Catering Costs - How much per plate are you spending on your guests?

We originally were spending about $60/guest for dinner and $22/guest for open bar. We've since had to postpone our wedding and now we plan on spending MUCH less now that we had to switch venues. But I feel like food is definitely the bulk of costs.

Adults were $140 each which included 3 passed apps, 3 course meal and alcohol for 4.5 hours. Our cake was not through our venue. Children were $50 each and there’s included the apps and only an entree for the meal time. We weren’t charged for the bar (soda/juices/water bottles) at all for kids.

If i add in the food, alcohol, cake, and candy i spent just for the reception then cost per person was around $55-60 or so

Food and beverage was by far my most expensive cost, but the most important detail for us since my FH is a chef. We're spending $100 per guest, which includes 3 passed appetizers, 1 display app, salad, entree, and open bar for 4 hours

Our meal will be $140 per plate. That does not include hors d’oeuvres or alcohol. Alcohol will be an additional $50 per person, and hors d’oeuvres were broken down into price per piece, so I am not sure what that will end up costing.

Our was around $400 including apps and drinks.

$155 per guest including dinner and open beer and wine bar.

Ours was $160 a head just for apps and dinner, alcohol is separate (we are providing it)

We’re at $140.00 pp which includes cocktail hour food, buffet dinner and open bar.

I believe we're at $150 per person. This includes a heavy cocktail hour, plated dinner, and open bar the whole night. Plus a bunch of little things the venue includes that I can't remember lol

$89/pp
That includes cocktail hour - two passed hors d’oeuvres, charcuterie tray
Dinner. - two entree options, salad, vegetable, rollsOpen bar
It’s a GREAT price for around here, small-ish country club.

Ours was $140 per person for a pretty elaborate cocktail hour, 3 course plated dinner, full open bar all night, and the wedding cake. This also included the tables and chairs and such since the catering was through the venue and it was a flat per person fee.

We had to meet a $25k minimum with our caterer for 120 guests (this was just for food, the bar package was separate). We made a few upgrades so I think we ended up spending around $30k for the food, which comes to about $250 per person. I can't recall off the top of my head if this included taxes and labor though. Our open bar cost was $8k. That being said, we are in an extremely high cost of living city, we had a formal and fancy wedding, and our parents paid for the majority of it. I am fully aware that this is not necessarily the norm though.

Price is completely dependent on your location first and foremost. Because no two people will pay the same price for the same things. Following that, price depends on all inclusive (usually most expensive with 5 figure minimums) vs event caterer vs restaurant catering drop off.

Ours is $109/person, which is the caterer's mid-priced package. Includes 5 appetizers + market display, a first course, a duet main course, an ice cream sundae bar, and all beverages except the alcohol itself, which we're providing (caterer estimates $7-12/person). Also includes table settings, linens, servers/bartenders, and service charge. We need to meet a 65-person minimum AKA just over $7,000, but we're preparing to pay $11,000-16,000 depending on our RSVPs. We're in Maryland, for reference.

Ours is $75/pp and that includes a crudite table, 4 passed hot hors d'oeuvres, a salad, a pasta dish, 3 entrees with sides, our cake and alcohol. Our venue was one of the cheaper options, around here I've seen anywhere from $75 to $150+ pp.

We're doing an hors d'oeuvres reception that runs $35 per person. Bartending is a flat fee of $200 for the entire reception and the alcohol will be calculated out at the end. We're bringing wine and there's a $6 corkage fee per bottle and then beers are a flat rate depending on what they are. I think something like Coors Light is $4 per bottle and then craft beers are $7 per bottle with a couple other styles taking up the in-between prices. Luckily we don't have any minimums that we have to meet. There's technically a 50 guest minimum, but it's really just a technicality and our venue contact says they don't care if we're a little under that. (And that could also be because COVID regulations impact how many guests we can have or the fact that my FH is a plumber and does work at their facility.) I won't know until afterwards exactly how much we'll be spending total for food and drink for our guests, but it's definitely a big part of the total bill.

View Quoted Comment Wow after seeing all of your responses I feel like we're getting a great deal. $24.99pp buffet style; salad, 2 entrees, 2 sides, rolls with butter and non alcoholic drink choices. Also includes all linens china, flatware, glassware and china. Food is quality too, one of our entrees is steak. Thats all in the package for that price. We also elected for some add ons which obviously increased it. We have to provide our own alcohol for our open bar, so that's a separate budget item, same as cake.

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We're paying around the same for ours. Ours is about $25 not including the service fee/taxes/gratuity. Probably closer to $30-35 if we included all of that.

That's china, street tacos, two entrees, two sides, salad, and bread for everyone buffet style. We're getting drinks through our venue and providing the alcohol ourselves, but we have to pay a corkage and use our venue's bartender.

We are paying $22.50 a person, local caterer, just for lunch food, coffee, hot tea, ice tea, and water, 130 guests invited, but expecting less than that to come.