We all know that wedding catering can be a huge part of your wedding budget, but do we really know our options?
The thing is, wedding catering is a fairly simple concept that can vary from wedding to wedding. Unless you know what applies to your wedding, there are opportunities and risks that you can miss. For example, some wedding catering scenarios are limited, but easy to arrange. Others are more flexible, but more work for you. And, there can be hidden costs in many situations.
The great news is that once you know what you’re working with, you’ll know how to work with it. And, if you know how what applies to your wedding, with regards to wedding catering, than you’ll be prepared to control a huge portion of your costs.
Basics Of Wedding Catering (And What To Watch Out For)
This post is going to lay out the various high level wedding catering options you may be facing with your wedding. It will also go over some common wedding catering terms, and what you should watch out for, should they apply to you. Once you know what things mean, you’ll be able to better plan your wedding.
Let’s get into it!
ON SITE VERSES OFF SITE WEDDING CATERING
First things first. Let’s talk about what on site wedding catering is, compared to off site. Let’s be honest. It’s hard to figure out what will work best for your wedding if you don’t know what is actually out there.
ON SITE WEDDING CATERING IS MADE AT THE VENUE
Just as the name implies, on site catering is made at your wedding venue. However, it’s a bit more than that.
This is catering that your venue provides themselves. They procure the staff, food, and cook on site. Typically, when a venue does this, they do not allow you to have the option for a different caterer to come in. Additionally, their options for dining may be limited. Yes, you may have have options like if you want your food served as buffet or plated. You’ll probably have your pick of stationary or passed appetizers, and a bar menu to choose from. However, it will all be limited to what the venue wants to offer.
The good news is that with this option, there is usually less risk. The venue likely does this all the time. They know how much food they need. They know where everything is. And, they’ll have it all fine tuned for your wedding.
Benefits of On Site Wedding Catering:
- Less decision fatigue
- Less risk that something will go wrong
- All servers, bartenders, and clean up likely provided
Downsides of On Site Wedding Catering:
- Limited options to what the venue will provide
- There is usually no leeway to bring in outside food
OFF SITE WEDDING CATERING IS AN OUTSIDE CATERER
I think by now you can guess what an off-site caterer is. It’s when you have your wedding catering provided by a business other than your venue.
Now, some venues will still limit your options here. They may have preferred vendors that they allow to come into their business. When you interview possible venues, ask them about that and what’s allowed. The great news is, even if your venue limits your options, most caterers can be flexible. So, if you go with someone you’ve never heard of before, and have a certain food you’d like served, they may be willing to work with you.
The downside of hiring an outside vendor is that their level of service may vary. There’s more on what that means later, but essentially, you may have to provide your own servers, bartenders, and clean up crew. Plus, if a caterer has to cook on site, or bring food to the wedding, things can get chaotic if they haven’t worked there before.
There are a few takeaways if you have to hire an off-site caterer to come to your venue. First, find out if the venue is set up properly with a kitchen and staffing. If not, work with the vendor to determine what they need to be able to cook for, and serve, your guests. Ask questions about clean up, and trash removal. You may find that you have to provide a bit more than you originally thought.
Benefits of Off-Site Wedding Catering:
- May have more flexibility in the type of food served
- There may be more flexibility in cost and level of service
Downsides of Off-Site Wedding Catering:
- More risk associated with bringing food in, and also cooking on-site if the caterer is unfamiliar with the venue
- You may have to provide the servers, bartenders, and clean-up crew
- May have to work separately with venue for trash removal
FULL-SERVICE VERSES PARTIAL SERVICE
Let’s talk a little about full service verses partial service wedding catering. I know that I just touched on it, but I want to really lay out what it means.
Full service is what it sounds like. It’s when a venue, or a caterer, provides the staffing needed, start to finish, to cook, serve, and clean up after a meal. It means prep cooks, chefs, servers, bussers, bartenders, and people to help take away any garbage. Depending on the number of guests at your wedding, and the type of service you’re providing, it can mean a lot of staff. If you are having your wedding catering provided on-site, you likely have a full service situation.
Partial service is something less than full-service. It might mean that your venue provides a bartender, and clean up, but nothing in between. Or, some variation of that. What partial service means is that when you search for caterers, you need to know the level of staff that they provide, in addition to the food. Be prepared to work with your venue first, identifying any gaps in their provided service, and then work with various caterers so they can help fill those gaps on their end.
THE COST OF WEDDING CATERING
As I mentioned at the start of this post, wedding catering is likely going to take up a huge portion of your wedding budget. To help control those costs a bit, and make sure you’re well informed, let’s talk a little bit about catering fees.
KNOW YOUR FOOD AND BEVERAGE MINIMUM
A food and beverage minimum is an amount that you need to spend on catering, just to hold your wedding at a location. It can be seen in contracts for both on-site and off-site caterers.
Let’s look at an example. Your venue may provide on-site catering. And it has a food and beverage minimum of $10,000. This means that you need to spend $10,000 on catering, at a minimum. If you have enough guests, and are okay with this minimum, it may make sense. However, if you are having a small wedding, or cannot cover that minimum, this venue won’t work for you.
Oh, and heads up, there are more costs associated with that minimum. Keep reading for what I’m referring to.
The thing about food and beverage minimums is that they have to make sense for your wedding. Do a little math. If the price per guest seems too high, or difficult for you to reach even if you go for the most expensive options, look for other venues and caterers. If you’re set on a particular venue, ask about times of year or days of the week where the minimum is lower. You never know what you’ll find out.
“HIDDEN” COSTS OF WEDDING CATERING
Okay, so there’s the cost of food and beverages. What other costs could there be? Turns out, a lot.
Some of the hidden, or unexpected, wedding catering costs that can come up include tips, tax, and rental fees. And, let me tell you, these fees can add up. Below includes a bit more details about each one of them:
- Tips: For a large catering order, regardless of it being on-site or off-site, you can expect a mandatory gratuity of 15% to 25%, depending on your location. This amount is typically specified in your contract, and has to be considered when you look at your overall costs.
- Tax: In most places, there will be taxes placed on food and beverages. The amount of these taxes depends on your location, but again, they can range from 5% to 15%.
- Rental Fees: The need to spend money on rentals depends on your venue, but you may be expected to rent chairs, tables, linens, plates, glasses, and silverware. These costs can really add up per guest.
As you can see, there are many costs that can be placed in addition to the actual wedding catering. When you know about them, you’ll be able to better predict what your overall budget is for food and beverages. And, when you know what your budget is, you can make wiser choices about your venue and subsequent caterers.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
A lot goes into planning your wedding catering. It’s way more complicated than just having great food served at your wedding. You’ll have to look at your venue options, and decide what works best for you, in terms of having them cook your food, or having an outside caterer come in. From there, be sure to look at the fine print to really see the final cost of your wedding catering. You’ve got this! Happy wedding planning!
More From Hummingbird Wedding Advice:
How To Choose Your Wedding Food
All About Hosting A Dry Wedding
Edible Wedding Favors (That Your Guests Will Love)
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It’s great that you pointed out how wedding catering is likely going to take up a big portion of the wedding budget. My partner and I are organizing our upcoming wedding and we are thinking of using catering. There are a lot of things to think about, so we should choose carefully.
Thank you for your comment. I was actually surprised about how much catering cost at my wedding. Biggest priority, you should love the food. Beyond that, there are other variables for sure. Congratulations and happy wedding planning!
Hiring caterers for an event and having them make the food at the venue sounds extravagant. That could be the best approach we can take for what we want, especially since we want the venue to feel as lively as possible. Once I find a wedding event center in the area, I’ll make sure we accommodate services like these for the event.
Having caterers cook on site is extravagant 🙂 However, the food is likely going to taste more fresh, and it does open up more options for what a caterer can serve. It can be costly for a venue to set up a kitchen, though, and there’s nothing wrong with a caterer bringing in food and then warming it on site. By the way, your venue looks beautiful!