Choose
a Caterer For Your Wedding
- by KissMeGoodnight.com
Choosing
a good caterer is crucial to having a wedding that your
guests are sure to enjoy. Some may argue
that the food served at the wedding is the most important part
of the wedding. After all guests who enjoy their meal are likely
to be in better spirits than guest who have eaten very little
or who have not enjoyed their meal.
Many
wedding venues offer onsite catering and more importantly
do not allow offsite caterers to work at your wedding. Since
most couples choose the location for their wedding before considering
their catering options, it is important to ask about the venues
policies regarding outside caterers. This is important because
many venues will only allow you to use their caterer or a caterer
that they recommend. In this situation it is crucial that you
choose the venue for your wedding, not only on the appearance
of the ball rooms but also on the quality of the food they
offer. Although a venue may have picturesque views and gorgeously
decorated rooms if the food is not up to par you may want to
consider a different venue in which to host your wedding.
A
great place to start your search for a qualified caterer
is to ask friends and relatives for their recommendations. Or if you have recently attended a wedding that served fabulous
food, you might want to contact the host of that wedding to
inquire about their caterer. Recommendations are important
because the best indication of how good the food will be is
how well the food was received in the past.
If you are unable to obtain a few recommendations for caterers
trying using the Internet and phone books to research
local caterers. You could use the Internet and direct calls made
to the caterer to learn about their availability, menu options
and prices. Once you obtain this information you will be able
to eliminate caterers who are already booked for your wedding
date and who are out of your price range. Next you will want
to consider the menu options of the remaining caterers. If
you have a specific menu in mind and none of the caterers have
the items you are looking for available, you might want to
check with them to see if they will be able to prepare your
favorite dishes. Many skilled caterers are fully capable of
preparing many dishes besides what they list on their menu.
Finally, once
you have narrowed your choices down to three or four candidates,
call them all back and ask them if they
are available for tasting sessions in the near future. If a
caterer does not offer tasting sessions, strike them off your
list immediately unless you have tasted their food at previous
weddings. Without tasting their food, there is really no way
to decide if the caterer is right for your wedding. It is important
to decide on a few possible menu choices prior to the tasting
session so that you can ask the caterer to prepare these specific
dishes. While there is some merit to tasting general items
from the caterer’s menu, it is always best to taste the exact
items that will be prepared at your wedding to ensure that
the food will meet your expectations. It is acceptable to ask
that the caterer prepare a few options for each course to be
served on the day of your wedding. This will aid in
the decision making process. Plan on sampling about two to three bites from
each dish to really get a feel for the flavor of the dish.
Also, try not to schedule more than one tasting session on
any particular day. Trying too many dishes on one day can dull
your taste buds plus you may have difficulty remembering which
caterer prepared which dish.
After each tasting session take
notes on the dishes you prepared and your opinions of these
dishes. You might also want to assign
a numerical rating from one to ten for each dish. It is important
that you do this immediately after each session so that you
are sure to remember the details as well as your opinions of
the food. After your final tasting session, you will want to
compare notes from all of the previous tasting sessions. If
you took careful notes, you should be able to determine which
caterer had the best available dishes. In choosing a caterer
you may find that one caterer had delicious entrees but bland
appetizers or salads. You may find that another caterer had
a variety of delicious appetizers but that the entrees all
fell short of your expectations. Still another caterer may
not have had any courses really stand out but had each course
receive an above average rating. In this case you might want
to consider the caterer that had a menu that was well balanced
so that none of your courses wind up being sub par.
Your caterer can make or break your wedding so it is important
to choose them wisely. Recommendations and personal experiences
are some of the best ways to choose a caterer. You should also
consider scheduling tasting sessions to try out the exact dishes
that will be on your menu before you make your final decision.
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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2005
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