Vendor meals

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I think it depends on the caterer and the situation as to whether the couple gets the leftovers. For my wedding we had a BBQ place come out to my venue. They packaged and put away all leftovers for us. Due to food safety they were constantly replacing trays even if they weren't finished. In the end we had quite a bit leftover.

View Quoted Comment That’s awful! I didn’t realize that venues did that; my venue is giving or vendors the same meal choices our guests have so I just assumed that was how all venues were . I’d be pretty annoyed if I were paying for their meals and it was just a deli sandwich

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Change your contract to specify the same meal as the guests. I've seen contracts that do this.

My venue provides 5 vendor meals as part of my overall catering package. I'm pretty sure it's the same food as is being served to the guests.

My vendor contracts stated meals were to be provided, but we had planned to ask anyways. They all ultimately declined, though.

Our photographer contact asks for a vendor meal, but we plan on feeding anyone there all day. We just asked our caterer about it!

View Quoted Comment It specifies “a hot meal”. But caterers don’t tell clients what their vendor meal actually is and it’s very small detail most couples overlook. And I’m not about to walk up to a couple during dinner and tell them the food provided for me sucks and doesn’t meet contract specifications.

Just FYI that I just browsed previous comments.

Yes you ask the caterers if they would like vendor meals and for how many.

Our caterer charges half price for any vendor meals and what they do is prepare extra food and, after everyone has a run at our buffet, they will provide take out containers for the vendors to go through the line and make their own plates (so same food as us). They're making extra and will still pack up the leftover food for us to take. I was also told that they'll pack separate takeout plates specifically for the bride and groom knowing that we'll probably want to eat when we get back to our hotel! I love our caterers!

ETA: Our caterers appreciated us asking if they wanted meals but politely declined.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much. This is what I was curious about! Appreciate it.

View Quoted Comment Just so you know, if you have a photographer or videographer, they will not get to eat if all guests go through first, because by then you will be done eating and then be capturing you greeting guests or beginning spotlight dances.

View Quoted Comment Yeah the videographers will actually be making their plates first so that they can eat while everyone else is eating (it says so in their contract). The photographer won’t be eating during the reception but will be making a plate for himself to take home afterwards.

I’m on the side the catering staff should not have to be included in your vendor meals unless your contract says so but I would definitely immediately contact cater and say

im not providing meals for your staff at an additional fee,right? As it’s not in contract I just wanted to confirm that it’s already included in your pricing and not a surprise last minute addition”