Catering is one of the cornerstones of a successful wedding. Guests may not remember what flowers you had or if you wrote your own vows, but they will remember if the food was good! Most venues have in-house caterers that cost a fraction of what an independent caterer might charge. If this is true of your chosen venue, arrange to have a food tasting before choosing your menu. Nothing is more disappointing than having a beautiful venue but sub-standard food. For this reason many couples now choose to have a food tasting before booking their venue. A food tasting will also help you finalise your menu, narrowing down your choices to two or three dishes. Ask your co-ordinator to send you a menu of available dishes, so you can get an idea of what to expect from your venue.
When choosing your menu, take into account that you may have guests with certain dietary requirements who may neglect to inform you of this. It is always a good idea to have at least one vegetarian dish, if you are going for a buffet option, to avoid such a situation. If you choose the plated option always make sure that, on your invitation, you request for your guests to mention any special dietary requirements. The onus falls on them to inform you and those guests who then fail to mention such requirements will simply have to make do - if they fail to mention it, it can't be that special a dietary requirement.
Always be sure to enquire whether serving staff are included in your catering costs, or if it will be an additional amount. Some venues will add a percentage to the catering costs to cover waiters and bar staff, while others will charge a set amount per waiter per hour - this can work out quite pricey as they will often stipulate a minimum number of hours per waiter, even if you don't require them for that long, and a minimum number of waiters per table. It is also a good idea to find out if welcoming drinks and finger foods are an additional cost, or if they are buiilt into the menu. This is something you don't want to leave out! Hungry guests are grumpy guests, so give them something to nibble while you get your photos done.
Don't miss tomorrow's post - Part 5: Flowers and Decor
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