Weddings come with a lot of costs, which is to be expected. However, the wedding catering menu is often one of the most overlooked. The focus is usually on the venue, wedding dresses, honeymoon, and of course, the rings.
The fact is, you still need to ensure that your guests receive food – as the wedding catering does play a big part in any wedding day. As well as allowing them to fill their stomachs, a wedding meal helps your guests to mingle and celebrate your big day together.
If the cost of the wedding catering is a concern, do not worry. There are plenty of ways you can reduce it down to satisfactory levels. You will find out many of these here.
Your Wedding Budget
Food and liquor can account for a sizable chunk of a wedding budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with your menu. Here are a few ways you can make your catering menu more affordable without sacrificing flavour or quality:
- Lowering Guest Lists
The biggest thing that affects the cost of catering is the size of your wedding. Changing your guest list will save you on catering, but also on other details, like decor, invitations, favours and rentals.
- Buffet Service
A buffet style of service is the most cost-effective way to cater for a large number of people. It allows you to serve a variety of dishes, including heavy hors d’oeuvres, to your guests.
A buffet service can be an ideal option for a smaller wedding or for a more casual affair. Having a buffet is also an easy way to cater for vegetarian and vegan diets. Choose a buffet service that offers in-season foods to help keep costs down.
- Seasonality
The season is a crucial factor to consider when planning your wedding catering menu. Using locally grown and in-season ingredients will not only save you money, but they’ll also taste better than out-of-season fruits and vegetables.
Seasonality is the concept of recurring fluctuations that occur in a time series. These variations can happen daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, or yearly.
Often, seasonality can be caused by natural factors such as the seasons and climate changes, or institutional factors such as public holidays.
A business that experiences intense seasonality may choose to close its doors during the slowest months or find creative ways to increase sales.
It’s important to keep 2 to 4 weeks’ worth of buffer stock in a local warehouse to give you a fallback plan for any unexpected drops in sales. This will help you to prevent costly inventory stockouts and ensure that you have the proper amount of product available at all times.
- Guests’ Dietary Needs
Whether it’s for health reasons, religious beliefs or simply personal preference, many people have different dietary requirements that they need to adhere to. It’s important to take into account these dietary needs when selecting the menu for your event.
It’s crucial to include vegetarian and vegan options on your catering menu if you’ve got guests who follow these diets. These dishes don’t skimp on flavour or texture and are a great way to ensure that your guests can enjoy your wedding day without feeling excluded.
When creating the menu for your event, consider asking your attendees about their dietary needs during pre-event registration. Using check boxes rather than open-ended questions is helpful in sorting and clarifying needs.
- Buying in Bulk
Despite the advantages of buying in bulk, you should only do so if you can afford it and will actually use the items that you purchase. Otherwise, you could wind up spending more than you saved.
One way to ensure that you’re getting a good deal is to look at the price per unit before you buy anything in bulk. The cheaper the price per unit, the better a deal you’ll be able to find.
Smart bulk purchases include shelf-stable foods such as pasta, rice and cereals, as well as nonperishable products like canned goods, oils and flour. Common household items such as paper towels, toilet paper and batteries are also good to stock up on in bulk. Other savvy buys include self-care and beauty products such as toothpaste, deodorant, soap and diapers.
Conclusion
Although there are many other costs associated with your big day, you should not overlook the wedding catering matrimonio. Just make sure you seek out a handful of catering companies and compare what they have to offer. Once you have made your choice, you can then get to work on the menu itself.