When
or why would I use a caterer?
Caterers
are excellent for any outdoor or offsite wedding receptions. For example if
your wedding is in a tent, in a park, you're going to want a caterer. The most
basic reasons being that they will show up with all of the materials required
to keep the food hot (or cold, as the case may be), they will have helpful
food servers in formal attire, and they can also attend to the alcohol, wine,
etc. Many caterers have trucks and vans with their own power source/generator
to operate anything that's power-dependant.
Another
time that hiring a private caterer would be useful to you, is when you aren't
particularly fond of the food or prices of food at the reception location you
have chosen. Beware that there are several reception halls that don't allow
couples to bring in their own caterers, because they provide full service
catering themselves.
What
can help me decide which caterer to choose?
So
many things can predict how well your caterer will work with you on your
future wedding day...
•
How quickly they return your call and answer your questions?
•
How is their attitude toward you? Are they happy you called or do they sound
like your phone call is a nuisance? Did they laugh when you told them your
wedding date or can they accommodate it?!!
•
How long have they been doing catering?
•
How long have they been doing catering FOR WEDDINGS? (corporate affairs may
differ greatly from Weddings, make sure they've done this before)
•
Do they allow you to sample different menu items?
•
If not being specific about pricing, do they at least give a price range
before you go out and see them? (you don't want to waste time with a price
range that is way out of your budget)
•
Is it really that much less expensive to bring in a new caterer than to use
the catering services of your reception hall? Compare the two prices.
•
Does the caterer offer extra attention to detail, so that you aren't having to
follow up on his/her performance, timing, temperature of food, etc. on your
wedding day?
•
Call the caterer's references and when you do, ask specific questions so that
don't cause you to get a generic answer such as "We hired them and they
were good". Some examples of this would be...
•
what did the caterer do that was more than you expected?
•
what did the servers wear?
•
was it a hot buffet or cold finger sandwiches that you served?
•
how long did it take them to set up? how long to tear down?
•
did you find the food be hot when served?
•
did they prepare your cake for you?
•
What costs are involved in the supplying and serving of alcohol?
•
Have they ever worked in your location before?
•
Do they prepare and serve the wedding cake? If so, is that for an extra fee?
