How to Shop for a Wedding Reception

"What are the differences?"

By: Steve Langer | Published: December, 2012
Having been in the catering and wedding industry for almost 35 years I have given a lot of thought to how various caterers, hotels, clubs and catering venues market events and the difficulty that potential clients face when trying to compare prices between one location and another. If it has not yet become clear to you that this is a daunting task at best, it will likely become clear before long.

For whatever reason, this particular industry has truly become a “buyer beware” industry, where the norm seems to be that the less you tell a potential client about what their total expense will be, the better. This is not only unethical, it is unfair and unreasonable. While I cannot change the industry, I can at least offer a bit of rationality to the process, and perhaps provide you with some reasonable ways to determine what an event will cost and some basic information on how you may learn to compare one proposal to another.

Buying a wedding reception is unlike any other kind of shopping experience that I know of. Unlike buying a washer and dryer, or a car, or a pair of skis, or a vacation, most people who are shopping for a wedding reception are first time customers with no experience in shopping for this type of product. To compound matters, when you are shopping for any of the items noted above, most of us pretty much know how to compare one product to another in a way that allows us to make an educated choice. This appears not to be the case for wedding receptions, which I believe is where the problem begins.

It is easy to go into shopping for a wedding reception with the assumption that all you need to do is find the best price, and thus assuming that everyone is offering the same product. Nothing could be further from the case. The potential variation in what you will receive is huge, and without knowing what any one company is actually selling you it is virtually impossible to determine whether the value is reasonable or not, let alone whether you actually have a guaranteed total price or not. It is only after you have been able to compare the moving parts that you can realistically determine whether the price that you are being offered is a good value for you.

The following is a list of some of the many moving parts that will vary from one reception to another:

Amount of physical space. How often do you go to a wedding and find that the room is just too small? It is a common assumption among event sales staff that most people overestimate the number of guests that will be attending their event, and so it seems to them that no harm is done in saying that a smaller room will be plenty of space. But, what happens when you are correct about your numbers? Or, what happens if you add guests to your list? The arithmetic is simple: 20 square feet per guest is what you need in order to have enough space to be comfortable.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember, when all is said and done, is that the amount that you spend may not have a direct relationship to the quality that you get. You may get a great product for a lower price or a terrible product for a higher price. It doesn’t make sense, but it is true!

Food quality. There is really only one way to know how the quality of the food will be at any one location or caterer. REPUTATION. Tastings are fun to go to, and hopefully the food is very good when you go. But, what is to say that the food you try at the tasting will be the same as what you have at your wedding? REPUTATION. Any one caterer is only as good as what they serve week in and week out at their catered events, and if their food is not good their unsolicited reviews online will tell you that.

Food quantity. Ever been to an event where the food ran out? How do you know that will not happen to you? Be sure that you are working with a company that stands behind a policy wherein they will assure you that this will not happen.
Incomplete menus. Be sure that the menu includes simple items like appetizers and coffee service. These can be billed at incredibly high prices if not included from the start.

Alcohol service. This is a big item! Some locations allow you to provide your own alcohol, others are licensed and sell you the alcohol. If bringing your own in, be sure that you know what will be charged to serve it. Who is providing the soft drinks, mixers, ice, etc? Is there a corkage fee? Is there a separate bartenders fee? If you are working with a location that has a liquor license and having a cash bar, what are the fees for that? Are there minimums and how much are they? Who pays for soft drinks? How much are your guests going to pay for each drink they order? What if you are hosting the alcohol? What guarantee do you have that you will not be surprised at the end of the night by a bar bill that is twice or three times what you expected and not able to do anything about it? If you are hosting alcohol be sure that you have a way of knowing how you can hold the caterer accountable for what you spent? Suppose you have said that you want to host the first $1000 of drinks and then go to a cash bar. How will you know that you really have received a $1000 in drinks when they tell you that you have? That could be 15 minutes into your event. Or worse, if you have an open bar all night, how do you know what was really ordered by your group? I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you buy bar packages based on an hourly basis so that you know exactly what you will spend or not spend.

Number of event service staff, chef’s and bartenders. Ask your reception caterer to commit on their contract to how many staff will serve your event. No company has magic waiters; if one location offers 4 staff and another offers 8, you can be pretty sure that you are not receiving the same level of service at both of them.

Extras that should have been included. Perhaps the biggest issue in the industry. Use a specific list of all items that you will possibly need from your caterer to compare effectively. Things will become a lot more obvious if you do this. Some of the basics include: food, linens, china, silverware, soft drinks, coffee, cake cutting, corkage fees, event staff, bartenders, and event coordination. Many caterers like to break out their pricing to include food alone, which makes their price look a lot lower, but when you question them further it becomes clear that they will be charging you for each tablecloth, piece of silverware, and for each staff member by the hour.

Time. Be sure you know how long you have the location and event staff for. Believe it or not, there are places that will sell you a two hour event time and then after that the staff and venue go “on the clock” at added fees.

Minimums. There are all sorts of minimums out there in terms of what you will spend. If the menu prices look good but you must spend a minimum of $10,000 for a room that seats 100 guests then you are spending at least $100 on the catering! Do the math.

Service charges. Don’t fall for the places that tell you that their 20% service charge is just an “industry standard” and that you should be tipping the staff on top of that. Really; the large majority of venues do this, and it is a total rip-off. A service charge should be all that you pay, and should be used by the location to pay their staff a fair wage and no begging should occur beyond this.

Weddings are a very odd item to shop for! Be prepared by doing your homework first.

Shopping for a wedding reception can be stressful and difficult. It is not like shopping for anything else that we normally shop for. Here are some pointers prepared by a veteran of the industry that should help you sort out what it is that you are buying.