Help me figure this sh!t out...

MamaBear904

Its about the catering for our venue. I've been emailing back and forth the with venue about our food to see if we can cut costs somewhere to afford a beer and wine bar.

Buffet is priced by # of main dishes offered: We are doing either two or three, not sure. Somewhere between $32 - $35pp++.

Plated is priced by a tiered system. Apparently if I pick a chicken (tier 1 - $32) and a fish (tier 2 $35) or a steak (tier 3 $40) whichever is the highest tier will apply to all dishes. So if 40 people order tier 1 and 10 people tier 3, the entire party will be billed at tier 3. This could make the plated dinners significantly more expensive than the buffet.

I can save $5pp++ if we omit passed hors d'ouvres and chocolate fountain, which turns into appx $250 that I can then spend towards a beer and wine bar, which will be appx $650++

It sounds to me that buffet is the way to go, right? I would love to pick two or three selections from a tier 1 plated menu, but they're all chicken with the exception of 1 veggie dish, no beef or steak options. And I find it really unreasonable that they would charge me the price of the higher dish across the board if only a portion actually select that dish. Why couldn't they just go based on the counts, I don't understand.

Ugh... Vent over... Please tell me I'm not going crazy...

TogetherPerfect

That is definitely weird and sucks how they do their pricing... I would stick with the buffet. Is there any way you can eliminate the chocolate fountain and maybe just do a cheese and fruit/veggie or something of the sort display instead? I don't know how much that would cut costs but personally I would rather have beer and wine at a reception than a chocolate fountain. That's just ne though

Krikin22

What a load of crap! Yeah I would go with the buffet if it costs that much more per person for plated.

MamaBear904

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_help-me-figure-this-sht-out?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:77900042-f7f5-4b74-b9d6-db6a2a5a01d1Post:97107299-0459-4fbe-a6aa-8d2e05cb6b3f">Re:Help me figure this sh!t out...</a>:
[QUOTE]That is definitely weird and sucks how they do their pricing... I would stick with the buffet. Is there any way you can eliminate the chocolate fountain and maybe just do a cheese and fruit/veggie or something of the sort display instead? I don't know how much that would cut costs but personally I would rather have beer and wine at a reception than a chocolate fountain. That's just ne though
Posted by TogetherPerfect[/QUOTE]

We are cutting the chocolate fountain and passed apps. We are doing only a fruit and cheese display. By cutting this, we are saving $5pp which will come out to about $250 in savings which we can put towards a beer and wine bar.

MayDay513

Thats really weird. We ended up going buffet. Ultimately, go with your gut and eat what you want. I think the guests would enjoy beer and wine more, however the chocolate fountain probably looks awesome in pictures.

Sharpschruter22

Yeah, that's nuts. You're not crazy mama. Based on all the info you provided, I would choose the buffet too.

MamaBear904

Thanks for the info ladies! I talked it over with FI and we opted for a buffet. Unfortunately, adding a beer and wine bar is still adding almost 900 in cost and as of right now we just can't afford to pay for it. We will see if we can find the money in the next few months and add it back in.

SSaltzman87

Yeah I'd choose the buffet too. It's crazy how some vendors do their pricing!