We look at two important aspects of planning your wedding reception: catering and photography.
Catering
The catering is often the most expensive cost of the wedding and will have large impact on whether the wedding is successful. It’s not simply the quality of the food but also the service, the time between courses, and whether people are waiting on long lines to get drinks. You want to make sure you’re working with experienced professionals and have an adequate number of servers and support staff or you may spend a lot of time at your wedding complaining rather than enjoying the occasion.
There are some important things to consider before picking a caterer:
- Buffet or a sit-down meal? A buffet is less formal but also can save money. If you have servers behind the buffet serving the food, people will take less food and then it will cost less.
- Main dish? Chicken is the perfect stand-by as it’s acceptable to most people. You will want to make sure the caterer can also offer a vegetarian dish and can cater to anybody who has special eating requirements.
Drinks
For drinks, you have several options. The least expensive option is to serve no alcohol and instead offer a cash bar where your guests pay for their own drinks. In this case, you will want to inform your guests in advance so they know to bring money.
Another option is to provide wine and beer only. While this is more expensive than a cash bar, it’s a nice step up. You can either let the caterer provide the wine or you can bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee per bottle. You can save money by bringing your own wine, especially if you buy it from a wholesaler in bulk.
The most expensive option is to have an open bar where the drinks are free. In any case, you will also want to have champagne for all the guests for the wedding toast.
Picking a Caterer
When picking a caterer, the best method is talking to people to get personal testimonials. Of course, you can cover the basics on your own:
- Food quality. Don’t be afraid to ask for a sample!
- Presentation. All caterers should have pictures of their meal presentation. If you care, ask.
- Menu. Do you require special services like ethnic cuisine or vegan?
- Price.
- While these should be guiding factors it is hard to get a sense of a caterer’s professionalism, timeliness, and other “experiences” without, well, experiencing their work. Don’t be afraid to ask for references and talk to former customers. If you attend a wedding and love the cuisine, ask the hosts who the caterers are!
Facilities
It’s important to match the reception venue with the caterer. Some venues have kitchen facilities with refrigerators and ovens, but many do not. You will want to make sure the caterer has portable equipment if there aren’t sufficient facilities on premise.
Photography
The most important factor for getting a successful wedding album will be your choice of photographer. Here are some tips to ensure you pick a winner:
Interview the photographer and make sure your personalities mesh. There is never enough time in the schedule for the formal photos so everybody will be stressed out. You want to make sure the photographer will be able to put everybody at ease and efficiently get all the photos done without wasting time.
If you’re working with a studio, make sure to interview the photographer who is going to take your wedding pictures and ask him to show you several wedding albums he has already done. You want to make sure that it’s his work and not the work of another photographer. Some studios try to do a bait-and-switch where they will show you their best photographer’s work but then let some inexperienced underling attend your wedding. Get references from weddings he has already done and follow through on checking them. If you’re unsure of the person, find somebody else.
You have to decide what type of album you want. Do you want all formal photographs where everybody is posed. Or do you also want candid photographs of the wedding in process. If you can, find a two-photographer team. Often, one photographer will take formal photos and the other will take candid photojournalistic photos. It’s nice to have a mix of both in your wedding album.
Make sure to understand exactly what’s included in the bill. How many hours will the photographer stay or will he stay for the entire wedding? How many albums and photos are included in the base price? How much do additional prints cost? Will the pictures be in black & white or colour? Some plans may allow you to purchase the negatives for a flat cost – check into it.
Originally written for weddingplanninghints.com.