The cost of catering for a wedding starts with the table you picture, a plated dinner served to every seat or platters passed down a long table. In Sydney, a full-service plated dinner with canapés and staff runs A$180 to A$230 a head (Wedlockers). In the US, Zola puts plated at US$65 to US$85 a person nationally, and a premium Bay Area caterer charges US$110 to US$165 (Pinx Catering).
Those figures cover food and service. Tax, any service charge, hire and the bar usually sit outside them, so the first per-head is seldom the final invoice. Wedded Concierge negotiates your catering quote for you.
Service style changes the price mostly through labour, as Pinx Catering explains. Bridebook Australia allows one waiter for every 11 seated guests, about nine for 100, and Caterking staffs one for every 10 to 12. Plan the courses with the wedding menu guide, then price the style.
Zola's range is US$65 to US$85 a person and Pinx's is US$110 to US$165. Bridebook Australia gives A$70 to A$100 a guest as an average wedding breakfast and says premium venues and caterers charge well above it, which is where Sydney's full-service A$180 to A$230 sits. If you offer a choice of main, ask in writing whether it changes the price.
Zola puts family style at US$50 to US$70 and Pinx at US$95 to US$140. Each sits only US$15 to US$25 below the same source's plated range. The gap stays small because Pinx notes family style carries high staffing, with shared platters at each table. Australian guides seldom price a shared table on its own, so ask each caterer for it beside the plated price.
Zola's range is US$40 to US$65 a person, Pinx's full-service buffet runs US$85 to US$120, and Bridebook Australia puts an evening buffet at A$50 to A$80 a guest. Guests serve themselves, which Zola says cuts labour costs and Pinx says needs fewer servers than plated.
Zola puts food stations at US$45 to US$75 a person. Ask how many guests the caterer plans each station for and how many chefs each one carries.
Zola's range is US$35 to US$55 a person, and Pinx's heavy appetisers and stations with no seated meal run US$55 to US$95. Wedlockers puts Sydney cocktail catering at about A$140 a person for five hours, with 8 to 12 canapés. Ask for the number of pieces per guest in writing.
Start with the venue's rules, because they decide who can quote: in-house catering, an approved list or your own caterer. The hidden wedding costs guide covers the charges beyond catering that land late.
Caterking lists tables, chairs, linen, plates and cutlery as standard in its catering, but these often sit outside the per-head elsewhere. These often sit outside the per-head:
Hire: Pinx budgets US$12 to US$30 a guest when the venue provides nothing.
Kitchen fee: Zola gives US$500 to US$2,000 for an outside caterer to use the venue kitchen.
Kitchen build: At a dry-hire site with no kitchen, Bridebook Australia says a marquee and portable kitchen can add several thousand. At a regional estate, ask too whether staff travel and accommodation sit in the quote.
Vendor meals: Zola puts these at 50 to 75 percent of the guest price, and Pinx charges US$35 to US$55 each.
Dietary and children's meals: Zola gives US$8 to US$15 for each dietary meal. Few caterers publish a children's price, so ask for one in writing.
Overtime: Zola gives US$50 to US$100 per staff member per hour.
Tasting: Zola gives US$100 to US$300, often included for weddings over 100 guests or contracts above US$10,000, and often credited to the final bill when you book.
Zola puts beer and wine at US$12 to US$18 a person and a full premium bar at US$25 to US$35. Pinx charges US$50 to US$75 an hour for each bartender and plans one for every 65 to 75 guests, so 100 guests need two. Where the service charge is a percentage of food and beverage, a bigger bar raises it too.
If you bring your own wine, corkage runs US$15 to US$25 a bottle in Zola's figures and A$10 to A$20 in Bridebook Australia's. At a dry-hire venue, ask who supplies the drinks, glassware and bar staff, and at a private Australian site, who holds the liquor licence for the day. Where many guests won't drink, ask for juices, mocktails, coffee and tea priced per head with their own staff.
Add the charges in this order, because each one is calculated on the lines above it:
In New York, the Department of Taxation and Finance taxes all of a caterer's charges for an event, the service charge included. A mandatory gratuity escapes tax only when it is shown separately, labelled a gratuity and paid in full to staff. The combined rate is the 4 percent state rate plus the local rate, so enter the venue's address in the state's rate lookup.
Australian GST is 10 percent, so A$200 a head excluding GST is A$220. In the US, sales tax varies by state and often applies to the service charge too, as the New York rules above show. Ask whether a quoted per-person rate is net or already holds the service charge and tax, and in what order each is added.
Start from a firm headcount, using the wedding guest list guide. Take a plated dinner for 100 guests with a premium full-service caterer and a full bar. The US build uses Pinx's June 2026 Bay Area ranges and Zola's national bar and fee figures, at a point inside each range. Prices change, so confirm when you book.
In US dollars, the bill builds like this:
Plated dinner at US$140 a head, inside Pinx's US$110 to US$165: US$14,000
Full premium bar at US$30 a head, inside Zola's US$25 to US$35: US$3,000
Service charge at 20 percent of food and bar: US$3,400
Hire at US$20 a guest, inside Pinx's US$12 to US$30: US$2,000
Ten vendor meals at US$45: US$450
Cake cutting at US$2 a slice, inside Zola's US$1 to US$3: US$200
Subtotal before tax: US$23,050, about US$231 a head
Sales tax at Pinx's round 10 percent for San Francisco and Alameda, applied here to every line as a ceiling, since Pinx notes only taxable items attract it: US$2,305, for US$25,355, about US$254 a head
A voluntary, untaxed gratuity of 15 to 20 percent of the food: US$2,100 to US$2,800, for US$27,455 to US$28,155, about US$275 to US$282 a head
Pinx's own 100-guest plated sample is US$21,500 with service charge and before alcohol. Where the venue brings in an outside caterer, add Zola's kitchen fee of US$500 to US$2,000 before tax. Few caterers publish per-head prices, so treat this build as a premium reference and ask for an itemised quote at the tax rate for your venue's address.
In Australian dollars, with food and staff quoted together:
Canapés, entrée, main, dessert and all service staff at A$200 a head, inside Wedlockers' A$180 to A$230: A$20,000
Tables, linen, plates and cutlery: included where the caterer lists them as standard, or hired in at a fee
Corkage at Bridebook Australia's A$10 to A$20 a bottle, on half a bottle a guest (50 bottles): A$500 to A$1,000
Subtotal before GST: A$20,500 to A$21,000
GST at 10 percent, if the quote excludes it: A$2,050 to A$2,100, for A$22,550 to A$23,100, about A$226 to A$231 a head
That total leaves out the wine itself and bar staff. Few Australian caterers publish either, so ask for both as their own lines, or for a venue per-head with half a bottle of wine a person built in, which Bridebook Australia says some offer and which removes the corkage line. Wedding Planner Central puts Sydney catering and drinks together at A$160 to A$320 a head, and the same standard at an inland venue A$60 to A$100 less. A dry-hire estate can spend that saving on a portable kitchen and staff travel, so get both priced before you compare, and see our caterers in Sydney for names to ask.
Your dinner count and your evening count are two different numbers, so ask which one the evening food is priced on. Late food charged on the full guarantee pays for guests who have gone home, while a count that rises late needs food the guarantee does not cover. Set the hour late food arrives against the reception timeline. Ask what margin the kitchen plans above the guarantee, and whether coffee, dates, dessert service and late savouries sit inside the per-head or on their own lines.
Zola gives no separate late-food price, and few caterers publish one. At a country house or estate, ask for it per head on the evening count.
Zola puts the US average catering spend at US$6,927, about 14 percent of the wedding budget. Easy Weddings gives an Australian average of A$6,177 from a survey of more than 4,000 couples. A premium dinner sits well above these averages: the US$25,355 build is about 17 percent of a US$150,000 budget, and the A$23,100 Sydney build about 19 percent of A$120,000.
The wedding budget percentages guide puts venue and catering together at 35 to 60 percent of the budget. Where the venue caters in-house, read the two as one line.
Send every caterer the same questions, in writing, so the quotes line up:
Does the price include GST or sales tax? A price that excludes it reads lower than one that includes it.
Who keeps the service charge, and is a gratuity expected on top?
How many chefs, waiters and bartenders does the quote cover, and when does each finish?
Which tables, linen, glassware and crockery are included, and which come in at a fee?
When does the guaranteed number lock, and what does each guest added after that cost?
What is the minimum spend? Zola gives US$2,500 to US$4,000 as common caterer minimums, and Sydney caterers on Wedlockers list A$1,500 to A$8,000, so ask whether it drops midweek and whether it applies to each event if you host two.
When does overtime start, does pack-down count, and what is the hourly rate if speeches or the bar run late?
When can you taste? Caterking suggests booking 9 to 12 months ahead and tasting 3 to 6 months out, so shortlist now if you are a year or more away. Our wedding planning checklist places catering in the month-by-month order.
Wedded Concierge handles your catering through to the final invoice. We negotiate the lines that move the final bill, including the guarantee, service charge and overtime, so each is in writing before you sign. If you marry abroad, we manage the caterer alongside your other vendors across countries and coordinate payments in their currencies.
Pricing the room as well? See the average venue cost for a wedding by venue type.
Written by
Content and Creative Manager | Wonder Group
Joseph Joshua is the SEO & Content Manager at Wedded Wonderland, bringing an editorial and search strategy perspective to the publication’s coverage of luxury weddings, destination celebrations and bridal lifestyle. His approach to content centres on helping readers move from inspiration to informed decisions, with attention to the design, craftsmanship and personal details that give a celebration its character.
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