Texas-Dallas and Ft. Worth

Average Catering Cost?

So about what is the average cost spent on catering? We are planning a wedding for 130-150 guests and I have gotten a few catering quotes and the services charges (attendants, cooks, bartenders) seems like a lot to me! A quote I have been given which includes service charges, all rentals (linens, dinnerware) $12pp buffet, is around $5,500 total. Is this reasonable/average?

Re: Average Catering Cost?

  • 12pp is the lowest I have ever heard of on this board. I would say "average" is probably 30. I spent more like 80 with alcohol.
  • Yes 12pp is great! I just thought all the add ons were a little expensive, but I have nothing to compare it to!
  • My total bill for 140 people is coming to around 2500, BUT that does not include alcohol. It includes a buffet BBQ meal (BBQ is cheap), service, and two bartenders for the night to serve alcohol that we are providing.
  • Wow 2500 sounds great! Does that include dinnerware and linens?
  • Agree with Stephie.  $12/person sounds amazing.  We spent around $65/person.
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  • fallbride1109fallbride1109 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited April 2012
    In Response to Re:Average Catering Cost?:[QUOTE]Yes 12pp is great! I just thought all the add ons were a little expensive, but I have nothing to compare it to! Posted by Janell1991[/QUOTE] Oh I see you're saying with the add-ons it's more like $35-40. Gotcha. Yeah I had in-house catering so my price included everything. I would still say it's average though, just not as low as I thought.
  • Yeah service and rentals cost more than the food... a little frustrating! It is BYOB though and that will save us a lot of money.
  • It's hard to compare, because everyone gets the things you listed in different ways. For example, my catering quote included a $21pp buffet, all utensils and plates, taxes, and gratuity. That came out to $34pp.

    My linens and napkins were provided by a separate company and that came out to almost $10pp. (I way overspent there and I know it.)

    Yet another company provided alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages, bartenders, and all cups and glasses. That came out to $32pp.

    So it sounds like you're getting everything I got minus the alcohol for $36pp, whereas I spent 76pp. I think that's a very good deal, but if you plan to include alcohol, be careful of that cost. That can get expensive fast. We got a good deal because we had a DIY place where we could bring in our own.
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_average-catering-cost?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:d5c83642-f360-4164-97c7-f7a7b22b2e80Post:c46a000b-9a94-4911-a6d8-72f9f110432a">Re: Average Catering Cost?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Wow 2500 sounds great! Does that include dinnerware and linens?
    Posted by Janell1991[/QUOTE]

    It does include dinnerware but not linens. They provide rentals for linens but I am splitting the cost with another girl who is getting married at my venue a month beforehand.
  • The service fee is standard in the industry and really it's the tip for the servers/workers.  

    I think we probably were right at $100 a person, but we were at Maggiano's and that included two appetizers, two salads, two pasta dishes, two meat dishes, most of the cost of the cake, a full, unlimited bar and the service fee.   
  • Ours is about $37/pp without alcohol.  With alcohol will probably be around $50/pp.  It really does depend on where they include the charges, but yes I'd say you're paying about average.
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  • Ours is $15/pp. That price includes china, glassware, tea and water, 2 entree choices, 3 sides, a salad and bread. It also includes servers to help with drinks and the buffet. So our total is $2250. I can't remember if that includes tax or not, but it doesn't include linens.

    We are using TCP Catering. It was delicious and the most affordable that I could find for what we wanted. :)
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  • We spent $43 PP and that included: -Hors D'Oeuvres -Buffet -Late Night Pass -Beverage Service (not including alcohol) -Service staff -Rentals for china, glasses and silverware I did my linens through a different vendor and spent $850 on linens, so I guess if you break that up per person, $5.66 each? I was also extremely particular about linens and spent a nice chunk to upgrade.
  • I think that sounds about right.

    Our guest list was around 135 and it was $25pp for food, but once you added service charges, utensils and plates, wait staff and on-site chef, one TABC certified bartender, coffee, tea, sodas & water, etc. (this does not include any alcohol or linens) the total bill was over $5,000.

    There are more affordable options out there--but we were limited to using one of the preferred caterers at our venue and food was important to us so we went with the most recommended.


  • Yes same here we are limited to only one caterer if we use this venue.
  • Does this fit in your budget? If not, you might see if you can get it down by doing cheaper food options. Just a thought.
  • No it's definitely more than we would have planned to spend on food. I think this is one of the cheapest options, a buffet!
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_average-catering-cost?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:d5c83642-f360-4164-97c7-f7a7b22b2e80Post:9a7552b2-3754-42f8-977a-ce13e046eb09">Re: Average Catering Cost?</a>:
    [QUOTE]My total bill for 140 people is coming to around 2500, BUT that does not include alcohol. It includes a buffet BBQ meal (BBQ is cheap), service, and two bartenders for the night to serve alcohol that we are providing.
    Posted by cwaggoner07[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>
    </div><div>what catering company did you use??</div>
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