Reception Catering

I am doing a ten course family style dinner. I would say mine is the average price for my area for that type of food.
I wanted a buffet but my groom was so against it due to fear of food waste, which he hates.

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I like the family style idea! How many people will be attending your wedding?

View Quoted Comment We are expecting 250 guests! Surprisingly the buffet would have been cheaper aha.

We had a plated meal. We had stations and passed appetizers for cocktail hour, a 3 course plated meal for dinner, and then dessert which was $134 per person and included gratuity. Beer and wine was an extra $55 a person.

We did a buffet. Many people have different appetites and I couldn’t imagine serving the same portion to everyone (hello food waste!). We served beef short ribs, seafood pasta, roasted veggies, and mashed potatoes. Vegetarians got a plated dinner.
We also did 3 passed appetizers during the cocktail hour, and beer cheese pretzel late night snacks.
I’m not 100% sure the cost because it was bundled with the venue but let’s just say the price was way to dang high.
Staff from the catering company was there to refill the buffet.

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I think we are definitely going the buffet route. We want to serve good food, but I think the bill can get out of hand quickly. What did you serve for appetizers? Our reception and ceremony are in the same place and we'll need to serve something while we wrap up with pictures.

Our food, beverage and cake (and flowers and photography) has to be through the hotel. So I’m very happy about not seeking out vendors. It’s too early still, so we haven’t selected a specific menu. But it will definitely be plated so that our guests can be served and not have to get up and stand in a food line. And after the ceremony, we’ll have staff tray pass glasses of champagne (or our specialty drink) so that the bar doesn’t get crowded right away. Surprisingly to rent the event space is a food and beverage minimum of only $5k. 😮 So, we’re happy about that too because we’ll easily reach that amount with the food, bar and cake for 60-80 guests (Leaving lots of the budget remaining for whatever else).

View Quoted Comment We had a mini crab cake, mini beef wellington, and mini vegan zucchini roll

Getting married in October in Charleston, SC and our style is Rustic... so we chose to go with Barbecue. Can’t go wrong with Barbecue in the South! 😜 It’s a fancier and more expensive Barbecue, however. It will be set up buffet style, but there will be a staff member handcarving meats on the spot for our guests.

Our catering is included with our venue and is a plated service. It also includes cocktail hour, open bar, cake, and all tables, linens, plates etc for $110 pp which is pretty decent for our area.

We are doing brunch! Eggs, bacon, fruit, salad, waffles & hand carved prime rib! Apps will be passed during cocktails... mini quiches, ceased salad on a baguette & sausage in pastry rolls.

We did fruit and veggie displays for cocktail hr
Then we had a buffet dinner with
carving station with pork loin and turkey
mashed potato bar with regular mashed and mashed sweet potatoes and all the toppings
mixed veggies
yeast rolls
salad
With dessert we did a hot coca/coffee bar that I never made it over to 😔
I think we paid $22 per person. We used an outside vendor. Not sure what the average in my area is, but most places was double this amount.
Everyone raves about the food. Plus the caterer packed up the leftovers for us to take home 😊
oh we had the caterer and 3 servers who served at the buffet and helped clean up plates. They stayed the entire reception. She also coordinated all the rentals (plates, silverware, bar, etc)
wedding cake and alcohol were from different vendors and not included in the per person price

The food and liquor is included with out venue. We are having a 3 course plated dinner, along with cocktail hour with multiple passed hor dourves and stations. The cake and premium open bar are also included. We are paying $120pp. The ceremony will also be held at the venue. We will have wait staff all night to cater to our guests.

I will be doing a taco bar catered by one of our local street taco shops that gets voted "best in town" every year and they charge $1.00 per taco and then rice and beans are $50 for both and limes come included.

FH wanted a buffet, I wanted plated so we a happy compromise was family style. FH is Guyanese and I am American so we are having baked chicken, salmon, shrimp, oxtails with butter beans, cauliflower steak (for our vegans/vegetarians), rice with callaloo, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. His step mother is a caterer so she’s prepping our food and then having her team handle day of (she did her own wedding the same way lol). I don’t know how much she is charging us yet 🙈.

Oh we are also having a cocktail with four-five passed apps, a roti station, a slider station, a wing station and a pasta station.

Ours is kosher catering, which is more expensive than non-kosher catering. It will be a cocktail hour followed by a plated dinner at the reception.

This is ours! We had a lot of options to choose from. Our venue is mainly all inclusive (besides DJ and photography). We are doing plated and it was normally about $90pp plus gratuity/taxes. We got a 15% discount tho so it came to be $77pp plus gratuity/taxes. This also included the cake and open bar.

Taco/Nachos/Chips & Salsa Bar
$9.45/person
Staff is coming in to set up, tend to making sure it is full, and clearing plates. We also sprung for slightly nicer plates and cutlery in that price.
A little below average for our area, but just by a few dollars.

View Quoted Comment That's a great deal for everything you get