FIND THE RIGHT CATERER

One of the more appetizing parts of planning a wedding for any bride is deciding what fare your guests will dine on. For brides with their own culinary dreams, this is the chance-of-a-lifetime to merge your wildest ideas with the work of experts. Lucky for brides, creative talent is not hard to find - there are many caterers ready and willing to make those dreams a reality!

In order to insure that the event is everything you imagined, keep your eyes wide open when you make your initial catering decisions. Aside from the bride and groom, the food will be the star of the wedding reception. Style, presentation and taste are everything. Know your options!

Getting Started

Begin researching caterers early during your engagement -- eight or nine months prior to the wedding, if possible. This will give you plenty of time to research choices before making the final selection, which should be done four to five months before the reception date.

Unless your wedding budget is wide open, the number of guests will play a part when deciding what to serve. Consider how long your menu will take to plate and serve. One of the biggest problems with party food is the lag time between preparation and presentation. So, for a large reception, choose food with a long shelf life. On the other hand, take advantage of the size of a small wedding. The menu for an intimate wedding is wide open.

The caterer you choose may have catered events at your selected reception location before and may be able to assist you with information about serving styles that have been successful in the past. Determine the level of formality you want for your reception it will serve as an outline for your caterer to work from.

THE TASTE TEST

Find out what provisions are made so you'll be able to taste the food far enough in advance to ensure there is plenty of time to make any necessary adjustments. There may be a charge, but consider it well worthwhile. Though you shouldn’t expect a complete reversal of a recipe, don’t hesitate to make suggestions or ask if the chef can modify subtle elements. Some seasonal items you plan to serve may not be available at the time of the tasting, so you’ll have to trust your caterer how those dishes will ultimately look and taste.

In addition to taste, consider the presentation. Is the dish attractive? Imaginative? Colorful? Do all of the foods on the plate complement each other? Is it the feel you want for your wedding? You should expect the food to look exactly the way it will at your reception.

WINE & SPIRITS

When discussing the bar, find out what their standard bar package offers. Many of the factors that apply to food also apply to the bar - time of day, type of reception, and your tastes. Your budget will then be the determining factor if you can upgrade.

Decide in advance how much you want to spend on liquor and have an idea of what's most important to you. Will you have a lot of people who will want mixed drinks, or will it be a beer and wine crowd? Some couples choose to save some money by offering only beer and wine instead of the more costly mixed drinks. Will you provide champagne for the entire reception, or only during the toast?  If you opt to include liquor, will you use house brands or premium brands?

If you choose to have a full bar, try to be charged by the drink (or by consumption) rather than by the bottle. In this case, you are charged only for the liquor you use, rather than for the whole bottle, whether it's used or not. If you are charged by the bottle, ask if you will receive credit for partial bottles and if not, will you be able to take the open bottles with you after the reception.

Be sure to arrange for bar service that lasts as long as the reception itself (the average wedding reception lasts between four to six hours). You can save some money by requesting that the bar stop serving alcohol at a particular time, but you should make provisions for some sort of beverages to be supplied until the reception is over. Also find out how many bartenders will be on duty, whether there are any corkage fees, and whether the facility has liquor liability insurance as well as food insurance.