Columbia Winery Preferred Caterers - Woodinville, WA

boonsripisal1

We are planning on reserving the Columbia Winery for our wedding for August 2012 and I am wondering which caterer is the best? Pricewise - I found A Platinum Event to be the least expensive... Lisa Dupar quoted me $20,000 for only food!!! For 200 persons... can anyone help give me ideas on how to cut the cost here? Any tips When speaking or asking caterer? Thank you so much ~ cheers to love!

sparent2010

That's crazy. 

Herban Feast 

Starrynight Catering 

Are 2 off the top of my head. I think plates vary from 30.00 per person to 55.00 per person depending. 

Frogger5

It looks like they only allow those three caterers - so do you want to know which of those three are the best, or if it's worth it to book that venue given those constraints? I guess I mean, if you got rave reviews about Lisa Dupar, would you pay the $20,000? If that is the "best" caterer and you want to cut costs, the options of course are to talk with them and see what can be done (less appetizers, cheaper entree choices, etc.) or cut the guest list. That seems steep to me ($100/person) but we didn't choose top-of-the-line food. Does it include anything else besides the food?

firsttimersluck

Keep in mind that "perferred" doesn't always mean "you can only use these". My venue has a list, but my caterer is not on it, and they have no problem with it because she still has all the liability insurance and whatnot. It's worth asking your venue about..

sofiabrian

I got married at Columbia Winery two weeks ago.

You have the option of the three caterers they offer. We went with A Platinum Event. Their food was AMAZING, and they were wonderful. I had only talked to Lisa Dupar, but they were not available to meet us due to our limited schedule while in Seattle. And Sea Star was good food, we wanted a catering company not a restaurant.

Kari, at A Platinum Event, was very helpful, and listend to everything we asked for. On the day of, her husband was in the back cooking and she was making sure everything else was perfect. They were great! I'd definitely reccommend them. Our guest RAVED about the food!! 

PM me if you have any specific questions.

boonsripisal1

Just met up with A Platinum Event today with Kari and she is so wonderful... very true that she listened to everything that I wanted and has lots of knowledge about everything!!! She worked the best she could with my budget and it is reasonable price but that still puts me over my budget (not including alcohol yet). They would be my preferred caterer because we got a long very well... also they provide a coordinator for the entire wedding day which is a bonus! Lisa Dupar... the pricing of $20k included everything except for alcohol... so I am sure a lot of things could be cut out. The quote scared me... and Linda at The Columbia Winery did warn me that the quotes usually include everything so that the price my be alarming and schocking but looking at it... the labor charges are so much compared to A Platinum Event. I have also been talking to Ray's Catering but sadly... The Columbia Winery has contacts with only the three caterers mentioned in this thread. Their pricing is very close to A Platinum Event. Need to think more... if anyone lives near Olympia and looking for catering... Occasions Catering has amazing prices!!!!! and I hear great food as well.

aznini

I just looked at this location today too... let me know which caterer you choose - I still haven't met with any of them.

firsttimersluck

20K ?!?!! screw that.. that's almost double our budget.. lol.

MrsEAB

Catering cost that high was enough to make me stay away from some venues. Just so you know how reasonable some caterers are, the food at my wedding was $30 pp and included two entrees (salmon and chicken), two hot side dishes, salad, bread, coffee/tea service, three passed appetizers, fruit and cheese platter. And to this day, we hear raves about the food! In fact, many people went back for seconds! Alcohol was more expensive, so if you're going to have a bar bill in addition to the $20k LD quoted you, you should be prepared for a hefty, hefty tab! Our venue had a tasting for the 7-8 caterers they offer, and LD was one of them - I really like her bistro in Redmond, but her catering wasn't my favorite...I wouldn't pay $100 pp on it, for sure!