Menu finalized for reception

That does sound ridiculous. If they aren't willing to settle on a price this far out just so they can gouge you for more money later on, I would look for another caterer. Lots of people book caterers a year or more before their wedding.

I understand your concern. Daughter's venue was semi-inclusive, including all food and beverage. She booked 18 months in advance of the wedding for a set price; however, there was a clause in the contract that the f&b portion of the contract would not be finalized until 90 days prior to the event -- but the potential increase was capped at 10% of the estimate in the contract. We signed, because that was a pretty standard thing in all the contracts we saw. We just budgeted for the 10% increase. Luckily, the venue stuck by their original cost estimate, so three months before the wedding daughter was able to shift what we'd budgeted for the cost increase to something else. I can understand the caterer wanting to protect themselves against future cost increases, but I'd also expect them to give you a reasonable estimate of costs. If they won't budge, I agree with pp about looking for a different caterer. Good luck!

That is ridiculous! We were specifically told by our venue that by booking in advance we secured the current price so even if prices went up we wouldn’t be affected. I would not settle for that. Get a contract signed with prices!

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This is pretty much our scenario exactly. Venue "locked in" the pricing for when we signed, but there is a clause about food and beverage. Part of the reason for this at our venue is because their menu changes slightly with the seasons. They have some dishes all year round, but there are others that only show up seasonally. So, the sample menu we looked at when we booked the venue in August will be slightly different than the menu we actually get for our May wedding. So, they won't even schedule us for a tasting, and then lock in the final food and beverage price until 3 months out.

It seems odd if you already signed a contract, you should know their pricing.

Yikes! You do not deserve this added stress! Find someone else, and write them a bad review!

View Quoted Comment The only signing we have done was the hotel block. Have not signed a thing as far as catering. The stickler being.... venue has their own inside caterer. So we can’t even look at another caterer.

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I'm a little confused. Do you have a contract for the venue itself? If you do, I'd talk with them about problems you are having with THEIR required catering vendor. As mentioned in my pp, I understand a caterer wanting to "hedge" their quote a bit to cover unanticipated cost increases, but they need to be able to give you a reasonable estimate. If the caterer refuses, and the venue can't influence them or won't allow you to consider other catering options, then I'd look for different venue. It's not reasonable to expect you to commit to the venue with absolutely NO IDEA what your food & beverage costs are going to be. Good luck!

That's odd. Our venue included food and beverage. Our contract showed us the exact per person cost (including taxes and fees) and gave an estimate total price based on our projected number of guests. We then gave them a final headcount 2 weeks before the wedding and got the final price, but it was based on that per person figure so the only thing that affected a change in price was a change in headcount.

That’s actually really typical for a venue with in-house catering. Most of the places we toured had in-house catering, and all of them had specific notes in the pricing guides that menu prices cant be locked in until about a month before the wedding.