Catering your Wedding
Advice from Cookbook Author Cynthia Nelson

Long after the wedding is over, tongues will still wag about two things – the bride, and the food. Uppermost would be how the bride looked – was she happy? Did the dress fit well? Was the dress beautiful? Was she radiant? Was she tired? Then on to the food. Was there a variety? Was it served up lavishly? How did it taste?

The menu or food for a wedding should be carefully crafted and coordinated so that the “experience” of the meal is just as wonderful and memorable as the resplendent bride on the wedding day.

People will forgive overdone decorations, and mismatched furniture but not poor quality, inadequate or unsatisfying food. Yet, why is this the case? There are lots of other things about the wedding to celebrate and revel in – the service, the décor, the ambience, and the music. Could it be that the food is extremely important because of its symbolism? It is about the breaking of bread, the inviting of family, friends, loved ones and well wishers to your table to parttake in a bountiful meal. In very many ways, the meal at the wedding is the bride and groom’s first hosting of a dinner party. It’s their first outing and they intend to impress.

Sampling

Many of the couples interviewed for this article – newlyweds and soon-to-be, confessed that when it came to their wedding and catering, they assumed (based on what they’d seen on television) that they’d get to meet the chef/cook, that there would be collaboration on creating the menu and more importantly, that they would be able to taste samples of the food before the wedding. Albeit, this seems a wonderful and practical approach here in the Caribbean, there are no such norms, though caterer and wedding planner, Melba Wood, says that this trend is gradually changing.

What currently uptakes is that prefixed menus are shown to prospective couples, which leaves very little room for maneuvering or for individual co-ordination; often it is like picking things from a rack of items, and mixing and matching to come up with a menu you think that you and your guests would enjoy.

The great news for the modern-day bride is that a few caterers will offer the opportunity to sample the food, for a nominal fee. It is not a service that they advertise but one that can be made available if you ask. Like everything else, caterers are moving with the times and are providing this service in order to remain competitive. When this is not an option, couples often follow the recommendations of others.

The Caterer

There are three questions caterers want answered before they offer you a quotation. They want to know the date of the wedding, the number of people to be invited and the style of the wedding – formal, informal, beach etc. This information helps to determine the kind of menu to be offered and the kind of service to be provided. Lastly, they will ask about your budget. There are tiers of catering – food, drinks, serving dishes and utensils and staff. What this means is that some quotations include all of the above and some do not. If your wedding is being catered and hosted in a restaurant or hotel-restaurant, the quotation automatically includes everything. However, if your wedding is being hosted at your home or some location off-site, then it is important that your catering contract outlines clearly what services are being offered and at what cost.

Type of Service

There are basically two types of services offered for weddings – buffet or table service. Table service is much more expensive but definitely more elegant. Most couples opt for buffet and not just because it is less expensive, but the buffet offers the opportunity to taste a variety of things from the menu – you can have many little bites that when combined is filling.

The table setting whether buffet or table service is standard with a dinner plate, knife, fork, dessert spoon, water goblet and paper napkin. This service can be upgraded in that you can have linen napkins decoratively presented, chargers (this is that large decorative plate in which the dinner plate sits), salad forks, soup spoons and wine glasses for separate courses. It goes without saying that this upgrade takes up the catering cost. Be sure to ask your caterer to present different table options.

The Contract

All information in your catering contract should be clearly stated and understood by both parties. Double check that all the things you discussed and agreed upon are included in the contract. No detail is too infinitesimal to have covered in the contract.

Extra Guests

So a few more people than you invited or expected turned up to the wedding, what does this mean for the food catered? Just as how when cooking at home, you cook extra food when having people over in case someone brings a friend or decides to have more than 2 servings, so too does the caterer. The difference here is that after a certain number, you will be charged for the extra.

Here’s how it works. A cater will prepare food for an extra 10-percent of the number of invited guests. For example, if there are 100 invited guests, they will cater for 110 guests. While they will never say this to you, it is an unspoken rule. Should the number of guests exceeds 110, they will charge you extra for every plate thereafter.

Cynthia Nelson is the author of the book, Tastes Like Home (IRP 2010) and the blog, Tastes Like Home, www.tasteslikehome.org CC