Catering and Rental Dillemma

I've never heard of a caterer tht doesn't clean up! Can you guys go with another caterer?

No, we love our caterer! He doesn't clean up, because he provides paper products. If we decide to use china, then its our responsibility

I really would hate to part with him, since we love his food and everything else about him.

Any other ideas?

Hire a server/cleanup person for the night.

Rental china shouldn't need to be cleaned… that's included in the rental price. The plates just need to be scraped and re-stacked in the crates. The catering staff should be able to take care of that. When they clear the tables they just re-stack the plates in the crates they came in. not hard.

You can hire a few servers/helpers from your local diner. Young folks are always lookin to make some extra money and if they work at a diner or restaurant, they will have experience and should be reliable since they can hold down a job.

I agree that hiring a person to do the cleanup is the best idea.

We ran across this with our caterer too. If we wanted to use ANYTHING other than what she provided, she was not gonna clean it up. So we're paying 1 dollar per napkin to get them from her rather than the .50 cents per we could've gotten them for online just so she'll scoop 'em into the dish pan with the rest of the stuff at the end of the night. You end up paying one way or another.

They usually need to be rinsed and recrated. Your caterer should know some people to hire (shoot, the definition of 'cater' is to take care of needs......shame on them.....)

There is probably a staffing agency for this near you; expect bus people to make 10ish bucks an hour, but seriously, your caterer should make this happen. I've never heard of this kind of attitude, and I catered for 20 years.

I wouldn't ditch the caterer. He is providing you with the FOOD, not the plates, so it honestly is your responsibility to clean the dishes you are renting. If he was providing the china I can see why he should clean them up. But he's not. If you look at it from his perspective why should he clean YOUR rental dishes?

I would say depending on your budget the $200 for the kitchen area will be more handy than you think, and then hire someone for cleanup. It's probably worth it for the reduced stress.

I rented my place for three days (only $310 a day) so I can set up and clean-up on different days. At my sisters wedding they started cleaning up right after the dinner and it made people leave. I wasn't going to do that to my guests or myself! So personally, I think it's worth it.

If he's only providing food, he's not really a caterer. A caterer should make it possible for you to have the party you need. He can absolutely find staff for you and deal with that responsibiliby.

Rent the extra space, find a few people and rest easy.

Why not just use disposable dishes? My brothers in-laws are doing my catering. They are somewhat low budget wedding caterers, and will provide disposable dishes. I didn't like the ones they provided, so I am buying my own, but still disposable. No clean-up issues.

He is a BBQer, and that is exactly what we want! We are going for a southern, country wedding and his food is awesome and perfect for our budget and theme!

We thought that doing paper would look to cheap or trashy though. Anyone disagree?

I wouldn't mind doing paper, I am just worried that our wedding will lose that classy feel. What do you guys think? Has anyone done paper?

I will also look into bussers, but they would still need a place to dish wash, and that would mean renting the other barn...

I ordered really nice plastic disposables. They are square. I got paper square ones for dessert. I've been to a lot of weddings with disposables. I suppose it depends on your area. Mine will be fine enough for me. I don't think it's cheap, I think it's practical, if it's buffet style people may bump into each other, etc. Plates get dropped. I'd hate to know the expense of breaking a rented plate. Or throwing away rented cutlery!!!! YIKES!

Party City has some nice premium plastic plates though. And they even have plastic silverware that looks almost real! Other than the unrealistic shine.

http://www.partycity.com/category/entertainingserving/premium tableware.do

http://www.partycity.com/category/entertainingserving/cutlery.do

I bought disposable plates at Zurchers that look like cute little glass plates with a design etched in the middle, but they are plastic. You can find cute disposable plates that don't look cheap

The links aren't working right for some reason!!!! Sorry! Go to the Party supplies tab, entertaining and serving, and premium tableware.

Also, my sister had a wedding similar to yours (in a barn, rustic chic theme, BBQ for the food) and she did these really adorable cardboard plates with wooden utensils. It was neat and different and fit her theme really well!! I think she bought them at a bulk restaurant supply store... The one here is called "Cash and Carry", but I don't know if that's only a local store. You definately have something like that in your area!!!

Some disposable is of pretty nice quality. I am also doing BBQ, the reception is in a pole barn, so I did't worry about disposable not being classy enough. My caterer doesn't serve on real dishes and it isn't worth the hassle for me to rent them elsewhere. Now if I were serving filet migon at a ballroom reception I would question using disposable...

Thanks you guys! This really helps! I think I will go disposable, it will save so much hassle, and so much stress! Plus, it will be cheaper! If anyone else has any recommendations for nice disposable tableware, let me know! Although, I really like what Party City has (thanks Shannah)!!

FYI, go into your store and look at them first if you have one nearby. They had a free shipping code for online last wee, but I don't know if they still do, and if you order in store it's free shipping but you may have to go pick-up in store.

I got my dinnerware this past week. My wine glasses might need wiped off first but that's no big deal to me. They also have really cute patterned napkins!

I think that if I do disposables, I won't need a cleanup crew. It won't be that hard for guests just to toss their plates when they are done and my family (parents, aunts and uncle) will most definitely tear down the event anyways.

I also found this other site:

http://www.smartyhadaparty.com/

They have extremely cute disposables!!