Catering Pricing and Tips?!

So from reading wedding wire for the last 6 moths...., I've learned that my caterer is super cheap lol! We are paying $10 per person for a bbq buffet + tax (300 people will be invited). My venue will charge an extra 15% catering sur-charge that we have to pay (this money goes to venue, not caterer.) I do not plan to tip the caterer anything extra. However, the caterer has 6 servers scheduled (including 1 of the owners) and I plan to give each an envelope of $50/each tip. Good luck!!!

This is going to vary based on location and type of catering (multi-course plated dinner vs BBQ buffet). Your best bet is too look at multiple caterers and see what prices they charge, as they may be similar for similar offerings.

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much for your pricing!

View Quoted Comment Yeah that was what I was figuring but I just didn’t know if anyone had already booked their caterer and would be willing to share prices because I don’t know what is even considered reasonable or pricey for 200 people! 😱

We have 180 people and our caterer is buffet style and around 1,400$. They are providing drinks, cups, plates, silverware, napkins and two servers

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much!

This will depend greatly on your location, food selection, and meal style. We had a plated meal and paid $155/person.

We paid around $135 per person for a 5 course plated meal. That didn’t include linens, plates, silverware etc. If you’re looking for your cheapest option that would be bbq/Italian/Mexican food drop off catering from a restaurant and that will run $10-$20 per person.

We’re paying about $80 pp in Southern California for 4 different appetizers, a bbq buffet with 2 meat options, full open bar for 5 hours, rentals, and staff. This price is probably one of the best I’ve come across in my area. Our quote is for 150 people, but we will be inviting 210, so will adjust when we get the final numbers (though the pricing should be static pp). I will note that we signed our contract in 2018, so that pricing is locked in for us.

I had a ten course meal served family style. Mine with the gratuity fees and taxes came out to $51 ish per person but this of course didn't include the additional alcohol we bought and the cake.

Like the others said, it will depend drastically on where you’re located, venue, and if it’s seated, buffet etc. I’ve seen people spend as cheap as $20pp on here up to $200+pp.


We’re spending $80pp for buffet and cocktail hour for 120 people and that’s considered cheap in Chicago. Most of the other vendors I priced with were $115+pp for buffet excluding alcohol

I am in Texas and we're spending roughly $34pp on the buffet and alcohol. The total for the food comes out around $4300+a tip and the total for alcohol is around $3200. This is for 200 guests.

I’m getting married in Sonoma and we love theatrical and nice food so are paying a little over $500 per person for catering/wine including tableware and settings.


My friend who got married in Malibu paid around $80 per person for a buffet dinner, which tasted really good!

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the tips!

View Quoted Comment Ok that’s about what I was expecting for mine. Thank you!

Think it depends a lot on type of food, and if it's seated/plated or a buffet!
We're having buffet style and breakfast fare for a brunch wedding. Our initial quote for 135 people was about 2,000 but our guest count has gone up to 170 so I need to speak with my caterer!

View Quoted Comment Mine is like 12 or 15/pp We are doing a breakfast reception following our 1am ceremony. We're getting a ton of food for our price.

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Yeah I was shocked at my $10pp quote for our bbq buffet - but I'll take it for sure!! It's the only way I can feed 300 lol, w/o cutting people from the list (which I hate to do!). Of course this price totally excludes alcohol and the price of the venue. All in... we are looking at around $53/per person which is a good deal for my mid-western city (some venues we toured were much higher/some much lower).

And..... yummm, have fun with your breakfast reception - that sounds amazing!!

We're having just over 200 people. Our caterer priced us at $14 per person for a mac and cheese bar with a salad, roll, starch, and veggie. This also includes silverware, plates, and napkins. On top of the base price we have a 7% sales take and 18% service fee. Because of what I had read on here, I asked several times if the service fee was a gratuity and she told me it was. However, everything I've read said a lot of times that is separate. In total, we're right about $3,600 for catering.

My catering is my largest expense. 3350 for apps, cupcakes, entrees, iced teas and lemonades for 50 people. This also includes linens, set up, take down and servers.