The Seven Steps you Must Go Through to Finding a Good Wedding Caterer

This does not in anyway have to apply solely to wedding catering, however I am just going to tell you my experiences with this particular event and how freaking difficult it is and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and not go down the same path.

Step 1: Cry

This cry is for multiple reasons. You just got engaged so obviously start with your happy cry. You are with the person you love and you are going to commit yourselves to each other for the rest of your lives. The issue with this is that if you are having an event like a wedding or even just a reception party, people are going to want food and who’s going to cook it? When you cater you have to realize that its going to cost you some money and what do you do next? You cry!

Step 2: Create a Budget

You will need to know how much that you can reasonably spend on food. Now wedding guests will generally tell you that the most memorable thing about an event is the food but you have to remember that there are a lot of other things that you have to spend money on so you can’t blow the whole budget on food. Even though good food can definitely be worth the money you have to decide on a budget to leave yourself room for things that you absolutely need, you know like cute shoes.

Step 3: Ask for Recommendations

Once you have your budget there are plenty of ways to find caterers near you. First you can always ask your friends and family who they have used in the past, friends on Facebook normally offer good recommendations, The Knot offers lots of information on wedding services near you,and you can try Thumbtack which can match you up with professionals in your area. Your favorite restaurant might even have a catering menu that you didn’t know about! Which ever venue you book may also be able to point you to some services that they have used in the past.

Step 4: Make Appointments and Get Quotes

You want to meet up with some places to taste the foods that you’re thinking of because you don’t want to go in to the reception not knowing what to expect and have some nasty looking food lying out and some super unhappy guests. You want to make sure that the business’ personality will suit your needs as well. Check out some reviews and see what their recent customers had to say about there services. Make sure the food was good, timely, and affordable. Before you leave the testing make sure to draw up a plan on what services they would provide for you. Make sure you know the cost per person, menu possibilities, presentation, and any extra services you would need.

Step 5: Cry

This may not apply to everyone but it definitely hit me hard when the best looking food option we had was way over budget and I contemplated just having some sort of food only wedding but the fiancé told me we couldn't do that. So I cried and mourned the food that I would never get to eat. It’s not even about the guests at this point the food just sounded so good.

Step 6: Discuss with your Partner

I know its your wedding and you are the one doing all this research but you do have to include them in the decision. Food is non-discriminatory so you have to share. Although I really would love to keep everyone’s portion of pink vodka penne for myself but if I have to share then so do you. So ask your partner how they feel about your menu picks and take their choices into consideration. I know it’s hard but you have to.

Step 7: Commit

Find the caterer with the best food within your budget, take everything into consideration and book them. Enjoy your wedding and the food that you and your new spouse have picked out (make sure to ask that the caterers pack you a to go bag because I am told that you will not have time to eat during the reception and if I don’t get any of my $1,000 vodka penne everyone’s going to have a problem). If you are satisfied with their services share it on all the review boards you will help out their business and help out others in the same situation who are still stuck in step 5 crying because they cant have the $6,000 chicken that they want.