Tips on Choosing A Caterer!

It is no secret that Joel and I are huge foodies. We get super excited when food is involved. If you’re anything like us, the catering is a really important part of planning your wedding reception!

 

There are so many options when you start looking around, and it’s hard to know a good place to start. We’re here to help! We went over to our good friend Margaret at The Chef Next Door to get some great advice for our brides! Margaret is one of the best caterers we’ve ever met. She won us over with a soup bar. We had no idea that soup and their garnishes could be so amazingly delicious and so perfect for a wedding reception. She’s since then continued to blow us away with her professionalism, class, and downright tasty food.

We couldn’t think of anyone better to go to for advice. We asked Margaret to give us some of her best tips on how to choose a caterer. See what she says!

 

Not all caterers are right for every bride. Some brides view the food at their wedding as just that…food. Something to get their guests fed and happy and then carry on with their lives. Something you *have* to have at a wedding. These types of brides usually prefer to book with a caterer who has a standard menu to choose from with easy, set pricing and practices. Here is our selection, here is the price, take your pick, wham bam thank you ma’am. There is minimal back-and-forth, minimal meetings, minimal planning and coordination involved.

Then there are brides who want their food to be an experience, the focal point of the reception, what leaves their guests buzzing about what an awesome wedding it was. They want the menu to reflect their journey through life and their journey as a couple. The groom’s favorite Chicken and Rice casserole incorporated as a swanky passed hor d’ouerve. A look back at the couple’s first date at a coffee shop via Pumpkin Spice Latte Shooters with Cinnamon Sugar Donut Hole Skewers served as the guests depart the reception and grab their sparklers. A family recipe of Mint Julep Tea served as an homage to the Mother of the Bride that the crowd ooh’s and aahh’s over all night long. A menu that is as personal and custom-made as the bride’s wedding dress.

Neither way is right and neither way is wrong. And there are gracious a’plenty good caterers to suit every style. So how do you find which caterer is the right fit for your reception?

First, check out some caterers online. Right away, you would be able to tell which ones are “old school” and which ones are “new school” by the looks of their logo, their marketing photos, their website, their presence on social media, and so forth. If the Mother of the Bride is dead-set on serving Prime Rib with Rolls, Shrimp Cocktail, Fresh Fruit, Ham Biscuits, and Spinach Artichoke Dip, then one of the longer-running, tried and true caterers is going to be the best fit for you. They will likely have a set menu, won’t often stray far from it, and will ask very few questions about your wedding beyond “When is it?”, “Where is it?”, and “What time is it?” Let them know how many guests you expect to have, and there you go! Easy peasy, and you can spend more time worrying over your song list or custom favors and less time fussing over your menu.

 

Be sure to read online reviews about any caterer before booking with them, as nothing speaks more highly to the success of a caterer than happy clients, while the same goes for the opposite way.

Be sure that your caterer is fairly quick to respond to you, as you don’t want to spend weeks on end waiting for a simple reply to a question. If prior to booking, your caterer is taking more than a week to reply to you, you may want to save yourself the headache later on and book a different one. And while the relationship between you and your caterer isn’t nearly as important as the relationship between you and your planner or you and your photographer, you still want to be sure that you are at least comfortable speaking freely with your caterer about your expectations and any potential concerns. After all, you are your caterer’s employer for the day, and the relationship needs to be amiable and friendly.

If you daydream on Pinterest and find yourself salivating over mini Chicken and Waffles, Popcorn Bars, or Mac and Cheese Lollipops, then you may want to make sure you book a “new school” caterer! These caterers prefer not to work from a set menu and get a lot of enjoyment and job satisfaction from creating a new, personalized, customized menu with each passing event. These caterers will dig a little deeper, asking about your likes, dislikes, your style, any special requests, your favorite foods, and so forth.

The experience will likely be a little more involved than dealing with an old school type caterer, as there will be more moving parts and a lot more customization. If the thought of having to be creative and put some thought into your menu overwhelms you and you’d prefer to just select from a list, then see above. 

Some important information to know before contacting your caterer includes your date, the venue of your event, what type of kitchen facilities if any are available at your venue, your approximate headcount, your approximate budget for catering, whether or not you want disposable goods or real china, the time of your event, what type of meal service you are looking for (hors d’ouerves vs. a dinner buffet vs. a plated meal vs. family style dinner vs. different food stations, etc.), and some idea of what type of food you might like to have, as well as an idea of things you DON’T want to have at your reception.

There is really no such thing as providing too much information when it comes to dealing with your wedding planners, and the more you can paint a picture of your reception in our minds, the greater we understand your vision and can deliver to your expectations.

Pinterest boards can be very helpful in delivering your vision to your vendors! (Also bearing in mind that 90% of the time, Pinterest photos are “styled” versus from a real wedding, so some things might not be actually feasible for a real event.)

Some things to ask your caterer during a meeting would be:

Do you offer menu tastings?

-It is important to make sure that your caterer’s food tastes good! Be wary of a caterer who will not allow you to try their food, or try to charge you an exorbitant amount to do so. Typically, a menu tasting is part of a caterer’s customer acquisition cost (just like paying to be a member of a directory like WeddingWire.com) and is something they should happily do for you in order to book you.

Are you health department regulated?

Beware of “home” caterers. Food needs to be prepared in a licensed and regulated kitchen in order to be guaranteed to be safe for your guests to eat throughout the night. Receptions often last 4+ hours, and that just happens to be the exact window of opportunity for bacteria growth (sorry for the ick factor!), so if your food was made in a non-commercial kitchen several hours ago, that can open the door for all types of badness for you and your guests if you eat something that is unsafe.

Are you insured?

Things happen. Car wrecks. Tornadoes. Fires. Power outages. There are dozens of things that could prevent a caterer from actually providing the food to your reception. A proper caterer should carry at least a million dollars worth of liability insurance coverage to cover anything and everything that could potentially go wrong.

Tell me about your staff.

It is okay to grill your caterer about their staff. How old are they? How do they dress? Are they allowed smoke breaks? The food can be as delicious and beautiful as you’d hope, but if an unkempt, rude, slouchy, cigarette-reeking staff member is serving it to you, it can ruin the entire experience. The food itself is only half the battle; the serving staff is a HUGE part of the success or failure of the event! Your caterer should spend a great deal of time selecting the right people to represent his/her business and training them to execute the event perfectly. Staff should be well-dressed, preferably matching, clean and hygienic, professional, punctual, helpful, knowledgeable, and kind. Oh, and we can’t forget PRESENT….not hiding in corners playing Candy Crush.

Margaret and her staff are some of the kindest people you’ll meet. She takes those requirements seriously. One of the many reasons we love working with them!

Just hearing about the Pumpkin Spice Latte Shooters with Cinnamon Sugar Donut Hole Skewers and Mac and Cheese Lollipops was enough to make my stomach growl! No matter which direction you decide to go with your caterer, following these tips will help make your reception as wonderful and memorable as you’ve always dreamed it would be!

*hugs*

Amber