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Interview Questions for Wedding Caterers

Padma Hiremath — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:46:43 +0000

Questions to ask potential Caterers

Interview Several Potential Caterers

Where do you start when choosing a caterer? Do you remember going to another wedding or event where you savored the food and your mouth is watering right now thinking of it? Getting the name of caterers that your friends have used will take some of the researching out of this decision..

Caterers will give you a quote based on your number of guests so make sure you have performed your “Creating Your Guest List” task before finalizing on a caterer. Get a price sheet of the entrees they serve along with their prices. Make sure to set a tasting appointment before any contract is signed. If you were not satisfied with the first tasting and you wanted to change the spicyness, or some other aspect of the food, make sure to ask for a second tasting. You want to feel confident that the food will taste great at your wedding.

Meet with 2-3 local caterers, sampling their food, and making sure the outside caterer you hire is right for you. During the interview process, here are some questions to ask each catering company:

What is your specialty? Do you have a signature dish?

Where is the food cooked? Is your kitchen near the venue?

How is the food transported? When do you bring the food to the venue?

Are additional cooking facilities needed at the reception site?

Is the food prepared from fresh ingredients, or frozen?

Who keeps the leftovers?

Will your provide servers? If so, how many servers per guest?

Are you licensed by the state? By the health department?

Do you provide table decorations? chair decorations?

How much deposit must be paid? When is the balance due?

How are the charges calculated? Per person? Per plate? Are tips included in the fees?

Will there an on-site supervisor on the day of the wedding?

What is the price difference between serving a buffet or plate dinners?

Are you able to provide special order or child-friendly meals (if needed)?

Ask if there are ways to reduce the per person cost. Caterers can be creative in reducing costs, you just need to ask.

Choosing your Color Palette

Padma Hiremath — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:36:02 +0000

Which color for your wedding?

Color will set the ambience for you wedding from beginning to end. You will want to start off by choosing a theme or mood for your wedding. Do you envision a unique beach theme, a romantic midsummer‘s night dream, or an Cinderella themed wedding? Choosing a theme, will guide you through choosing a color palette for your wedding. Choose pale blue of the sky, light tan of the sand, peach or pink for the seashells for a beach theme, a soothing color palette of rosy hues for a midsummer’s night or royal blue, ivory, and gold to be a true princess at your very own Cinderella wedding. Working your theme into your centerpieces, floral arrangements, and favors will make your theme complete and your guests feeling like they are living your dream.

When choosing your colors, a palette of three works nice allowing you to create depth in your wedding. You can use one color as a primary color, usually the color you choose for your bridesmaids’ dresses, and the other colors will be used as accent colors. You do not have to use each color in equal amounts. Three colors will give you more variety in your décor and make it more interesting. Visiting the bridal store with your bridesmaids to see what colors look exquisite on them will give you a starting point on selecting your primary color.

It is not mandatory that you choose a theme for you wedding. If you don’t want a theme, don’t have a theme. Go back to basics and look at a color wheel. Select the color you want and use a color adjacent to it for a monochromatic color scheme or the color directly across from it on the color wheel for a compliementary color. Remember what the colors traditionally represent. Blue is cool, relaxing and has a calming vibe. Red is vibrant and energizing. Green is comforting, refreshing and tranquil, and yellow is an uplifting color suggesting joy and radiance.

So what are the hot colors for weddings these days?

Gold paired with cocoa makes for a rich and regal wedding

Celadon Green paired with a vibrant hue such as turquoise make a serene wedding.

Chocolate is the new black which adds class to any color combination

Hot Pink combined another shade of pink to create festive wedding or you can pair the pink with brown for another alternative.

Lime green and ruby red make for a dramatic color combination

A bold color combination of fushcia or turquoise paired with tangerine will add life to any summertime wedding.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer when choosing your colors. Select colors that are you, that make you happy and set the mood for your big day!

To hire or not to hire a Wedding Planner?

Padma Hiremath — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:20:03 +0000

Considerations for Hiring a Planner

You’re probably thinking that if I hire a wedding planner, I could have used their fee to pay for something else in the wedding. Wedding planners have a network of wedding professionals they work with and can get services at better prices than a bride can. They know the wedding professionals they recommend to you are quality and dependable professional that fit within your budget. The last thing you would want is hiring a photographer and receiving pictures that you are not happy with.

If you and your fiancé work crazy hours or go to school which doesn’t leave much time to plan a wedding, a wedding planner is for you. If you are planning a destination or out-of-town wedding, a wedding planner can be invaluable. The wedding planner can manage the decisions, contracts, and details of your wedding so that it doesn’t become overwhelming. A wedding planner typically costs 10-20% of the total cost of your wedding.

Wedding planners come in all shapes and sizes. If you choose not to hire a wedding planner from the beginning planning phase, you can hire a wedding planner 1 -2 months before your wedding to finalize details and manage the actual events. You can also hire a “day-of” planner for the day of the wedding for a just a few hundred dollars to make sure the logistics of everyone and everything is taken care of on your special day.

You may want to meet with a wedding planner to see if this is something for you. The cheaper alternative is to depend on a family member or close friend to work closely with you and rely on them to make phone calls and keep track of details for you.

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