Nova/dc area: Open bar and catering

I'm kind of close to the NOVA/DC region (Baltimore) and am paying $109/person, which is my caterer's middle-priced package. A few caveats, though: We're providing the alcohol (caterer is providing all other beverages) and estimating $7-12/person. We also have a separate cake vendor, which will be about $4-5 per person (cutting costs by doing a small tiered cake and supplementing with sheet cakes). So our F&B grand total per person should be $120-125ish.

Oh! And this is for a plated dinner. The $109 includes 5 appetizers + market display during cocktail hour, first course, main course, and sundae bar.

Hi Judith! Catering & open bar can easily run from $90-$150 per person!!

Here's a great tool you can check out as well to help understand average pricing:

Hi Judith

We found a place locally that ranged from $89-109 a person, which included an open bar.

Thank you so much! That helped!

Thank you for the link!

Thanks for the details! A sundae bar sounds awesome!

I found that the going rate at both caterers and venues that do the food on site starts at about $150 per person for plated dinner and open bar, before tax and gratuity. As a rough estimate when planning out the larger budget I used $200 per person as the all-in number food food and beverage. Of course, there are venues and add-ons that can increase that cost. Doing food stations or a buffet is generally more expensive in the DMV area (it seems counter-intuitive, but they can't predict exactly how much food people will eat so the food costs are higher).