How much are y'all spending on catering?

I don't know how much mine is because it is included in my all inclusive venue price, but we were told it was over half of our total price.

Yikes!! I just found a weddingbee article that said a lot of those couples are spending 50% of their budget on food. Goodness! That helps though. Thanks for sharing @MsVanWinkle!

I feel like there are too many variables to figure out what a good estimate would be. What type of food do they serve? The salmon and top serloin was about 10 dollars more per plate at my venue. Ceramic plating and additional $5 per plate. With hors d'oeuvres and non alcoholic drinks it comes to about $40 per person for their tri tip and chicken meal, but im in California. Seemed like a lot until I looked at the hidden fees associated with outside catering..... I would recommend in house! They may also provide table linens and such with the catering!

Yes. Half of your budget should go to catering.

Food is the most!!! Mine is included, but you still see that its what your paying the most for

You could look on some websites of places with similar food you're interested in and check their pp prices. I think it's the only way to get a good grasp on the cost local to you.

I'm in the south so I don't know if this helps but my venue is 500 down and then I'll probably spend another 500 for food this is a picture of it

We had tri tip and chicken, two sides, salad, and rolls as a buffet for $25/person plus 30% service charge. Central Valley California, so kinda in the low-middle of the spectrum for cost of living. Everything else we looked at was comparable, sometimes a little more. I wouldn't really expect anything less than that

Mine is about $200 per person but includes an open bar, wedding cake and tableside service. My wedding will be in Sonoma, CA.

$66/ person for buffet dinner, appetizers and coffee/soda , $275 for cake (cutting and the cake itself), and a Consumption bar. Bay Area, CA

@Kay I'm in the Central Valley too! Where did you get married?

We are having 15 people at a restaurant reception and spending about $1500-$2000, on food and booze for the day. Our budget is $5000-$6000.

This is an impossible question to answer. Food isn't food, right? There is McDonalds and there's the French Laundry. In NJ, you can plan on 120+, and 28% for tax and service at an inclusive place with liquor. This is roughly what you'd spend on a really nice dinner with three courses and drinks, which is one good way to estimate what you should be spending.

The only good barometer is what you can afford. Can you feed 100 people on 5000? Possibly, but it's not going to be great, no matter where you are. Food costs what it does, labor costs what it does; the only way to cut down on costs is to use lesser quality, pre-prepared food and cut down on the quality of service.

Can you feed 20 people beautifully on a 5000 budget? For sure. Less stress all around.

I don't honestly know how one would spend 500.00 on food. That's not even 10 people here.

My venue is all inclusive. But it's 100 per person before taxes and service charges. Which includes passed hor deurves, plated dinner, champagne toast, and 4 hours of open bar.

And I think my taxes and service charges together are like 28%.

Mine is $98/pp all inclusive. 3 passed hor deurves, Plated dinner (3 meal choices), alcohol (beer, wine, 2 sig drinks), cake w/ taxes, gratuities & service charge.

There are many variables to catering but I think you should plan on at least 30% of your budget. Our max count is 83 and our catering is about 20% of our budget assuming 70 people come.

Mine is $225 per person in CT. The price includes open bar and wedding cake as well.

Depends highly on your location, but from what I see most people here paying, it's a lot.

My wedding is is NH/ME and I'm having 100 guests. Our caterer is doing a BBQ buffet style dinner with tons of options and enough food for seconds and thirds for only $1200.

I just had my taste testing with her last weekend and everything is amazing. This price includes plates, servingware and a staff. She also does set up/take down and a bunch of coordination with the cake lady and DJ. I got extremely lucky finding her, but I think a price like that is super rare.

Edited to add: don't be afraid to negotiate with people when you're looking for prices. I talked to numerous restaurants as well as the woman I chose to go with and they were all willing to work with me on price.

There are so many variables for this but we are spending about $750 for 20 guests for a brunch wedding (that does not include alcohol which will probably make it more like $1500)

I am getting married in WNY and it is costing us $61 per person. That includes sooo much though. All our apps, 4 hours of open bar, plated meal, cake cutting, white glove service etc... it was an amazing deal. We could not pass it up, even though it was our (my) second choice venue.