Why Choose an All-Inclusive Caterer?
by our Wedding Coordinator
You’ve just put a deposit on your venue, and you already have a little sticker-shock. Now you’re looking at catering prices, and wondering how your mom would feel about McDonald’s at your wedding. You’re tempted to hire the cheapest caterer you can find; after all, it’s only food, right?
When you hire the caterer that only provides your food, you may feel like you’ve saved money, and maybe you did, in the short-term. But all you’ve ensured is that there’s food at your wedding. It may very well be great food – that’s not the issue here. You can now check catering off your list, but what about plates? Beverages? Cups and glasses? Who is going to take the lids off the buffet line? Are there serving utensils? Silverware? Not to mention, how do you know how much to order? Your guest that has a gluten allergy – who will she ask about the ingredients? Are you, on your wedding day, going to call the caterer and ask?
After a quick google search, you find that china dinner plates are $0.61 each to rent, water glasses are $0.60 to rent, flatware is $1.40 per set to rent, and now you’ve added $3 per person to your original cost. And that’s just going extremely basic! You may want to rent salad plates, wine glasses, serving utensils, water pitchers, drink dispensers, salt and pepper shakers, or any number of additional food service items. What about water bottles, or other drink options? Not only does that add to your cost, but you now have to source those and work with at least one additional vendor, if not more (you want to have a life outside wedding planning, right?)
Let’s say you have an answer for all of that, or that all sounds fine to you. Now your poor aunts and cousins, or bridesmaids and best girls, are going to be responsible for food service when they should be enjoying the day and celebrating you. Even if you tell them not to, they love you and they want your day to go perfectly, so they will. Someone has to direct people to the buffet, take the lids off, clear off dirty plates, take trash out, fill water pitchers, cut the cake … the jobs are endless. And you haven’t even thought about bar service or tablecloths yet!
That’s why here at Ard’s Farm, we believe that wedding planning is stressful enough, so we’re going to take as much off your plate as possible (no pun intended!). Not only do we include all of the food service necessities, but you also have access to our event coordinator for your 24/7 questions, and to guide you through the entire wedding planning process. We create a personalized planning timeline for you, based on your wedding date, for you to use as a resource throughout planning. We also have in-house linen and décor rentals, and can take care of as much or as little as you’d like. Our goal is to make your wedding day and wedding planning as stress-free as possible!