Stressed about catering for a wedding? These 10 invaluable tips will ensure you’re headed for success

(image: iStock)

Siba Mtongana is the bubbly and charismatic host of the hit TV show, Siba’s Table, where she wields her magic spatula creating mouthwatering and delicious food that’s honest, wholesome and celebrates the connection between her family and friends.

She’s kindly shared 10 super helpful catering tips for every bride and groom-to-be. Check them out! 

1. It’s so important to establish a budget for your entire event and allocate a specific budget for food as it’s so easy to overspend if there are no allocations in place. 

2. Make sure the food offering at the hired venue is great and choose a menu that resonates with yourself as it’s your day but also is mindful of your guests too, as you are hosting them. If the food is not appealing to them you might end up having wasted your money.

3. Insist on one or two food tasting session for the menu you have selected so that you can advise beforehand if you are not happy with any of the elements on the menu, and this should be included in the final quoted amount.

4. If your wedding is a half or whole day affair, allow budget for having enough nibbles to fill up the time lapses throughout the day like during photography, so the guests are not left hungry. For example, a lovely selection of cheeses, cured meats, dips, spreads, fruits, vegetable crudités, bread and crackers.

5. Since food, cake and drinks are the only aspects of the wedding where people experience it internally (by eating it) and are often the most talked about topics after the wedding – you want it to taste good therefore it’s important to make it an amazing, memorable experience.

6. Let your food reflect the style of your deco or theme so that there is a great synergy between the decor and the food. Setting a beautiful formal and elegant table with plates and wine glasses only to have circulating nibbles doesn’t make sense. It a creates an illusion of a formal or fine dining experience.

7. If budget allows, try to have an à la carte menu including the main course and dessert. It often comes at an extra charge but will be so worth it for your guests as it cuts down the queuing and waiting. 

8. Inform your wedding planner or caters to brief the waiters about their uniform and overall look before they get to the wedding, as they need to be neat and presentable as that is part of the food service experience.

9. Have your cake and eat it! Wedding cakes often become a wasteful spend as only a few slices get eaten, so serve your wedding cake as the main dessert with a  few extra elements added to it like sorbet and berry or granadilla sauce as well as garnishes to jazz it up on a plate.

10. Having said that, if you go that route make sure that it’s enough cake to go around and that the baker is experienced so that you get a decent dessert. Otherwise, a spread of smaller treats that guests can pick and choose from, is also a nice way to change things up so that guests can choose from a variety of foods –and this is fast becoming a trend in SA. 

Great tips on how much booze to buy for a party

We’ve all been there: in a moment of generosity (or madness!) you’ve invited a bunch of friends to a catered birthday/engagement/farewell party, but you have no idea how much booze to buy. Now before you back track and try repackage the event as a bring-and-braai, read on.