Food for thought- Cater or self cater the wedding?

One of the most important aspects of any wedding is food. No matter how big or how small the party is, no matter where the venue is, the food is something that you should always keep in mind. There are two options to choose from when you think of food for your wedding. One is if you want to cater the wedding. By cater the wedding I mean if you want external third party caterers to step in and then they would look after the food or you want to self cater the wedding? In self catering you get to make arrangements of the food yourself for all the guests and there will be no third party companies involved to provide for the food arrangements.

Now, no matter which option you choose there are a few factors that you have to keep in mind. One such option is the Menu planning. If you go for catered weddings then the only thing you need to choose is the food options or probably the cuisines that are to be given by the third party catering services and then for a later day sort out a food trial that would be done to check the quality and taste of the food. This way, you way you will be able to see if the food is alright or not and if there are any kinds of changes that needs to be made,

For self catered weddings, it is a bit time taking and tough to plan out. You need to have every kind of preparation done to see if everything will be on time on the big day. Try to make and taste the complex dishes with ample of time beforehand for the actual wedding date so that you know what tastes what and you need to worry about the taste. Keep a check if all the ingredients that are needed for all the dishes are there with you so that you don’t have to worry much on the wedding day if any kind of ingredient has gone missing or isn’t available on the day. Also make sure that you have ample hours on the day to prepare the food and such that it leaves enough time for the makers of the food for your wedding can also enjoy the wedding as guests.

There are many venues West End London Wedding venues that provide the place and flexibility that would be enough for people who want to cater their weddings or even self cater their weddings. The Grand ballroom at the Montcalm London is one such place that has a large enough place for a buffet to take place and a big place serving as the kitchen where the helpers of the self catered weddings can cook the food. Not too far away from the main ballroom where the wedding or wedding reception is taking place, this leaves the tiresome work of carrying the food to the main place less troublesome.

Choose wisely, have fun

Now that the planning and the venue are decided you can think about the budget. If there is a fixed budget, it is good to go for the catered weddings but if you want to save on the money front, and then you can go for self catered weddings as that will save you from giving money on third persons and it will be all in the family. In self catered weddings, you can go to the market and check yourself what are the prices of what and accordingly plan the wedding menu. Alternatively, you can go for some suppliers that solve all your ingredient needs and you can buy your ingredient from there. For self catered weddings, wholesale markets are the best bet for buying large amount of things at a discounted rate.

When it comes to the quality and the presentation of the food for the big day, it is true that with caterers in the wedding you can sit back and relax and not worry even a wee bit on how the quality and the quantity of the book is going to be but with self catered weddings, not only there is a quality problem but hygiene is also an issue. Apart from that, caterers present the dish in a very unique style whereas in self catered weddings, you don’t have a good presentation for the food that is supposed to be eaten.

With catered weddings, you have the facility of having several types of either cocktails or mocktail as accompaniments but when you are self catering a wedding, the accompaniment drinks are always an issue, you do not know which drink to buy and if you finally get to make your own drink than the issue of which ingredients to mix is still there. Tasting every drink to see the consistency and the mixture of all ingredients not only takes a huge amount of time but also patience. You always have the option of asking a third party vendor to send in the drinks from their side, though.

All this and many more factors brought together makes sure that you can go for either a self catered wedding or a catered wedding depending upon the choices you make and the budget you have. Both are good options when it comes to the food for the wedding. While there are some pros when you go for catered weddings like you can be relaxed on the big day, for self catered weddings, you have to worry about everything related to the food and you won’t be able to enjoy the wedding properly. Be it catered weddings you choose or self catered weddings, you should weigh all the pros and cons and see what suits the best for the wedding. And finally, it is your big day and the expectations are sky high with the day. Looking back at the day, you sure don’t want any day that would make you regret the choice you had made back then.