Caterer hasn’t been to my venue

If you really like the caterer then I would go with them. You can always ask questions that you will make you feel better. Also you can always ask your venue if there is any issues that happened to new caterer before that way you can go tell your caterer and they are prepare.

The venue that we are using require that outside caterers must make an appointment to do a walk through of the venue and meet with the staff. Our caterer is good with that and will let us know when the appointment is made.

Welcome to the WeddingWire community Lauren!

If you are happy with your caterer that you have found, then I don’t think you should have anything to worry about. Caterers are used to working in different settings and venues so they should have everything that they need.

Have you asked them would they require a site visit to your venue to assess that kitchen area so that they know exactly what is there and what they will need to bring?

I think you will be fine. They are professionals and can figure it out. We hired our photographers knowing they have never been to our venue before and we are ok with it.

Technically, since I had a backyard wedding, hah!
My caterers were super organized and professional, so I had a lot of confidence in them.
But, they certainly didn’t show up blind— even though thy had obviously never worked at the house before, we scheduled a walk-through day where they came out to see the space, get the lay of the land, and plan for kitchen functionality. I think *4* people from the company came— coordinator, director, chef , and someone else who I don’t think was involved with our wedding on the day of and I’m not sure what her role was haha. They made a plan for kitchen usage and troubleshooted a bit (they could use our kitchen but also needed an additional set up for extra ovens and such, as ours wasn’t a commercial kitchen!) , then they submitted a rental order for all they would need to supplement our kitchen. One twist ended up being that where they had originally planned to set up— their rental oven couldn’t get through the door! 🤣— but they were able to quickly improvise into a set up that worked better.

So the short version is: they didn’t know the kitchen, but, they knew what they were doing— *thats* what’s most important. As long as they are experienced and professional, and can come to see and feel out the place beforehand, I wouldn’t be too concerned.

Usually they can work out any kinks themselves! But if you have a DOC also it would be easy for him/her to direct the caterer where, when, how to set up and address anything they might need. I have seen caterers come out to a gun club cabin wedding that was held outside, and they seemed to have everything right no problem! You'd be surprised. I would go with the caterer you want!

None of our vendors have been to our venue either. But they know what their doing in their profession. I’m still going with the catering company I chose regardless. I have to trust them as much as I’m trusting them.

Our venue let us use our own caterer, but if they had never been there before, they are required to meet beforehand and tour the space, and know their guidelines. We decided to go with a caterer that had not been there, so now I am working on setting up a meeting with the venue for the them to have "orientation". Most vendors are able to adjust to your venue's setting (indoor/outdoor, space, kitchen setup, etc.) but maybe see if you can plan a meeting with your venue and caterer so they can get familiar with the venue before the big day, and it might make it easier for them to plan their strategy.