatoes (butter, onion, frozen hashbrowns, sour cream, cream of chicken, shredded Velveeta - can give you more description of the recipe if you like). Started with two casserole dishes of the cheesy potatoes and if I saw they were going fast I ran and whipped up another batch - but this was at home, not at a park. They do have to bake 1 to 1-1/2 hours so you have to be a little ahead of the game. In addition, I bought a couple of big boxes of assorted chips in individual bags from Costco. And I got a full sheet cake made with my daughter's picture on it. A local store can copy a picture you bring in and put the image on a cake for you. If you can find a place to do that with a picture of the couple, either one from the wedding or just one of the two of them, I think that would be a nice touch! It didn't cost any extra to do that, at least in my case. I'd go with a full sheet for 50 people.