Is the cost of catering..

I think it's that you're not just paying for the food, you're also paying for the staff etc. my catering bill (which was $10k for 100 people) also included our ceremony and reception chairs, all the linens that we rented, the staff to serve the plated dinner, cake and hors d'ouvres, etc, etc, etc.

Does that include open bar?

Is it really that hard to imagine? How much do you think the chef gets paid? The servers? They include all sorts of equipment into it too. That doesn't count the commercial kitchen equipment and space. Then there is the time they spend getting you menu just right with tastings, paperwork and all. Someone has to work to get those things done. My caterer is arranging for the tenting and everything else too.

It's just like every other job. Your iPod is not a dj. It has no finesse or personality. They might both play music but the experience is entirely different.

Kahlcara summed it up the same way I would have. The last time I went out for a nice dinner where we had a appetizers, dinner, a couple drinks, dessert, it approached $200 for 2 of us, so, $100/person for a wedding seems pretty typical.

I think this really all depends on the type and quality of food that you want at your wedding. If you want to serve filet mignon and lobster to every guest with an open bar then you have to expect to pay the price whereas if you serve less formal options you could probably get away with half or less of the price.

Typical??!?

$10,000 is almost double our wedding budget. Honestly, you can get all your linens pretty cheaply and chair and table rentals aren't even that expensive.. I mean, I guess if you want super fancy food with super fancy servers... But $10,000 is a lot to drop on food for one day.

I work for a restaurant and my boss said they would do my catering for $400 for 50 people (super yummy breakfast and lunch foods with coffee/juices and fresh fruit and pastries for the "cocktail hour"). I'm spending about $200 on my linens and my venue includes chairs and tables (venue is $2000).

I would check around for other prices.

Does that include alcohol.

I am having a couple friends of the family cook my dinner. They work in a seniors home and are use to cooking for over 100 people. We are doing roast beef, ham, potatoes, steamed veggies, ceasar and garden salad and a few other things. It is costing us under 2000 and that includes paying people to serve (served buffet) cook. I have white linens included with my venue and will be buying table runners.

What's all included? Price does seem high even... interesting..

That is a lot, but it depends on the food you want. I'm guessing this is for steak, fish, etc?

I don't feel like it's necessary to have that type of food at a wedding (I personally don't think is works very well for large groups anyway). I am having a hawaiian buffet with kalua pork, char sui chicken, purple sticky rice, kimchi, pasta salad, and pineapple carrot salad. Then there will also be a veggie rice noodle dish for vegetarians and gluten free dieters. Then with various appetizers it's going to cost about $12 a person. I'm cool with it because while it may be on the casual side, it's to-die-for good, plus it travels well and stays good and hot on the buffet.

My catering is 11k.. ;\

Although my price doesn't include plates glasses or silverware (I am renting those), or labor.

The many quotes we got for 100 people was about 10,000, sometimes more. The cost of the food was about 5000 of that and the rest is staff, cutlery, linen, plate, glass rentals and service charges. We ended up going with a restaurant and our quote is 5000 for food which includes all staff and rentals. Even though we will have to pay for alcohol at restaurant prices it's still probably less than if we did catering and bought our own alcohol to serve. Crazy I know!

If you look hard enough you should be able to find good catering for cheaper than that. A lot of the caterers I looked into in my area charged around that price but I have found a handful with good reviews in the $20-30 range including servers, china and linens.

I'm originally from a small town in the middle of nowhere where the best and most expensive caterer charges $15 a head so I refuse to pay $100 a person for the same type of service.

I really think this is a regional thing.

I see some brides paying $40-60 a plate

We are only paying $23 per plate that includes:

2 entrees

3 sides

salad, rolls and unlimited wine and beer.

That's a pretty average price here in Ohio

It pretty much includes everything except open bar, we are bringing our own liqueur. So rentals, mixers, bartender, and then food which is fish and chicken and then appetizers. Some of the other stuff I get it was mainly the price of the food. But it does make since I guess since my family of 6 can go to dinner and spend over $1000 on food and drinks.

I know!! To be honest i think caterimg is the most expensive in whats wedding overall bill

Whats included in that 10k? cuz for my venue, catering, linens, chairs all will run me about 6k. and thats with 20.95 pp for the food of 150 guest.

We paid $14K for 125 people. We are in the DC area, so this was actually a pretty good price. It included pretty much everything - cocktail hour, food, open beer & wine, linens & our wedding coordinator came with it. It really depends on your area and the type of wedding you're having.

My catering is way more, but it includes the tent and everything under it. Lots of staff since we are having stations and most things will be cooked on site. It's worth every penny if you ask me.

Mine was 10,650 for the venue rental, ceremony fee, food (buffet + cocktail hour), tables, chairs, linens, table settings, staff, and full open bar for 100 people. Included gratuity and tax and DOC. We're in the DC area and thought it was a steal. It ended up slightly less because we ended up with 84 people.

The only thing it didn't include was chair covers, which we rented separately. And it didn't include a cake, but there was no cake cutting fee.