Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life if not the most important. You will remember your wedding day fondly for years to come. When you look back at your wedding, you’ll remember the food and service that your guests (hopefully) enjoyed. This goes to show that your caterer for the event should be first-class.
However, finding a good caterer is easier said than done. The following tips will help you find an amazing caterer for your wedding feast. When you start planning for your wedding, make sure deciding on a caterer is among one of the first things on your list. Good caterers get booked in advance and some caterers may remain booked and unavailable even up to a year.
Where To Start When Choosing a Caterer for Your Wedding:
- The first point of reference is your social circle; especially recently married friends. If you particularly remember a wedding where you loved the food and the other catering arrangements, ask for the details for that particular caterer.
- Visit the hotels, clubs, and large community clubs in and around your area. They have their own catering facilities and if not, they definitely have a list of caterers that can recommend. Ask your favourite restaurant if they do wedding catering. There aren’t many restaurants that do wedding catering considering the scale of the event but there is no harm in asking.
- Wedding planners, photographers, florists have wedding caterers in their circle. If your search has not been fruitful so far, contact them.
Usually, one of these methods is helpful in locating a great caterer for your event
Things To Decide Before Your First Visit To The Caterer
Even before you’ve made your first visit to the selected caterer for discussions on planning for the big day, there are a few notes you should be prepared with. With this information beforehand, you will not only save your discussion time with the caterer but also give an opportunity to the caterer to present his recommendations and proposal better.
- How many guests are you expecting? This will help the caterer determine the scale of preparation.
- What kind of food do you wish to serve? Will it be a cocktail party with snacks or a full dinner with three-square meals?
- Determine the kind of food service you are contemplating for your guests; whether it would be a sit-in meal or a buffet.
- Finally, what kind of venue will host your wedding; indoor or outdoor? What kind of space will the caterer have to install their kitchen?
Armed with this information, plan your first appointment with the caterer.
Questions To Ask Your Caterer
- One of the first questions to ask the caterer is if they have a license for their services. If you are planning to serve alcohol at your wedding party, the caterer will need to have a liquor license.
- Ask if they host any tasting sessions for their menu of food items so that you can judge the quality of the food and preparation. Ask them if they specialise in certain types of foods such as organic, ethnic, gluten-free and local ingredients and if it comes at an extra cost. You can also ask them if they make or can arrange a wedding cake if you are not planning to get the cake from a proper bakery.
- Ask the caterer if you can visit any of their forthcoming catering events. That will give you an idea of how they present the event and also ask the guests if they like the food. Likewise, ask for references of their previous customers so that you can do some verification.
- Discuss with them your food and service preferences. Request them to create a sample menu for you. Also, you must know beforehand if they will provide the cutlery, tables, chairs, napkins and so on themselves or will you need to rent them from somewhere else.
- Ask them to be as detailed as possible in their proposal about the cost per person, fees (including alcohol, rentals etc) service details and presentation of the venue. Ask if they offer any packages.
- Finally, it is very important to ask the caterer about the safety processes they follow when hosting, such as fire safety mechanism in the kitchen. Also, ask if their staff is well trained and insured.
Based on these questions, you should receive a detailed catering proposal and go about hosting your wedding day with greater confidence and satisfaction.
