Guest Blogger: Cheaper isn’t better- wedding catering and budgets

The El Cheapo wedding is a sort of disaster by definition. If you’ve ever been to one of those sad looking receptions where you considered yourself lucky to get a couple of cocktail franks and perhaps some dubious-looking wine, you’ll know why. The most basic party hire can do a better job.

“Cheap” doesn’t necessarily mean the price you pay, either. It can mean what you get for your money, a sort of bargain basement for the caterer, not for you. A piece of greenery with a microscopic piece of meat on a strangely shaped plate may be considered “exotic” by some, but in terms of value for money, it’s just ridiculous. Unless you’re deliberately holding an anorexia-themed reception, it’s a rip-off which can cost thousands for quite literally nothing.

The fact is that the best way to approach a wedding is using a realistic budget, and goes looking for best value within that budget. Sticking to your budget makes you far less vulnerable to gougers and a realistic budget won’t deter good caterers, so it’s a win-win from the point of dollar values for catering.

The “nothing’s too good” problem

If anyone involved in your wedding is saying “nothing’s too good”, look out. Money can create problems as well as solve them. Spraying money around shouldn’t be necessary, anyway. It so happens that most professional caterers and event hire firms have fully developed packages that can deliver the same value as the most upmarket “customized” weddings.

That’s because these firms cost their own packages very effectively. The price differences between their standard packages are based on costs, and they can deliver these packages on time and on budget infallibly. You can buy a basic wedding package for peanuts, compared to the “custom” wedding arrangements, and get something much better.

(Important note: The “custom” weddings can create their own problems. Even with a wedding planner helping, they can be very complex and difficult to coordinate, as well as extremely expensive, costing enough to pay for a third honeymoon, so consider your options.)

Locking in your price- Getting quotes

The simple way to create a short list of caterers is to get direct quotes. All caterers have a range of basic packages and options and will be able to give you “scalable” versions of them for big or small weddings. A quick ring around or inquiries online will give you a very good idea of what’s realistic within your budget. The quotes eliminate the guesswork and attach a binding figure for the services, so whatever the price, you’re dealing with a working set of numbers.

You’ll wind up with about four or five caterers in the ballpark and a good idea of the price range for your wedding. Now make inquiries about specific things you want. Keep your questions simple, so you get yes/no answers. Forget about “maybes”. You’re doing a wedding, not a raffle. Stick to finding the caterers able to deliver exactly what you want. Everything will work like clockwork from there.