Food is one of the major things for which people will cherish your wedding. So it is very important to choose the right caterer. Before selecting the caterer you need to have an idea of the kind of food you want at your wedding. While selecting the food keep the ambience of the wedding venue & season in mind. Below mentioned are few key points that will assist you in selection of the caterer:
- You need to finalize an estimate budget for food & catering services for various function i.e. First Ceremony, Engagement, Haldi, Mehendi, Sangeet, Wedding and Reception.
- Prepare a list of top 5 caterers as per your budget & tentative menu. You can get references from your close relatives & friends.
- Check the variety of cuisines the caterer can provide as per your requirements. Usually adding two to three extra stalls is not a very big cost to the caterer because they go by the number of plates; hence with little additional cost you can give your guests a variety of food.
- Ensure that the caterer can provide you the required quantity and quality of food.
- The cutlery provided by the caterer should be as per your standards as your guests will be served their food in it (eg: designer cutleries).
- Discuss the measures the caterer will take to maintain the required hygiene while preparing & serving the food.
- You need to visit one or two weddings where the caterer is serving the food before finalizing anything. On these visits you need to analyze & judge the following:
- Quality of the food.
- Distinct separation in preparing & serving various types of food i.e. vegetarian, non-vegetarian, Jain food, etc.
- Overall hygiene.
- Taste of the food & authentic taste of all the cuisines.
- Presentation of the food items.
- Method of serving various food items.
- Mannerisms & behaviour of staff who is serving the food to the guests.
- Personal hygiene of the staff serving the food for eg: check if all the staff is wearing gloves while serving food, are the hair tied up properly, etc.
- Whether the supervisors are taking care of the guests.
- You then need to add all your comments, drawbacks, number of items, quotes, etc. in your caterer assessment sheet. It will be easy to select the final caterer after giving the caterers rating based on the various parameters listed in the assessment sheet.
You can get delicious food at reasonable cost, if you have the right caterer!