Pricing

Usually catering and venue make up about 50-60% of your total budget. There are a lot of different options in catering but the cheapest I’ve seen is $10 per person for bbq, Mexican, or Italian restaurant drop off catering.

You could also get a cake from Sam's Club if you have one nearby! That's what we are doing and I believe it was around $75-80.

How many guests and where are you located? Those two things play a huge role in what average costs for caterers and bakers would be.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!! I did not think of that

View Quoted Comment 210 people in Holland Mi

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This is similar to the one we are getting (we have about 50 people)- https://www.samsclub.com/p/3-tiered-white-cake-with-but'r'creme-icing/prod14090421
Having closer to 200 people (and assuming the Sam's Club route), you could do something similar to ours and then also have a decorated sheet cake!

I agree there are too many variables to give you a "reasonable" estimate -- location, time of year, type of catering/venue, etc. We're in a relatively high cost area and cocktail hour, a duet plated meal and 5 hours of open premium open bar were about $180 pp with tax and tip. (Cake was another $400.) When we factored everything in, that was pretty standard for the location/service level.

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Hi there. I just got married in Grand Rapids! I paid almost $6000 for catering for 120 guests which included appetizers and a buffet. For 210 people you are around $28 a person which also needs to include taxes, fees, and service charge.

Is $6,000 what you have left or is that how much you have left of your budget? Because to put it in perspective we spent $7,000 on food, drinks (including alcohol) and cake for 90 people.

View Quoted Comment It’s the total. I’ve already paid for alcohol

I would say do your research on both! Both can get expensive. When my brother got married he and my sister-in-law researched like crazy and found a local woman who make cakes and desserts out of her kitchen. It wasn't her full time job, just something she did it on the side. They spent $200 for their wedding cake, 120 cupcakes and a bunch of cookies with their names and wedding date on them. If you cannot find someone like that, I agree with some previous posters; check Sams Club or Publix. My FH and I got VERY lucky with our cake and a co-worker's wife of mine who has her own business is making our cake for free.

As far a catering goes, that can be tricky. I would 100% do a buffet b/c that will cut the price immediately. I'd say look into restaurants like Sticky Fingers, Olive Garden or any other place like that to do catering. My FH and I got a quote from Sticky Fingers when we were looking for our caterer for $1,600 for 150 people, which I thought was really cheap b/c that's for their full service catering with set up, take down, serving and cake cutting. It also offered multiple options for our guests. If your venue allows you to use outside catering with a restaurant like Sticky Fingers, try something like that.

I've hired a food truck, sounds pretty reasonable so far!! $25 per person, having wine and beer bar, hiring college students to assist! I rented a community building and having the ceremony and reception there together!