Venue That Allows Outside Catering

minivan518

Hi all!  I just got engaged last week and have started calling places.  We are getting married at the Cathedral in May.  My fiance's uncle has catered both of his sisters' weddings and my mom is an awesome cook & would really like to contribute to appetizers.  I have been having a hard time finding a place that allows outside catering.  Marcus Lindsey, Mellwood, & Kaden are all booked.  I might look at the Louisville Science Museum?  It seems like things go pretty fast in Louisville!  I'd appreciate any & all recommendations on places to try.  I also recently sat next to a wedding planner on a plane & she said that I could explore "buy out" or "plate up" fees with venues.  She was from the San Fran Bay area.  I didn't know how this would go over in Louisville.  Any advice?  I don't want venues to think I'm being rude or to be offended by this.

bertke10

Make super duper sure your Uncle-in-law-to-be doesn't want to just go to this wedding as a guest. Did he offer to cater?
I think by the time you pay a fee to use an outside caterer you  might have well as used the contracted caterer.
How large of a venue do you need?
This thread talks about some larger venues with outside catering allowed:

http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_kentucky-louisville_venue-need-accomodate-300-bring-own-caterer?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:608Discussion:88c23748-c2b2-4913-8c84-f9c9d052fe07Post:5714c923-67e4-4da3-aaec-5266096d3355

ricnash2012

university of Louisville Shelby campus... you may need to provide insurance for the event, not really sure if they will allow it but it is a nice hall big lot of in house perks... Give them a call and ask good luck

cwill6212

Community centers typically allow you to bring in your own catering and are often more affordable than other venues. The one @ EP Tom Sawyer Park was built in 2009, seats 250 people and is gorgeous. See link below:

http://www.sawyerparkfoundation.org/sawyerhayescommunitycenter.html

djliquidsteele

I just had my reception at the Sawyer Hayes center at Sawyer park.  While it is a wonderful place and they do allow you to choose which caterer you would like, the caterer has to be insured.  We had originally wanted to have a friend cater our reception and he checked in to getting insurance and it was going to be uber expensive to do on his own.  We ended up using Kingsley's and they were superb.  They have wonderful, reasonable prices, amazing food, and you can get bartenders through them.

joytomylifex

We just went to go look at The Pointe in Butchertown today...  They are totally open to anything, including catering.  They are new, and the space is super modern and awesome!  It is worth checking out, because it has the potential to be an incredible wedding venue-my fiance and I already made a decision before going to the appointment, but he said it best when he said "In a year this is going to be THE place to be to get married..."

triciaholden1987

Just a head's up for the Louisville Science Center:  it is a beautiful space but they do not have a kitchen.  In fact, they don't even have a microwave.  The "food prep" area is a closet with tables and chairs in it.  My fiance and I called it the caterers nightmare.

Have you looked at White Hall or Locust Grove?

minivan518

Thanks to everyone who posted information!  I just wanted to share for future reference that the following places do allow outside caterers: Mellwood, Marcus Lindsey, Kaden Towers, Sawyer Hayes, The Pointe, Clifton Center, and The Medical School Building.  Louisville Science Center actually has a preferred list now.  

As for us, we decided we would like my fiance's uncle to enjoy time as a guest.  I think our guest list of ~200 would have been kinda stressful.  He still plans to make some Derby pies for the groom's dessert, though.  We ended up booking with the Gillespie Loft which has a preferred catering list.  I actually just signed a contract with The Catering Company last month.  They are very open to working with us on our vision of a family-style dinner.  

Thanks again!

katienjeff

We're doing our community center, they pretty much told us we can use anybody we want. However, since I have no idea what I'm doing, they gave me a list of places people have used in the past. (I live in Elizabethtown, so as far as caterers, our town doesn't have much to offer.)
That would be the best suggestion I can think of. Dunno about ya'lls prices but Prichard is only charging us $175.00 for the whole day, and they have set up people too.