For the last few weeks, I have been working behind the scenes with one of our favorite caterers Center Cut Catering. Working behind the scenes has allowed me to see the back bone that really keeps this industry going. I have always known the importance of really good food at a wedding, but this experience gave me such a different perspective. Investing in great catering for your wedding not only gets you great food - it gives you ease, less stress, better flow.
Your caterer is one of the most important aspects of your wedding, and here's why:
They make sure your food is hot and ready on time.
Without having a planner or someone to direct the flow of events this can become a difficult task. Especially when you have one person telling you the dinner will begin right after the first dance, but they under estimate the uncle who had a little too much to drink and winds up giving more of an inaugural speech than a brief toast.
They make sure everyone gets their food quickly.
There is nothing worse than having everyone at your reception get up at the same time to wait in line for the buffet. I mean we all saw what happened in Atlanta during snowpacalpyse 2014. A good caterer knows the worst guest is a hungry guest, so they will arrange the buffet line so that you don’t have a long wait or line out the door. They are used to preparing for functions of 200+ so a wedding is a piece of cake!
They are 100% on your team.
Your catering team is constantly prepping and cleaning behind the scenes and they’re on deck for whatever is next. Consider them your secret weapon. Keep this in mind when you see the service charge and/or price for servers. Say it with me, worth it.
Here are some of the things you can expect from most wedding caterers:
- Drives to the venue
- Unloads the food
- Sets the tables with china, flatware and napkins
- Sets up the chaffing dishes
- Sets up and prepares the appetizers
- Gets the buffet ready for dinner
- Serves the guests
- Replenishes the buffet as needed
- Buses the tables
- Washes the dishes
- Cuts the cake
- Serves the cake
- Continue washing of dishes
- Begins packing up items to take home
And then there's the chefs who have been cooking all day for the event. If you ordered BBQ, it started slow roasting and smoking up to a day before the event. Most wedding catering starts at $30 a person and that rate totally makes sense when you take into account all that goes into preparing and executing the meal. If you have any questions on catering, feel free to send us a message here.
Photo from Jen + Bob's wedding photographed by Rustic White.