Does "No Caterers Allowed" mean no outside cake either?

xirose

I am just starting out looking at venues and MANY of them say that there are no outside caterers allowed. I am fine with this for the food, I find it very convenient to not have to deal with 50 different people just to coordinate my dishes, however, my sister is a pastry chef and her gift to us is the wedding cake. I really REALLY want to use her cake - does that mean I can't go to the "no caterer" venues, or is that only for the hors d'oeurves and main course? Has anyone here used a venue that was exclusive about their food but NOT about their cake? I'm just looking to get a general feel on what the norm is here. Thank you! 

PS i know there will likely be a cake cutting fee but I am not really concerned about that, just if they'll let us use it at all. Thanks!

AdeleDazeem

You're going to have to just ask the venues. We had our AHR at a lovely restaurant so obviously it had its own food. We were allowed to bring in a cake and just pay the cutting fee.

kmmssg

I have 3 married DD's which means I have talked to my fair share of caterers and venues.  We encountered the following scenarios:

1.  Venue only, bringing in outside caterer of our choice

2. Venue that allowed NO outside caterers, including cake vendor

3. Venue that allowed NO outside caterers but allowed outside cake vendor

The first thing you must check for is this:  does your venue allow a cake to be brought in from an unlicensed facility?  Some of the caterers I spoke with were a firm NO, and others actually said they would just look the other way even though the official policy was NO.

We had a bride here a few years ago who had grandma make her cake.  Grandma made ALL the family wedding cakes.  This bride had 300 guests.  When Grandma went to deliver the cake, it was not accepted by the venue because it didn't come from a licensed facility.  There was no cake at the reception and this bride had an entire wedding cake for 300 people to deal with after her wedding.

We have encountered many who would allow it, and many who would not.  If your venue allows outside cake, find out what the policy is on the licensing aspect.  Good luck.

ETA - when you are discussing things with a potential venue, try to negotiate no cutting fees.  That was one little item I refused to pay for.

Carson386

Talk to the coordinator at your venue. My venue says no outside caterers. They gave me a list of people to do the cake which I already had a family member that offered to do it. My venue said they just needed proof that she was licensed and have a copy of her department of health certification and it would be fine.

alithebride

this is something you need to ask the individual venue.

fallbride1109

Agree with the PP.  I got married at a hotel where I could not use my own caterer, but I could use a professional wedding cake vendor (i.e, I didn't have to use the hotel's pastry chef).  I could not, however, have brought in a homemade cake made by my sister.  A co-worker wanted to make me chocolate covered strawberries, and they were willing to look the other way on that one as long as she signed something, but not with a cake.