Feeding Vendors

Two of our contracts say that we must feed them so we’re going to feed everyone. I didn’t expect that at the start of all my planning but it does make sense. They’re going to be there all day with little breaks so it’s only fair to give them a good dinner.

We are feeding all our vendors the same meal as our guests (minus plated salad & appetizers).

We fed our vendors the same meal as our guests. At $100 a pop, it wasn't cheap. But we wanted them well fed and happy!

Definitely feed your vendors, they deserve it! Our caterer charged $84 per guest, but gave a discount and charged only $45 per vendor. We included our photographer, day of coordinator & her assistant since all 3 were working well over 6 hours; we even included them in our seating chart so they could take a minute to sit & relax to enjoy their meal.

We initially did not include our bartender or DJ since both were only working 5 hours, but we had plenty of food (we did a buffet style), so we invited them both to hop in line and get some food Something our caterer actually didn't mind as we asked before inviting those two vendors. Our photobooth was only at the venue for 3 hours, after dinner, so he was not included, but we did run him down some desserts to enjoy while he manned the booth!

Our vendor meals were not cheaper, but we obviously didn't have to pay for their bar. So for "standard" adults, we paid $90 pp and for vendors/pregnant/non-drinking adults we paid $55 or something like that. But they had the exact same meal as guests, just no alcohol.

Definitely feed them! I personally would feel so guilty if I didn't feed all of my vendors who will be attending the reception since most of them will be with me for 6+ hours.

Yeah, you need to feed them. Even if they eat before they come, you can't expect that to tide them over the whole day... At least for us, some of our vendors, like our photog will be there 10-12 hours. We aren't providing the same surf and turf that we are hosting our guests with, but we are providing a fresh hot meal, with a salad to all our vendors who will be there at dinner time. Our venue offered a "vendor" meal, which was chicken, starch and salad and was about $58 less than our guests meal, it allowed us to feed them well without breaking the bank.

Thanks for bringing this up. Heck, I even used to be a vendor (MUA) and never even thought about something like that. In my contract, I just stated that the price of my meal while traveling was included in the final group makeup quote.

I'm glad someone brought this up because now I know it's something to take into consideration!

If they'll be there longer than 4 or 5 hours I think it would be rude not to feed them.

I can’t believe that! I was a server for a long time working in very busy restaurants! A typical day for me would be working 8 to 9 hours quickly scarfing down a protein bar or a small sandwich in between. Did I demand a hot meal? Never! If I did I would be paying for it and guess what half the time I never got to eat it hot it was always cold because I was too busy… Get this! Doing my job! Catering to other people that are paying me to cater to them! I never once demanded a steak dinner or the same food as the people I’m serving! Don’t these vendors understand that brides and grooms have to sacrifice a lot of loved ones on their guest list in order to even have a wedding? These vendors are getting paid Very Well!!!In my opinion the only people that I think should be getting fed the same meal is the DJ and or the band because they cannot bring their own food and they are working the hardest sweating their bums off all night to make you have the best wedding ever. Everyone else is just doing their job.

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Why are you bumping old threads to argue against feeding anybody but the music people? Are you, by chance, a DJ, given your name? It's pretty ballsy of you to claim that the only people who deserve to be fed are the DJ/band members because they're working the hardest (eye roll) and can't bring their own food (and everyone else can??).

By law, if you cross a meal time, and they work 4 or more hours where food is served, you have to feed them. Or let them leave to go get a meal, which no one does. Before doing anything, talk to your vendors. I was surprised none of ours wanted the meal served . But usually, some do not. People tend to serve very heavy, rich fare at parties and receptions, and lots of vendors who may do 3-5 functions with big meals a week, cannot keep reasonable health and weight, gorging on goodies. Others, often photographer, DJ or musician, and most especially bartenders, get their break during the ceremony, an hour and a half before food is ready. Or work through, taking several 10-15 minute breaks, not a meal time. Two of our asked for a cold meal like a work lunch, because every time they take 3 bites of a hot meal, they are off doing something. And would rather have something they can eat in stages at noon meal times. We had our caterer make up 2 such box lunches, one vendor ate the meal when we did, a second photographer. And 2 preferred to have meals of their choice they could bring, so we gave them $20 with our before wedding payments. One got a kosher meal, one a yogurt, sandwich and such meal , diabetic and allergic to wheat. Most caterers serve vendors a reduced price meal, but then around here, catered meals are rarely under $60 -80 for the lowest tier things, so $35-40 would be a reduced price. But talk with your vendors for their preferences and necessary diets first.

View Quoted Comment Lol no I’m not a “DJ”. Its a reference to an old tv show. Are you a wedding photographer?? If you must know I’m actually a bride to be that thinks it’s ridiculous to be serving steak dinners to your vendors. I didn’t realize it was out of line to think that grown adults working a job don’t know how to feed themselves.I’m having a REAL wedding catering company provide my services! They feed their employees i.e. bartenders, raw bar, servers, and bussers. I think it’s extremely uncouth for any vendor to demand to be fed the same as the guests when you’re Paying them $3000 or more for a 6 hour wedding. It was a server for many years. Sometimes worked 8 to 12 hour shifts snacking on protein bars running my butt off. If I did get a hot meal it probably wasn’t hot by the time I was able to eat it. I never complained and I was never spiteful to my customers about it, it’s called a part of the job. And guess what I wasn’t making three grand in one night. It’s not even so much the idea of me Not thinking they deserve a steak dinner like my guests. It’s more so the fact that I’m reading some of these forums with these photographers on there and the way they talk about sabotaging wedding photos in spite of not getting fed the same meal is outrageous! Some places are charging 180 bucks ahead without vendor discount. We worked very hard to have our wonderful wedding and it will be expensive. We also had to make cuts to our guest list of our own family and friends to have a beautiful day. I can’t imagine if I had to add 10 more heads of 180 apiece just so I can have them serve at my wedding the job that I hired them to do. They’re not guests their workers

View Quoted Comment And furthermore… I didn’t realize it was against the rules to be “bumping old threads “. I guess I’m not a forum aficionado like you.But continuing… The DJ is basically a part of your wedding. They typically will lug all of their own equipment and they are socially engaged with your guestsAs well speaking on behalf of the couple throughout the entire night. The band also has to lug all of their own equipment and I feel like it’s just one less thing they have to worry about. The band and the DJ do not stop for the entire night. Every wedding I’ve been to I see these photographers sitting down, taking a load off well these DJs and or the bands are busting their butts playing non stop, taking requests, and really socially engaging with people.Then I’ve had some friends who have said they spent all this money on photographs and have the photographs come out like garbage. They don’t even see half of the photo shots they’ve taken throughout the night because they came out poor. These are not bottom of the barrel photographers. These are $4000+ Photographs. Give me a break. They can snack on something for six hours and eat after. These people need to learn to grow up and stop being babies. There’s no other job that requires a place to feed you. Especially when you’re hired contractor!

View Quoted Comment Lol you wanted to keep them happy?? I thought part of their fee was to be happy through out the night. Its 2019 and it seems like professionalism is now a far cry

View Quoted Comment That must be a California law....When you hire vendors you’re hiring them as contractors… You don’t file a W-2 for them at the end of the year LOL. So unless you may live in California I didn’t think it was a law that you have to feed contractors.... Breaks I can understand but you don’t have to give them food LOL.