What to Ask a Wedding Caterer Before the Tasting

A tasting is a persuasion event. That is not cynical — it is the caterer showing you their best work at their own pace in their own room, and it is genuinely how you should choose between two shortlisted caterers.

The point of this list is to do the shortlisting first, so that by the time you are eating, the only remaining question is whether you like the food.

Service style, and what it costs in staff

Plated, family style, buffet, stations, and heavy passed canapés are five different weddings. They differ in how long dinner takes, how much the room moves, how many staff are required, and how much space the floor plan loses.

Ask what each style would mean for your headcount and your room. Then ask the question underneath: how many service staff, and what is the ratio to guests? Understaffed service is the single most common way good food arrives badly.

The minimums

• Is there a minimum spend, a minimum headcount, or both?
• Does the minimum count tax and service charge, or is it food and beverage only?
• When is the final guest count due, and what is the tolerance either side?
• What happens if the count drops after that date — do you pay for the empty seats?

That last question matters more than it sounds. Final counts are typically locked well before the day, and people cancel after it.

Dietary requirements, asked properly

Ask how they handle vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nut allergies and religious requirements. Then ask the version that separates a good caterer from an adequate one: is the alternative a designed dish, or a plate of the sides?

Also ask how the kitchen tracks an allergy from your spreadsheet to the correct seat at a table of ten in a dark room. A caterer who has a real answer has done it before.

What is included, and what is rented

Catering quotes frequently include rentals sourced on your behalf. Get this itemised:

• China, glassware, flatware, linens
• Serving equipment, chafing dishes, kitchen setup
• Tables and chairs, if the venue does not have them
• Delivery, setup, strike, and collection
• Whether a handling markup is applied to rentals

If the venue has no kitchen, ask specifically what they need to build one — power, water, a tent, a generator — and who pays for it.

Bar

• Do they provide bar service, or is it separate?
• Can you supply your own alcohol, and is there a corkage charge?
• Is the bar priced per person, per drink, or on consumption?
• Who holds the liquor licence and the liability?
• How many bartenders, and what is the ratio to guests?

Bar is where a catering budget most often moves after signing, because it is the one line that scales with how much fun everyone is having.

Vendor meals and the timeline

Most contracts require you to feed your photographer, videographer, band and planner. Ask what a vendor meal costs and whether it is the same food. Then ask when the kitchen needs to plate it — good caterers feed vendors while you are eating, so nobody is missing during speeches.

Tasting logistics

• Is the tasting included or charged? Is it credited if you book?
• How many people can come?
• Is it a private tasting of your proposed menu, or a group event with a set menu?
• How far in advance of booking does it happen — and are they holding your date meanwhile?

A group tasting is not a red flag. It is a different kind of information, and worth knowing which one you are attending.

The money questions

• Deposit, payment schedule, and what is refundable when.
• Whether the per-head price is fixed or subject to adjustment before the event, and whether there is a cap.
• Whether service charge is administrative or distributed to staff, and whether gratuity is expected on top.
• Whether tax is applied to the service charge.

How to read a wedding vendor quote goes through each of those in detail — catering quotes are where they all show up at once.

One question for the end

"What would you do differently if this were your wedding at our venue?"

Caterers who have worked a venue know its kitchen, its power, its bottlenecks and its walk from the kitchen to the far table. The answer is often the most practically useful thing you will hear all week.

Caterers listed in each market appear on the city pages with the starting price each has published — caterers in Boston, for example. To see where catering sits against everything else before quotes arrive, the budget calculator is free and needs no account.