Daily Wedding Blog » Catering

Cut The Cost Of Your Wedding Cake

Daily Wedding Blog — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:00:30 +0000

Cut The Cost Of Your Wedding Cake

Don’t feel obliged to stick to the traditional tiered wedding cake. There are many different options these days when it comes to wedding cakes, and they are quite likely to be cheaper options than the traditional tiered cake. Browse magazines, ask friends, visit cake shops and see what’s available to you.

Here are some ideas we have put together to get you started.

- One of the new trends emerging is the tiered wedding cupcake where the cupcakes replace the traditional wedding sliced cake. It’s cheaper and aesthetically pleasing. You can buy stands cheaply from most department stores or alternatively you could hire one.

- Order a plain wedding cake and decorate it yourself. Search the internet, wedding magazines and visit bakers for inspiration.

- Hire an apprentice chef to bake your wedding cake. Be sure to check out a folio and sample their work first.

Cut The Cost Of Your Wedding Cake originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

10 Ways To Cut The Cost of your Wedding Catering

Daily Wedding Blog — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:05:31 +0000

Cut the cost of your wedding catering with a buffet.

Catering a wedding is one of the big costs associated with planning a wedding, which is why it is important that you do plenty of research and planning before hiring a wedding caterer. Following is 10 tips that may help you save money on your wedding catering. Feel free to add any more tips to help fellow brides and grooms in the comments box below.
1. Find out upfront if childrens meals will be cheaper than the adult rate. At most restaurants and venues this is always the case and it shouldn’t be any different for a wedding.

2. Get an itemized quote to ensure that you are fully aware of any ‘hidden charges’ and to ensure that the cost includes the price of labour.

3. Find out what the minimum guest count is for the caterer as if you do not have the required amount you may be charged additional fees.

4. Is there a local restaurant that you frequent that has delicious food? Why not ask them if they would be willing to cater your wedding?

5. There are many home-based part-time catering businesses run by retired chefs who want to earn a bit of extra money by offering their services to special events and weddings. They usually offer their services at a heavily reduced price and offer one-on-one service ensuring that they know exactly what you are after.

6. Many reception venues and caterers will charge you a cake-cutting fee, which means that you will be charged ed for every slice of cake! This often only applies for cakes brought from outside venues as it is supposed to entice you to buy your wedding cake from the venue where you reception will be held. Find this out upfront as it can work out to be quite costly (typically around $1.50 per guest) You may be able to negotiate a cheaper price.

7. Buffets are a popular choice at weddings for both the savings it can bring, and the option of allowing guests to choose a meal that they want. This also saves the hassles of trying to find a wedding meal that will be well received by everyone.

8. If you are having an open bar, prearrange with the venue what the tab will be. Additionally, consider having a limited bar and if your wedding guests would like to drink anything outside of the allocated drinks, they have the option of purchasing it themselves.

9. Buying champagne for your wedding around New Years Eve can often lead to savings, as this is the time of year that bottle shops have their greatest sales.

10. Does your reception venue allow you to bring in an off-site caterer independent of the wedding venue itself? If so, this can offer significant savings, as you have the luxury of choosing your preferred caterer that fits within your wedding budget.

10 Ways To Cut The Cost of your Wedding Catering originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

The Open Bar vs. The Cash Bar

Daily Wedding Blog — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:00:43 +0000

This is often a touchy issue with couples planning a wedding and its easy to see why. If you’re not careful an open bar can end up costing around $20 per guest. If you have 100 guests, well that’s easily $2000 of your budget, no wonder couple love the idea of a cash bar (where guest pay for their own drinks) Wedding etiquette suggests that a cash bar should be avoided, but is there a compromise that can save the couple some money yet still allow them the option of providing drinks for their guests?

1. Carefully plan your open bar. Stick to champagne, wine and beer and avoiding spirits and shots as this can easily add up.

2. Limit the time that the bar is open.

3. If you will be buying the alcohol yourself do it at the right time of year when there will be specials on such as New Years Eve or before a national sporting event.

4. Find out if your local alcohol stores have any free vip customer loyalty memberships where you can pick up great discounts.

5. Negotiate the removal of the corkage fee.

6. Prearrange a certain time for bartender to stop uncorking bottles as you don’t want to end up paying for ten bottles of only partially used bottles.

The Open Bar vs. The Cash Bar originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

Have a Lunchtime Wedding to Save on Catering Costs

Daily Wedding Blog — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:36:34 +0000

One way to reduce the cost of your catering is to have a lunchtime wedding rather than an evening one. Evening weddings generally consist of a more elaborate and larger meal for dinner. You could still have a tantalising lunch time menu for a significantly reduced cost.

Another bonus is that people (well most people anyway) tend to drink less for lunch time weddings rather than evening one saving you money.

Have a Lunchtime Wedding to Save on Catering Costs originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

Potluck Weddings

Daily Wedding Blog — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:00:13 +0000

I was recently asked for my views on a pot-luck wedding. The couple didn’t want a fancy wedding, just a small ceremony to symbolise their commitment to each other. They have limited funds, and would prefer to save the small amount of savings they do have towards a house deposit. They are excited about the possibility of a pot-luck wedding to be held in their backyard, but would hate to be seen as impolite or tacky.

Personally I think that pot-luck weddings can work in certain situations. Firstly, it is best suited to smaller weddings. If your guest list is somewhere in the 100+ range, it can just get chaotic coordinating all that food.

Whilst most guests will string bring a gift to a pot-luck wedding, it is rude to ask for money in lieu of gifts when you are also asking guests to bring a meal. This will just be seen as greedy.

In the next few days we will publish a complete guide detailing how to successfully throw a pot-luck wedding, detailing steps from the invitation wording to the actual wedding day.

Potluck Weddings originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

Catering for Kids at Weddings

Daily Wedding Blog — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:44:41 +0000

You can trim your catering bill by having a different serving size plate for kids. After all, kids don’t tend to eat as much as adults, so offering them a full sized serving is a waste of money.

You could even ask the caterer to serve the children at your wedding an entirely different meal, one that would likely be better received. Most kids don’t really care for the ‘fancy’ meals that adults are served anyway.
Not all caterers will advise you of the kid’s menu option, so you may need to negotiate this yourself.

Catering for Kids at Weddings originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

Eliminate shots from the menu

Daily Wedding Blog — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:00:15 +0000

A good way to reduce the cost of drinks at your wedding is to eliminate shots on the menu. Guests can go through shots pretty quickly which can inflate the alcohol cost. Mixed drinks and non-alcoholic beverages are the way to go to ensure that you stick to a decent budget. You might also want to consider having a restrictive bar, which means it would only be open at certain times, perhaps after the speeches or during the meal. This will ensure that your guests won’t be drinking on an empty stomach, so there will be a reduced chance of overly drunken guests.

Eliminate shots from the menu originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on

The Lolly Buffet

Daily Wedding Blog — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:29:11 +0000

Want a fun way to spruce up your reception catering, what about a lolly buffet? It’s a relatively simple and inexpensive way to add a little bit of fun to your wedding. All you need are some clear glass bowls and vases and an assortment of lollies to fill them up with. You will also need some scoops for your guests to fill up their lolly bowls with. Some good lolly suggestions are jelly beans, jelly jubes, lollypops and any other type of colourful lollies. Your guests (adults and children alike) will absolutely love this idea and the visual effect of clear glass filled with an assortment of colours will be stunning. In order to make the colours stand out, you may want to drape the table in a contrasting colour such as black velvet. It’s also visually pleasing to have the bowls on different levels. You can stack up some books under the fabric to create different heights.

The Lolly Buffet originally appeared on Daily Wedding Blog on