How to save on wedding catering cost?
When it comes to weddings, Catering is often the top expensive element after venue and sometimes even beats the venue to take the 1st position. If you are on a budget and are planning for a budget wedding, consider the following points for your wedding catering to save more. With careful choices and proper planning you can considerably save on the overall cost.
1. Hand-Pass Buffet:
If you’ve arranged a buffet meal, hand-pass pricier dishes if not all like Kebabs, other starters instead of the guests serving themselves, people consume 30-40% less when hand-passed than if they had to serve themselves.
2. Family Style Serving:
Arrange a family style seating with 6-8 seats per table, and serve the food as a family meal. Examples:
– Family Platters like 1 big Salad platter and 1 big Appetizers (kebabs) platters – 1 round per table. 1 additional salad plate to munch on along with the main course
– Soups can be served directly in servings bowls 1 bowl per seat, additionally can keep 1 mid-size bowl of soup – if anyone would like to have some more.
3. Number of Platters:
Keep only 1 platter or 2 platters with 1 seafood and 1 poultry, more options you provide for the guests to choose from more will be your catering bill, hence going with 2 fish (prawns are costlier than fish) 2 chicken (1 boneless and 1 with bones) and 1 veg entree should be good.
Tip 1: A good caterer can offer minimum choices likable by everyone. Even a tasty veg. item please non-veg guests.
Tip 2: Serve less number of amazing items/dishes than serving more number of cheaper options just to show you have provided a lavish spread on the dining table. Know that, guests will not mind to see lesser items on the table if the food they’re going eat is extremely delicious, on the other hand no matter how large the dining table is with variety of dishes if the taste sucks they’ll remember the taste and overlook the number of items in fact more the dishes more to talk about negatively. This is especially true when you squeeze the caterer for the prices just to include a multiple items – resulting is taste & quality compromise.
4. Lesser Food Options:
No matter what you can never please everyone at the same time, so presuming by hosting a grand feast for your guests with many varieties of dishes you are going to please every single of them then this isn’t going to work This will infact shoot up your catering cost a lot instead of ordering multiple items from chicken meat seafood and veggies, arrange 1 or max. 2 items from each section. For example you can keep chicken, fish and veg in Starters, chicken curries and mutton biryani.
5. Comparison Shop:
Do a comparison of the prices for each item and then decide the dishes for example prawns are costlier than Fish, so it will be wiser to have fish than prawns at your wedding reception, likewise for chicken platters you can include 1 boneless and 1 with bone same goes for the cooking methods Haleem is more laborsome than gosht marag, and so is seekh kebab than mutton tikka , you can cut down on labor cost thereby getting a lower quote from the caterer feel free to ask your wedding caterer to advise you the costly items.
6. Number of Guests:
Yes you got what we are about to talk. Wait wait wait, we know you are tempted to invited everyone in your mind aferall its your wedding receptiom and once in a life-time event, but calling everyone out there isn’t a great idea especially knowing your catering is not lumsum but per head. Meaning more number of guests will result in higher catering cost.
Tip 1: we know it is a tough one but it is a reality so whenever you are in confusion of “to invite or not to” remember this the more mouths you have to feed the more heavier it is going get on your pockets
Tip 2: you need to also remember number of guests will not just impact your cratering budget but overall wedding cost like cost of venue is dependent on number of guests and so is the entire decor of the venue, hence prioritize the guest list finalization only after that you move on to other aspects.
7. Family Owned Catering Company:
Giving the catering order of your wedding to someone in the family or someone who you personally know will reduce the catering costs. Giving the catering order to some one you know will brings its own benefits like they will go the extra mile to make your wedding special and more accommodating considering budget.
Caution: By family owned catering business we mean REAL business not just anyone in your family who thinks they can handle catering at your wedding because they have catered at their well for a birthday party of their nephew last month. This is a BIG NO. if you have someone who is successfully running their catering business only then you go ahead with them else you are better off with a regular caterer outside.
8. Go Seasonal:
There are endless opportunities with the caterers if you are willing to pay for what you desire, however if you are on a budget then select your dishes with seasonal ingredients . this will directly reduce your catering cost which otherwise would increase if out-of season menu is desired
Tip: Do not simply go ahead with whatever your caterer suggests, they may have tons of options to choose from but wise is to design your menu with local and seasonal ingredients in mind.
So here are our top tips you need to consider to cut-down you catering cost. For more clarity and options contact Elite Caterers => call.
Also read: Best tips to cut down overall wedding cost “Best Wedding Budget Tips“
This is just excellent, I can remember vividly when my aunt got married, catering services was the highest in the budget for the event. This article is really useful for those planning events and are on a specified budget and do not want to go beyond it, it’ll be of great help to me also, my dad’s birthday is in a bit and I’m in charge of catering and design, so I can use some of these tips to minimize my expenses. Giving the catering service to someone in the family or related is always the best coz most external caterers will go the extra mile to drive in profit into their own pocket. Thanks for sharing this informative article.
Awesome post! I remembered two years ago, when we were planning to save up cost for the wedding dinner, we concluded to go with a friend of the family that stays far from our location, he knows how to cook very well and also has his own catering business and I had all the right food and the reception was a buffet at less than half of the cost.
This is really going to be helpful for my sister’s wedding that is coming up pretty soon. With this, I’m sure we’ll be having a very slim Budget wedding and we wouldn’t have to spend a lot. I think the caterer already gave her a list and she was complaining about how long and expensive everything in there is. So we will both use your tips here to cut it down. Thanks and best regards.
Glad that our tips are helpful to you in cutting down the cost at your sister’s wedding reception. Yes, you don’t need to give in to the Caterer’s expensive list and invited unnecessary stress on the financial part. Strictly follow what you can comfortably afford for a stress-free event. Thanks for stopping by.
Oh, yeah, I remember when a friend of mine was having his wedding and he used the family-style serving and also cut down on some meals. The wedding went very well and there was still enough for everyone. I think to be able to do this, you have to know the number of people coming. Your tips are really good and I agree that catering is one of the expensive in a wedding expense. I will use your tips when I’m planning mine too. Cheers!
As the wife of a Church Minister, I have attended many wedding celebrations and have not been to a wedding where there was any problem with the food.
Catering to a large wedding really needs to be done by a catering company which deals with larger weddings. I often wonder whether the couple or their parents think afterward that they could have had the catering done for less, especially if they had cut the number of guests invited.
The worst thing to sit through at a wedding reception is the unprepared speeches and often the crude jokes. It puts everyone on edge, as you don’t know what is coming next.
Many of the wedding celebrations are now conducted on wine farms and the catering is then done by the catering company attached to that establishment.
There are many ways to cut costs but you have to consider what the bride and groom want, if they are paying or if the parents are paying. It is good to sit down and discuss this all beforehand so as to cut down on any drama.
This is a must-read for anyone who is in the process of organizing a wedding. Our own wedding was many years ago and only a small affair, so the catering was not an issue. Basic, good quality and great service, all included in the venue.
That said, I have four children, two of whom are heading toward that stage of their lives, where this might become a ‘thing’. It would be prudent for me to start putting in place means to finance the occasion(s). It will certainly be different from mine, as their circle of friends far outweighs what mine was and that’s before family.
The measures you have outlined are well thought through. Smaller, yet varied choices make sense. I particularly liked the idea of the ‘seasonal’ approach. I won’t be able to have much influence on the numbers but how they are catered for, I can. Also, my eldest has worked in a number of food establishments so might still have some contacts that he at least could get more favorable quotes for.
I have bookmarked your article as I think I will be coming back to it, in the not so distant future. Many thanks.
When it comes to the wedding, everyone is afraid of the expenses. All the suggestions and ideas will cost money or about expense. However, your article is helping us to save money on a wedding, which is amazing.
Indeed, it’s not about the quantity but it’s about the quality. I have some experience, in some marriages, they have too many dishes (they are very concerned about the number of items, not on the quality & taste) but only a few tastes good.
I have seen a lot of people wasting many of the items. We can’t criticize the guests and we can’t compel them to eat the food that is not good. So as you mentioned, it is wise to go for a few items with great quality and taste.
Advice on Family Owned Catering Company is very helpful. However, sometimes the relatives charge more than the outside caterer lol.
Hi! These tips and advice you have given here are very useful. I’m thankful I came across your site.
One of the more difficult issues when having a wedding on budget is deciding who comes and who doesn’t to your wedding. But as we know, it directly impacts how much we’ll spend. Tips such as hiring a close family company and going seasonal can make a huge difference. Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by Henry, Glad that you found our article helpful.