The Food

After you have decided a venue, a season, a date and the times of the wedding then next step is to sort out the nitty gritty of menu choses, drinks packages and planning decoration and entertainment.

The food 

Now this is where my major bug bear comes in and where I start to stand on my soap box.  I have lost count of the times I have experienced the following: menu choice for corporate or family event, five courses priced at £27 per head, the same menu for a wedding is £55 per head.  Is it just me or does that make your blood boil? It is consumerism gone mad.  My first rule before confirming anything with a venue is to enquire or research (as most venues will publicise menus) the corporate/non-wedding price of a 3, 4 or 5 course meal.  When you talk to them about weddings and when you notice the price is extra, simply ask what extra am I getting?   If they say nothing, then ask simply state that the advertised price for that menu is X, you are clearing a profit with that so what extra are you seeing for your additional pennies?  This will at least force a conversation about fair pricing and start the negotiation.  I have often in the conversation managed to get table decorations supplied, canapés, additional sorbet course and petit four instead of chocolate.  A good tip here is to think ‘more’ instead of ‘discount’.  Be warned, not all hotels/venues will negotiate and be prepared for a ‘computer says no’ response.  It is then your choice then whether to proceed with that venue but be aware of their inflexibility on price.  We chose our venue, the Rutland Hotel in Sheffield, because they beat the other competitors on the basis they listened to me and were flexibly to my needs.  Hotels that listen to you make you feel like they care, these are the ones that are going to really look after your big day!

The next tip is use the power of economies of scale.  Before, yes BEFORE the venue know your wedding figures find out the price they will give you per head for a menu.  This is tricky as most ask straight away but keep it up your sleeve.  For example, David and I are having 150 guests.  We knew before looking we were having 150 guests, I told the venue we were looking at about 75-80.  When we agree the price, I then explore what could happen if we have more people.  If we ended up inviting 125 could we get a better price? And what if that was 150?  Again, if there is no discount can you up sell to a better menu? I managed to upsell the menu and reduce the price saving us £900 (it all counts!)

With the food, just like everything else what is a must, should and could?  Do you really need seven courses or will 4 do?  Do you even need a formal sit down meal? Have you considered a hot buffet?  For the evening, if you are laying food on for evening gests when will you feed them?  Most weddings I have been to the wedding ‘breakfast’ and evening the food comes out and you are so stuffed you don’t want any.  So make sure you can negotiate with the venue that you only pay for a proportion on the day guests, a good rule of thumb is between 60-75% and all the evening.  Also, before you get sucked into the crazy world of wedding just take a reality check.  I once saw a wedding package from a hotel that quoted me the price of a roast pork sandwich as £14.95 per head! In the world of weddings you may hear yourself saying ‘oh, that’s cheap’! STOP!  If you rolled up at your local butchers/greggs and they charged you £15 for a pork sandwich, what would you say?  This where I refer to the previous blog ‘the right mind set’, weddings are vital business for hotels that help them sustain business in quieter periods, so some additional margin is to be expected, however let’s not call in the bailiffs yet.  Talk to the venue about their pricing, be honest and say it’s highly expensive and you don’t feel the price point is fair for the product, can we find a mutually agreeable price?  This all has to be done BEFORE you have paid your deposit, or else you will be trying to shut the door once the horse has bolted.