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20 Questions to Ask Your Wedding Caterer

Skimp on other things, but not the food! Such a cliché, but couples might have heard their folks saying this several times already. Indeed, food almost always consumes the biggest budget in any wedding. Given how meticulous the guests are, newly-engaged couples cannot just choose any wedding caterer.

Here are the 20 mind-boggling-albeit-food-related questions that will help you in narrowing down the choices–choosing the best catering provider among them and making your wedding as memorable as it should be.

1) Can you cater to our chosen location? Is there an additional charge if the location is outside the city?

2) Do you provide a banquet coordinator who will take care of everything on the wedding day itself?

3) Do you have wedding packages? What are the inclusions of each package? Do you have an ala carte food choices?

4) Do you specialize in a particular cuisine? Can you serve Italian, Japanese, or native Filipino cuisine, for example?

5) Do you have preset menus? Can we customize our menu?

6) Can you accommodate theme menus along with the appropriate décors?

7) What food choices will you recommend? What if we want a particular dish to be served? Will you accommodate our request?

8) Are you using fresh produce? What if we prefer organically farmed ingredients? Can you accommodate such request?

9) Can you accommodate our and our guests’ dietary restrictions, if there are any?

10) Which is the best option given our budget: appetizer stations or passed appetizers?

11) Which is the best option based on our budget: plated or buffet? If we choose buffet, are the costs of the other food stations inclusive or not?

12) Are the buffet tables and appetizer stations fully decorated?

13) Are there any package upgrades such ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, cappuccino machines, etc.?

14) What about children’s meals? Are there separate meals for them? How much do you charge per kid?

15) Are the packages inclusive of the wedding cake? Do you have samples that we can browse? Can you accommodate our request if we have a cake design of choice?

16) If we outsource our wedding cake from another vendor, will you require a cake-cutting fee?

17) Are the packages inclusive of desserts other than the wedding cake? Can we choose our own dessert(s)?

18) Are the packages inclusive of other paraphernalia such as the guest book, pair of dove in decorated birdcage, souvenirs, etc.?

19) Do you offer food tasting for free?

20) What type of fabric do you use for skirting cloth? What kind of dinnerware, glassware, and flatware do you use?

Evidently, the questions above are mostly about the food. We might as well dig deeper into asking drink-related questions. Yes, drinks mean non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. Consider asking these questions:

There are catering-related questions that may affect how organized your wedding will be. These questions include:

Further, your quest for the best wedding caterer doesn’t stop at asking the right questions. There are various factors to consider as well.

1) Per pax

Be reminded that other than giving a quote for a wedding package, wedding caterers mostly charge per pax. Some caterers require a minimum number of persons before entitling the clients to basic amenities such as setup, sound system, Tiffany chair upgrade, etc.

Basically, the basic per person charge is not the only thing to consider. You might as well bring a calculator with you when you visit the wedding caterer in your shortlist.

2) Leftover

Leftover is one most often overlooked factors of wedding catering. Establish what must be done to the leftovers. As a client, you may request the caterer to have them wrapped and let the guests take them home. You may also instruct the caterer to wrap the leftovers and then deliver it to a nearby charity.

3) Cleanup

Yet another commonly ignored factor is cleaning up. So, you also need to establish with the catering provider who will do the cleaning. Cleaning is usually a component of the package, but it is always wise to determine who will be responsible with the dirt and trash.

When planning the menu, you should be realistic about your food choices given the budget and the guests. Ask many questions as you possibly can.

With all these, the catering company representative must willingly answer your questions. All these questions should be easy to answer. Take a cue from how the representative behaves when you ask a question and how he or she answers the questions thrown at his or her way in actuality.

Hesitation on the part of the representative is a clear indication of the kind of service that the caterer provides. Certainly, you must know when to stop asking question and move on to the next caterer in your list.

About Hizon's Catering

For more than 30 years , we have been blessed to be a part of thousands of weddings, debuts, kids parties, corporate events, and private celebrations. In all these events, we make sure we are not only your caterer but more importantly your partner in every step from conceptualizing, budgeting and planning up to final execution.

Find out how we can help you in your wedding

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