A Trick to Save Big Money on Your Wedding Reception

When you review caterer and banquet packages, you will notice that often business luncheons and dinners offer essentially the same food items much cheaper. The difference is typically items you may not care about at all, there may be a dessert but not a wedding cake in the package, perhaps some of the extras like personalized napkins that don't matter to you, so why pay for them? Of course, I don't mean lie and tell the caterer you are having a business conference and then show up in your bridal gown, but ask them specifically: What is the difference between the bridal package and the business luncheon package? Be polite but firm, and resist glorious explanations of extra attention to details that make a wedding special. Because this is money, so you need to know "What is the specific attention that their corporate clients do NOT get that YOU - the bridal couple - will be getting in the wedding package?" With all deference to their work, (and caterers and their staff do work hard at all events, wedding or corporate) it is not insulting to presume their corporate clients are treated very well, after all, they will likely be a repeat customer, whereas a wedding client is (hopefully and probably) a one time customer. So presuming it costs the same to prepare and staff events of equal size, why specifically does the wedding package cost extra? There may be a good reason, or maybe not. Is it an Emcee to host the evening? A wedding coordinator to make sure things run smoothly? Or is the difference the foods you will be getting or their presentation? Do you want these extras? Can you order a separate wedding cake and attempt to negotiate a corporate dinner package or at least a better price? The point is not trying to get something for nothing from the caterer, but if you do not want the item, why pay the caterer to spend the time providing the item if you can agree on a fair price for what you actually do want. The caterer themselves may have suggestions for alternatives as well.

For the purpose of illustrating this point, I've researched the catering packages menus for a wedding banquet and a two dinner party event menus from the same local popular wedding and event venue in my area. This caterer owns three major wedding reception facilities, so they are a reasonable representation of the wedding reception market. They serve quality food (they have angus steaks and top shelf liquors as an example) and are often used for local Fortune 1000 company events as well. Compare the two packages, one for a regular party and one for a bridal reception, and note the potential savings:

Now both event packages are priced for on-premise, evening events in the same room. Coordinated linens and seating charts were included in both types of events.

A non-wedding dinner party, consisting of four courses: All dinners include:

1. An Appetizer (choose from the Soup of the day, fresh fruit cup, Penne Pasta, Manicotti, or Puff Pastry with Stuffed with Seafood Newburg)
2. A Salad (choice of House salad, antipasto, Caesar Salad)
3. Choice of three entrées'. Eight choices of entrees are available, and include Surf and Turf (Prime Rib and Stuffed Shrimp) for $25.95 as well as Chicken Cordon Bleu for $18.95, and Back Atlantic Salmon Filet with Dill Sauce for $21.95 (plus 18% tax and gratuity standard)
4. Vegetable and Potato or Rice Pilaf and breads
5. Coffee, tea, and dessert. Dessert choices are: ice cream, coconut layer cake, sherbet, strawberry shortcake with biscuits, or German chocolate cake.

A party buffet option has more of the traditional wedding style options. For $23.95, it included a social hour with a fruit platter and antipasto platter, cheese display and bread basket. A choice of one pasta, four entrees on a buffet with vegetable and potato, coffee and the same dessert choices for $23.95 per person plus gratuity. For $26.95, a non-wedding buffet came with table lanterns as centerpieces, unlimited soda, as well as a social hour with bread, fruit and cheese platters.

Both options could add on three hours of open bar for $10.95 per person. So a non-wedding reception sit down four course Surf and Turf meal with three hours open bar is $36.90 per head, and the chicken is $29.94 plus taxes and gratuity.

Now compare this to the wedding package at the same facility

The cheapest wedding package was the exact same foods as the four course dinner party above (where the Surf & Turf was $25.95 a person) plus the addition of the social hour food items seen on the buffet option above, it offered one more pasta choice for appetizers and it substitutes a wedding cake for dessert. The price is now $47.95 per person for the same chicken entrée and $53.95 for the Surf and Turf (plus gratuity). What makes up for the price difference?

At this facility, the answer was two extra hours open bar (five hours total), a bottle of wine on the table, a wedding cake instead of a pre-sliced piece of cake or other dessert being served, flowers on the table, white chair covers with bows, a champagne toast, a wedding coordinator being available, and 20% off on your wedding invitations if you used their invitation vendor (who may or may not be price competitive or have invitations you like) and the social hour cheese and fruit platter (which sell on a la carte additions for $1.95 per person for the cheese platter and $2.95 per person for the fruit platter).

The wedding package is not a bad deal for the area, it is actually pretty good. But the difference between $36.90 (or $18.95 for the chicken course without open bar) and $53.95 for a Surf and Turf dinner does need to be examined for areas open to wedding savings. What could you do to save money if this was the menu you were presented with at your local reception site? How many of the extras do you care about? Do you care if your cake is served as a slice and not presented as a wedding cake? A pretty wedding cake and the cake cutting traditions may be important to you, so you might not want to negotiate that away and instead haggle on some other area. What items are available a la Carte to be added into a package? Can you add a small wedding cake for the traditional cutting and still save money? Can you add the cheese platter for the social hour or do you want to skip a social hour? Those are some cost cutting options your guest would likely notice are atypical. But, if you have open bar already, would you want to pay extra for wine to be on the table as well? Preview their a la carte options and see what these items are worth individually. At this particular facility, an a la carte bottle of wine on the table at a party is $10.25 per bottle, so what will it save you per person to negotiate that out? Or do you want to keep the bottle of wine and forego the open bar cost ($10.95 per person)? Can you add an a la carte champagne toast to a corporate package, such as at this caterer for $1.95 per person? Can you bargain hunt and find a 20% wedding invitation discount somewhere else? Would you care if you had white chair covers with a bow at your reception? Your guests would not notice any difference in those cost cutting ideas.

Second, if you think you want a bridal packages' inclusive item, explore the vague details. For instance, what does the "flowers on the table" being included exactly mean? Is it a few flowers in a bud vase, or a larger table centerpiece? What kind of flowers? How big an arrangement? Will it match your color scheme? Ask to see photos, and get the exact nature of the arrangement in writing if the table centerpiece flowers are important to you. Do the same thing with the wedding cake. Don't just assume anything is what you envision it to be just because it is included.

If you want these extra things, then the price differential is probably competitive, but if you don't want ALL those things, why are you paying for them? When people think of your wedding, will they realistically think of whether or not they sat on white chair covers with a bow, or will they remember that they had an expensive looking and tasting meal, and will you remember that you paid almost $20 less per person for a non-bridal party package? The price differential means you can you can save money and no one will know the difference or afford something better than expected, like Surf & Turf and open bar.

Negotiating away items you will not use or want is perhaps the largest wedding savings. Perhaps you can use this catering facilities' wedding package menus as a model to find similar facilities in your area and find your own ways to save. You may not negotiate away $15 or $20 worth per person, but even $3 - $5 here and there for unwanted extras can add up to wedding reception savings in a manner that you will not even miss, and neither will your guests.