Venue w/ Included Caterering or Outisde Caterer? Whats better?

gongmattos · October 2010

Hi everyone,
We are trying to decide between a venue that has their own catering that you have to use, but they provide a lump sum price inluding everything except gratuity and extra decorations. The price is $90/person including seated dinner, all setup stuff like chairs, utensils, linens, a wedding cake, Premium Alcohol, hors deuvres, staff, and name cards. There are no cake cutting fees, etc., just need to pay 20% gratuity. The rental for the place is also cheaper, $1,100 but it's nice.

Is this a high price? We want to have a fairly budgeted wedding, our goal is $17,000 for everything little thing for over 125 people.

Or is it the less expensive to rent a venue that doesn't require their caterer, and just find a private caterer? How much are caterers for everything per person?

Thank you all so much!

tldh · October 2010

You may want to post this on your local board because prices will vary from region to region. We paid about $2000 for heavy hor d'ouerves for 32 people and stocked our own oepn bar that cost about $1500 including three cases of champagne. My brother and SIL used an all inclusive rental hall and were very happy with it.

gongmattos · October 2010

Thanks so much Tricia, that's a great idea, so I did that!

Thanks for the help. Your weddings sounds like a great one.

I Want Cake · October 2010

My venue has in-house catering, and it's turned out to be a huge advantage. Because it's all done in-house, we don't have to rent tables/linens/flatware/glasses from another vendor, just so that yet another vendor can do the catering. My wedding is about the size of yours and we're coming in well under $17K including the rental of the entire mansion. St. Paul might be way different than Baltimore, though.

ivyrose13 · October 2010

I agree with PPs about checking your local board, because what seems affordable in one area may be crazy expensive for another one.

As a general statement, I have personally found that it is more cost effective to utilize a reception venue that provides catering in-house. Aside from the obvious advantage that you don't have to look for a separate caterer, I have found several other benefits in my own personal search. For example, you don't have to rent your own tables/chairs/place settings, these types of venues frequently do set-up and tear down for a modest fee, staff is usually included, and other little benefits are usually included.

My reception venue is the grand ballroom of a local conference center (gorgeous!) and this is what my breakdown looks like:

$200 set-up/tear down fee

$300 deposit (goes towards the catering bill)

$24/person for food with a 100 person minimum (we are expecting 120)

That includes: decorating of the ballroom, day-of-coordinator, cash bar (that's normal up here in Maine), champagne toast, cake-cutting, soup for each guest, sit-down buffet (family style dinner, that was my choice), non-alcoholic beverages, honeymoon suite, and tear down of the ballroom.

kaesha · October 2010

It's definitely a local thing. I think 90$ p/p is really reasonable when it includes all of that you've mentioned. If you like the caterer, they have good reviews and it means you don't have to worry about coordinating different vendors, I think the all inclusive route is a great way to go.

sarahbutchin · October 2010

In my opinion, I would rather do it all in one place then have to worry about dealing with a variety of vendors. Do you like the all inclusive venue? That's something to factor in as well. I think $90 is a great price. When you work it all out, I would make sure to calculate tax and gratuity. It's no joke! It definitely increases the cost by a good amount. Good luck :-) Let us know what you decide.

TheKnittingJedi · October 2010

The venue that my FI and I chose had an exclusive caterer. I didn't think much of it at first, but now I'm super happy it worked out that way, because it's one less thing we have to worry about!

Traceyd14 · October 2010

I'm in Northern VA so our prices are similar. I looked into a couple of places that were like the "all-inclusive" that you mentioned. I did find a few smaller golf clubs that were in the $70-$80/pp range. You may want to check around a little more. We ended up finding a VFW that has in house catering and a coordinator/decorator that I am pleased with. I really wanted an all-inclusive manor house, but I just couldn't trim my guest list, so I'm not getting my dream venue, but in our case in particular the who is more important that the where.

gongmattos · October 2010

Thanks to everyone for the responses, it sounds like the right decision is to choose venues with "all-in-one" aspects. Your stories help out a lot.

Tracey in VA- Did you look anywhere in Maryland? We found a place called Turf Valley Resort, and found it convenient to have hotel rooms on site since we have many out of town guests. We've been looking around, and still are, but many places we've seen don't offer 1 large room for 125 people to fit.

Thanks,

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · November 2010

That was about what my wedding cost for about the same stuff you're getting. We thought it was great. We loved the venue and the service was wonderful. It also kept us from having to find a caterer, bartender, people who brought in rentals, etc.

gwencortopassi · November 2010

We got married in St. Louis at a venue with an exclusive caterer (i.e., they owned the venue). Before taxes and gratuity, it came to about $100/person for a four hour open bar with top shelf liquor (no champagne toast, but champagne was available at the bar), a 2 entree buffet with salad, roasted veggies, rice, pasta, a mashed potato station, rolls, and a coffee bar (the mashed potato station and coffee bar were add-ons, so we could have come in at closer to $85/person). The wedding cake and passed hors d'oeuvres plus cheese/fruit/cracker station during the cocktail hour were also extra. Sounds like you got a great deal! Or we got screwed. Whatever--we're happily married, and we wish you the same!

mica178 · November 2010

If you find a venue you like for both ambience and food, I'd go with that. It's just easier to not have to deal with a ton of different moving pieces. Especially if you don't have a wedding coordinator. Do you really want to have to manage the flatware rental people, the caterer, the venue site, the florist, the baker, and so on all in the three days leading up to the wedding? Yuck, no.

Now, if you fall in love with a place that requires you to bring in your own caterer, etc., well, then it can be worth the hassle. My SIL did that and had a lot of stress, but she was thrilled with her reception venue.

For me, my venue provided awesome food, so it was a no-brainer. I paid more than you did, but the SF Bay Area is pricy and a wedding-market, whatever that means.

Venue w/ Included Caterering or Outisde Caterer? Whats better?

Re: Venue w/ Included Caterering or Outisde Caterer? Whats better?

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