What are the Three Main Areas of Catering Equipment at a Wedding?
Weddings are always hectic occasions. For the happy couple, they have to go through all the trouble of catering. They have to determine the menus, what their guests are going to expect, and how to execute the plan from start to finish. Whether you need bakery equipment or bar equipment, you are going to have to negotiate the three mains stages of wedding catering.
In this article, we are going to go through each aspect of it, so you know exactly what you can anticipate.
The Staging
Catering does not begin with the moment someone puts a fork into his or her mouths. It starts with the moment the guests see the dining area. This is the staging area and it sets the tone for the entire event.
Your caterers will need to decide on what tables and chairs work best. It is not just in the décor. It can be a logistical nightmare if they do not have fixed numbers on the number of adults and children who will be attending.
It is your job to take into account both the décor of the venue and the sort of message you want to transmit to your guests. Are you looking for something overly casual or fashionably elegant? You have to decide on all this before you even get to the food!
The Serving
How are you going to serve the food?
It sounds like an obvious question, but this can be a tricky area to negotiate. The first question will be whether you are going to be employing servers or whether this is going to be a buffet dinner. If you do employ servers, you are going to have to direct them in their duties, which add a completely new dimension of complexity.
You also have to take into account aspects like the napkins, the plates, and the glasses. As well as catering for the adults, you will need to decide on a separate serving arrangement for the kids. This could involve swapping glass for plastic and removing many of the fancier serving details you would encounter at the adult’s table.
The Food
You should have already come to a decision on the food before the event. If you have, you need to have the catering equipment in place to maintain this food. Remember, hot food is often cooked long before it is actually on the table ready to eat. In this case, you would need to have warming equipment to stop it from going cold. The same principle applies for cold desserts and drinks.
How Much Are You Responsible For?
It depends entirely on your arrangement with the catering company. You may be lucky enough to have a catering manager who can handle all the catering for you and you only have to turn up. If you are deciding to take it on yourself, you will have to plan each stage of the catering process well in advance.
Overall, catering can be broken down into three individual stages. This makes the process more manageable and enables you to see exactly what part of the process you are at.
