Wedding Catering Checklist: What to Ask Before Hiring Your Caterer
You found a caterer whose food looks amazing. The menu sounds good, the price seems to fit your budget and they are available on your wedding date.
So, are you ready to book?
Maybe. But there are a few things worth asking first.
Your wedding caterer is responsible for more than what ends up on the plate. They may be arriving hours before your guests, working around your venue's rules, setting up dinner service, keeping tables moving, coordinating with your other vendors and cleaning up after everyone heads to the dance floor.
A good catering conversation should leave you feeling like you know exactly what will happen on your wedding day.
If you are meeting with caterers or comparing proposals, these are the questions worth asking.
1. Are You Available on Our Wedding Date?
Start here before you fall in love with a menu.
Make sure the caterer is available for your date and can serve your venue. If your wedding is during a busy season, it is also worth asking how far in advance they typically book.
Once you know the date works, then you can start talking about the fun stuff.
2. Have You Worked at Our Wedding Venue?
A caterer does not need to know your venue by heart to do a great job there. But if they have worked there before, that familiarity can make planning a little easier.
They may already know where the catering team loads in, what the kitchen setup looks like, where the buffet works best or how long it takes to get dinner from the prep area to your guests.
If the venue is new to them, ask how they prepare. Will they contact the venue? Do they need a walkthrough? What information will they need from you?
You should not have to be the person figuring out those logistics on your wedding day.
3. What's Included in the Price Per Person?
This is a big one.
Two proposals might both list a price per person and still include very different things.
Ask what that number actually covers. Is it just the food, or does it include servers, setup, cleanup, serving equipment, dinnerware, beverages and other necessities?
A lower price at first glance is not always a lower final price.
When you compare caterers, compare the full picture.
4. What Service Styles Do You Offer?
You may already know that you want a buffet or plated dinner. If you do not, that is okay too.
Talk with your caterer about your guest count, venue, budget and what you want the reception to feel like.
Picture dinner for a second.
Do you imagine everyone staying at their tables while each course comes to them? Or do you picture guests getting up, talking, choosing what they want and going back for a little more of the side they loved?
There is no single right answer. The right service style is the one that fits the wedding you are planning.
5. How Much Staff Will My Wedding Need?
You probably will not spend your wedding day counting catering staff. And you should not have to.
But you will notice if dinner takes forever.
You will notice if empty plates sit on tables while everyone is ready to dance. You will notice if a buffet line barely moves.
Ask how your caterer determines staffing based on your guest count and service style, and make sure you understand whether staffing is included in your proposal.
6. Do You Provide Bar Service?
If you are serving alcohol, ask whether your caterer also offers bar service.
Having food and drinks handled by the same team can mean fewer moving pieces for you. Instead of coordinating separately with a catering company and a bartending company, one team can plan around the same guest count, timeline and reception.
If they do provide bar service, ask what is included and what you are responsible for providing.
7. Can You Accommodate Dietary Needs?
Eventually, an RSVP is going to come back with a dietary restriction you did not expect.
That is normal.
Ask early about allergies and dietary needs, including how those meals are prepared, identified and served. You want to know how guests with different needs will be taken care of without making them feel like an afterthought.
This is also a good time to ask how and when the caterer wants you to submit that information.
8. What Does the Venue Need to Provide?
Not every venue has a full commercial kitchen waiting behind the reception space.
Your catering team may need access to electricity, water, refrigeration, prep space or certain areas of the venue at specific times.
Ask what they need and who will communicate those details to the venue.
The goal is to work all of this out months before the wedding, not while someone is carrying trays through the back door.
9. What Happens During Setup and Cleanup?
This is one of those questions that does not seem very exciting until the reception is ending and everyone wants to know who is supposed to clean what.
Ask where the catering team's responsibilities begin and end.
Who sets up the food service area? Who clears plates? Who handles trash from dinner? Who packs up leftover food? Who takes care of catering equipment at the end of the night?
Getting clear answers now can save you and your family from figuring it out at 10:30 p.m. in wedding clothes.
10. When Do You Need Our Final Guest Count?
Your final guest count affects food, staffing, rentals, seating and plenty of other details.
Ask when your caterer needs that number, then work backward when setting your RSVP deadline.
Give yourself enough time to track down the cousin who forgot to RSVP before you have to give your caterer a final answer.
Because there is always at least one.
11. Are There Additional Fees We Should Know About?
Nobody wants to think they know their catering total and then discover another group of charges right before the wedding.
Ask about service fees, gratuity, travel, rentals, staffing, taxes and anything else that may not be reflected in the first number you see.
You are not looking for the caterer with the shortest proposal. You are looking for one that makes it easy to understand what you are paying for.
12. Can We Schedule a Tasting?
This is usually the question couples are most excited to ask.
And yes, a tasting is about trying the food. But it is also one of your best opportunities to get a feel for the people behind it.
Ask how tastings work, when they happen, what you will try and whether there is a cost.
Then use that time to talk.
Ask questions. Share what you love. Tell them what you are unsure about. Talk through the menu and imagine how it will actually fit into your wedding.
You should leave feeling more excited about dinner than when you walked in.
Choose a Caterer You Trust
At some point during your reception, you are going to sit down and look around the room.
Your best friend will be talking to someone at the next table. Your grandparents will be eating dinner. Someone will probably already be asking when the bar closes. And for a few minutes, almost everyone you love will be gathered in the same place.
You do not want to spend that moment wondering whether there is enough food in the kitchen.
That is really what all of these questions are about.
You are not only choosing a menu. You are choosing the people you are trusting to take care of a pretty important part of your wedding day.
Price matters. Food matters. But communication matters too.
Choose a caterer who answers your questions clearly, understands what matters to you and has a plan for turning everything you discussed into dinner for a room full of people you love.
Planning a Wedding in Oklahoma City?
At Top Shelf Cuisine & Cocktails, we provide wedding catering and bar service throughout Oklahoma City and the surrounding area.
We help couples plan everything from chef-prepared buffets and plated dinners to cocktail hour and bar service, with one team there to help bring it all together.
Because when your wedding day finally arrives, you should be thinking about the people around you, the food in front of you and whatever song just pulled everyone onto the dance floor.
Not what is happening in the kitchen.
Ready to start planning your wedding menu? Contact Top Shelf Cuisine & Cocktails to tell us about your day.
Exceptional Service. Unrivaled Experience.