Member- Thorns-n-Roses
- 6 years ago
- Wedding: July 2013
I’m looking at three different caterers for my wedding. All three will be buffet style because Fiance and I LOVE buffet style weddings, and allow for us to get better food options.
Anyway, the three caterers range in price ($20-$40/plate) Prices include service and gratuity charges (I added them in myself). Serving 200 people.
Caterer #1 is $21.87/plate for baked chicken, pork chop or vegetarian option, 2 sides, a salad, tea, and bread. They provide hard plastic, realistic-looking plates, and realistic-looking silverware (all disposable). Cups, however, are the soft plastic cups. There is also a travel fee that is not included in the total price because it is based off of gas prices. Typically it adds $300 to the overall price, so a little over $1 per plate.
Caterer #2 is $30.00/plate for rosemary and herb baked chicken, beef wellington , or vegetarian option, 3 sides, salad, soup, tea, rolls, and unlimited trips to the buffet (so no one goes hungry). They provide real silverware and acrylic plates. They also provide all barware (but the cups for tea are hard plastic) and they are right across the street so there is no location fee or travel fee. Plus, they work with my venue ALL the time and are very familiar with suitable serving arrangements. They will also make special meal requests for guests that have food allergies (at not extra charge, provided they let us know 3 weeks prior to the event.)
Caterer #3 is $39.94/plate for prime rib, stuffed chicken, or a vegetarian option, 2 sides, salad, tea, rolls. They serve on glass plates (clear glass), and their tea is in mason jars (not my favorite, but whatever!) They have a flat delivery rate of $500 (even though they are literally 10 minutes down the road) and a $2/guest “fee” (I didn’t add this in since no one else has a per person fee… what is that for?).
For me, I would ideally like to serve of glass plates, but the overall best deal I think would be caterer #2. This is not a formal event (Semi-Formal maybe? Getting married in a church, dinner is at 6:00 pm, full bar, etc.) so I don’t think acrylic would be horrible (honestly, I’ve never been to a wedding that didn’t have either styrofoam or plastic plates). I’m kind of liking the acrylic because there is little risk of them breaking if knocked off the table. Oh and caterer #2 does a “clean up” for free as well (they go around and gather the plates after the diners finish their meals).
So, what would you do? All meal options are good with me, but my favorite taste so far is #2 (#3’s prime rib is yummy, but their stuffed chicken is kind of more stuffing less chicken). Would acrylic be okay for a semi-formal event?
Thanks!
