Wedding Planning Articles
Catering
...."the wedding banquet"
Most wedding banquets are prepared and served by a professional caterer. Professional Wedding Catering requires a significant amount of planning, preparation, serving, clean up time, and food and rental costs. This is the wedding task that, if you do it yourself, will most interfere with your family's ability to participate in the wedding and reception. We highly recommend that you do not try to take care of the food preparation and service yourself. Your professional caterer can provide you with stellar food, presentation, and service.
Before beginning to identify and interview caterers, determine your particular food needs and priorities. Are you very concerned with flavor-filled complicated food dishes but not so concerned with beautiful banquet table presentation? Have you always imagined numerous topiaries, garland, elaborately draped serving tables, and stunning ice sculptures? Do you require plated service to the table or would a buffet line be adequate? As you can imagine, increasing the food quality and complexity, the decorating and presentation, and the labor hours will result in a higher per person cost for your reception. So if your budget is limited, take some time to determine your particular wedding banquet priorities and spend the bulk of your catering dollars in that area.
On-Site or Off-Site Catering Some reception sites provide their own on-site catering for your reception while other reception sites do have this capacity. If your site requires that you use their on-site catering service, many of your catering decisions have already been made. Simply select from the on-site catering options in the price range that works for you. These sites typically include all of the china, flatware, glassware, service, clean up, and gratuity in their catering price.
If your reception is in a setting without its own on-site catering, you will need to provide the food service. There are many incredible local caterers who are highly qualified to meet your every catering need. These caterers prepare the food in their professional kitchens, package it for wedding service, transport it to the site, and prepare and decorate the food service table. If a buffet dinner, they will keep the chaffing dishes filled. Your caterer can rent all of the required china, flatware, and glassware for you. They can also provide staff to tend your bar and other drink service, provide cake cutting services, champagne toast service, and clean the site once the wedding guests have departed.
Caterer Selection Caterers book up early so reserve your caterer in the early stages of your wedding planning.Begin your Caterer search with the professionals listed under Local Wedding Vendors tab on this website. To see information about Caterers, click on the Local Wedding Vendors tab, then check off the county or counties you are interested in, then click on the Caterers tab. From this list of Caterers, you can easily check out their web sites - most provide details about their services, sample menus, and a variety of photographs on their site, which can save you time in the first stages of selection. Next conduct phone interviews with the Caterers you liked best to talk about additional details and ask questions. You may want to set up meeting dates to get to know the individual and their services better.
Discuss your catering needs, budget limitations, and menu options. Are vegetarian or kosher entrée options needed? Many caterers can also provide soft drink and bar service. Ask for and read references or letters of recommendation. Then select the caterer that provides you with the best food, service, and presentation at the price level acceptable to you. Once selected, be sure your caterer knows your ceremony time, the time you want food service to begin, and the time you must vacate the reception site.
Additional Catering In addition to the wedding banquet, you may want to contract with a caterer for your Rehearsal Dinner (unless it is held at a restaurant). If you plan to hold a Gift Opening Party on the day after the wedding, you will want a caterer for this occasion too.
The Paper Work Complete a contract with your selected caterer that includes a listing of the foods selected, the services are included, any extras you have ordered, and the cost for each (or a total cost). Be sure to understand if this price includes linens, table skirts, drapes, table decorations, dishes, flatware, and glassware. Know the number of servers included, the number of hours of service provided, as well as arrival and departure time.