The food you serve at the wedding can make or break the experience for your guests. Not only will your menu be a conversation starter (I’ll swap your steak for my chicken!), but it’s an Instagrammable moment. Poor food choices can instantly change the dynamic of the room and no-one understands the importance of food more than Top Cat Catering who divulged to us the seven biggest wedding food fails they’ve seen.
The catering and drinks at a wedding should be the bride and groom’s highest cost on the day. Trying to cut back on this leads to poor quality dishes and hungry guests – never a good combination!
Overlooking your guest’s dietary requirements is a huge #fail. Not only will it leave your second cousin’s partner feeling dejected when he realises that you forget his gluten-intolerance, but it’s also extremely dangerous if someone has a serious allergy to an ingredient. Any good caterer should have a ‘back-up plan’, but if you’ve overlooked 50 guests, it’s going to be a hard problem to fix.
We’ve seen some brides and grooms only offer one option for a main meal. Although it may be the couple’s favourite food, it’s unlikely that all of their guests will agree. The trick is to provide options, that way if one guest isn’t a fan of the fish, they can swap with the person next to them.
Although you may love blueberries, if your wedding isn’t during blueberry season, you’re probably going to end up spending a whole lot of money on subpar berries. Opting for produce that is hard to source or out of season is a huge mistake, because caterers generally have to ship them in (adding $$ to your budget) and the ingredients aren’t as fresh.
The wedding planning team develop a run-sheet for a reason. If the bride or groom decide to do an impromptu speech or move their first dance, it can cause havoc for the caterers. Food is generally prepped and timed so that guests receive their meal hot and if things are moved around at the last minute, it can mean you might get a cold meal.
Picking a long menu with 5 courses for 100 guests and expecting it all to be served within an hour is crazy. Be reasonable with your expectations and don’t try to cram too much in, the day will go quickly enough without exhausting yourself and your groom with a tight schedule at the reception.
If you’re looking at a cocktail-style wedding, the worst thing you can do is limit the variety of menu items. This will result in guests getting bored with the food options and will leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.
Top Cat Catering is a family run and owned business with over thirty years’ experience in the food and décor industry. They provide a high level of catering services across Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs customising every function specific to the client.
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