How much "should" catering cost?

This will depend entirely on where you are located and what you want to serve. I'd reach out to a few caterers in your area to see what they say.

This is completely subjective on your location. Also, your timing is good for not having to have a full meals worth but appetizers cost more because of the labor.

I am having 15 different heavy hors doevres to be enough for a meal: beef tenderloin, crab cakes, smoked salmon, mini hot browns, etc. The pure labor and food costs for this come to $55 a person. The bar is completely separate. The wedding is in a very low cost of living rural area.

The wedding is in Columbia SC. Thanks for the tips. I'll reach out to a few caterers and get some price guesimations.

This is going to widely vary based on your location and caterer. My caterer is from the largest town in Iowa, where prices seem to run about the national average, and for enough apps for a non-meal time would probably run us about $25-30/pp, and enough to replace a full meal (including stations) would probably be about $60+ pp.

As PPs have said, this completely depends on where you are and what you are looking to serve. In my area, it's about $150-$300 per person depending on the venue. You can go a tiny bit cheaper, but you get what you pay for.

I'm in RHode island

Mine is 125pp

includes hors nerves 6 choices,approximately 6 pieces pp.

4 Coarse Dinner

Top shelf open bar for 4 hours

Yes, I agree with the others that this totally depends on your wedding location and what you choose in your catering package. For instance, my wedding is in Washington D.C. and I am choosing a carter that does a la carte: I only need a two course (salad and entree; the appetizers will be provided from another vendor; the liquor is BYOB, we are only using their liquor license and bartenders; and the dessert (cupcakes) is also another vendor) family style catered dinner for 150 adults for $75 per plate. A children's menu, self-serving coffee/tea stand, and non-alcoholic mixers for the bar will be added separately and not counted in the $75/pp estimate.

Definitely reach out to caterers to get a feel for it before you totally structure your budget. We guesstimated at all of our vendors first - we were pleasantly surprised by a couple ($1000s less than we imagined) and shocked by others ($1000s more than we imagined).

We are having a cocktail style reception as well. Lots of heavy apps, passed and stationary, pasta bar, mashed potato bar, carving stations..... Ours came out to like $60 a head. I had a few caterers tell me doing a wedding this way is actually MORE expensive than a sit down dinner because they have to make so many different things in mass quantities. We wanted it because we wanted a party atmosphere to dance and mingle and didn't want everyone to have to sit down at a specific time to eat.

Catering will be a large chunk of your budget - at least 50% of it.

I'm in Massachusetts (western) and paying 100$ pp with top shelf open bar

Lots.

Depends on style n location of wedding. I'd say typically, 50% of your total budget seems to go towards venue/food/drinks.

For me food was $115 PP and I budgeted an extra $40 per person for alcohol for a three hour reception.

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Set your budget first and then determine how many people you can afford to host within those parameters.

Our's is $50/person, at 130 people. That also doesn't include alcohol. But, if you do your research, you can always find something cheaper!

It can vary so much, and depends on if alcohol is included. In my area, it ranged from $15-200 ppn for food alone (before taxes), depending on venue, caterer, specific options, etc. We ended up finding something we really love for $17ppn plus a one-time $300 service fee. Alcohol around here would run an additional ~$40-100 ppn (again depending on options).

For our catering we are estimated for 175 people we are having 2 meats, salad, 3 vegetables, and rolls for $950

There are several factors that influence vendor costs including the average cost for catering. I imagine that your venue has permitted you to use outside caterers because many venues will have in-house menus or formal partner's from which to select. Additionally, the type of ingredients in your heavy hors d'oeuvres will change the food costs; for example veal meatballs will likely be more expensive than beef, and an organic crudités will likely be more expensive than traditionally farmed platters. I'm certain that through quotes from several local vendors, you will be able to find a career that you find delicious that also fits within your budget.