Wedding Catering Ideas: An Experienced Caterer’s Guide to Feeding Your Guests

Choosing your wedding catering can be one of the most enjoyable parts of planning a wedding, but with so many wedding catering ideas available, it can also become surprisingly complicated.

Do you choose a traditional three-course wedding breakfast? A relaxed buffet? Pizza? A BBQ? Street food? Live cooking? Paella? And what happens later in the evening when everyone gets hungry again?

After catering weddings since 2011, I’ve worked at everything from relaxed outdoor celebrations to very formal weddings with large professional catering teams. I’ve also worked alongside pizza companies, fish and chip caterers, BBQ caterers and even a company serving pie and mash from a converted London taxi.

Yes, that particular wedding had paella and pie and mash. Even I thought that was an unusual combination!

What I’ve learned over the years is that there isn’t one perfect type of wedding catering. What matters is choosing food that suits your wedding, your venue and your number of guests – and choosing a caterer who genuinely knows how to deliver it.

So rather than simply giving you another list of wedding food ideas, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned from actually catering weddings.

Traditional Wedding Catering Can Be Incredibly Impressive

Alternative wedding catering has become extremely popular, but that doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with a traditional wedding breakfast.

I’ve worked alongside some extremely professional wedding catering companies over the years and, when you see a really good team at work, it can be quite a sight.

For a large formal wedding, the caterer may effectively bring an entire commercial kitchen with them.

I’ve been at venues where the only permanent facility provided was a commercial sink. The catering company arrived with gas cookers, refrigeration, stainless-steel preparation tables, crockery, glasses, cutlery and virtually everything else they needed.

The equipment was on castors, wheeled into position and connected up. There might be a head chef, another three or four chefs and perhaps six additional people plating food, serving guests, clearing tables and washing up.

I’ve seen the same thing done outside under a collection of professional pop-up gazebos.

Watching an experienced team deliver hundreds of starters, main courses and desserts to strict timings can be like watching a military operation. The really good ones make it look easy.

It isn’t.

That level of wedding catering requires skilled chefs, experienced staff, lots of equipment and careful planning. I’m sure it can also cost a small fortune – but if that is the style of wedding you want, it can be fantastic.

Interestingly, these are also the weddings where we are quite often booked to provide the evening food.

Once the formal part of the day is over, jackets come off, the music starts and the atmosphere changes. Something like freshly cooked paella can fit perfectly into that more relaxed part of the celebration.

Informal Wedding Catering Creates a Different Atmosphere

At a more informal wedding, the food itself can become part of the entertainment.

That is something I particularly enjoy about live paella catering.

Guests can see the food cooking in front of them, smell it cooking and come over to see what is happening. At smaller weddings in particular, we often have quite a bit of interaction with the guests while we cook.

It creates a very different atmosphere from food appearing from behind a kitchen door.

Neither approach is right or wrong. They are simply different styles of wedding.

If you want a highly formal occasion with table service and several courses, choose a caterer experienced in delivering exactly that.

If you want something more relaxed and sociable, live cooking, food trucks and other wedding catering ideas may suit your day better.

Pizza, Food Trucks and Other Wedding Food Ideas

Pizza is probably the alternative caterer I have worked alongside most often.

It isn’t unusual for a wedding to book us alongside a pizza company operating from a converted horse box or catering trailer. I’ve also worked alongside fish and chip suppliers and various other mobile caterers.

Some pizza companies are extremely efficient.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that the efficient operators often produce larger pizzas, slice them and keep cooking continuously. With a sensible number of choices, food can keep flowing out to guests.

Problems can arise when every guest effectively orders an individual pizza with different toppings and every pizza has to be made from scratch.

That may work perfectly well for 40 people.

Try doing it for 150 people arriving at roughly the same time and things can become very different.

This applies to other types of wedding food too. Mexican food, burgers, wraps and anything else individually assembled to order can potentially create queues if the serving system hasn’t been designed for large numbers.

So there is an important question I think every couple should ask a prospective wedding caterer:

How long will it take you to serve all of our guests?

Don’t just ask what they can cook.

Ask how they will actually feed 100 or 150 people.

A caterer experienced with large weddings should already know the answer.

When comparing wedding catering ideas, think about how each option will work with your actual number of guests, not just how good the food sounds.

Feeding 150 Wedding Guests Doesn’t Have to Mean Long Queues

One of the advantages of paella for a large wedding is that we cook in large quantities rather than preparing 150 individual meals one at a time.

Everything is prepared before we arrive. Ingredients are sliced, diced and weighed so that when cooking begins, we know exactly what we need.

The interesting thing is that cooking paella for 150 guests doesn’t necessarily take much longer than cooking for 40.

For example, for a wedding of 40 guests we might prepare 30 portions of one paella and 10 portions of vegetarian/vegan paella. Two pans can be cooking at the same time and the cooking time is approximately 45 minutes.

For 150 guests, we might need 70 portions of Mixed Paella, 70 portions of Chicken & Spanish Chorizo Paella and 10 vegetarian/vegan portions.

The smaller vegetarian/vegan paella can be cooked first and transferred to a covered hot container. We can then cook 70 portions in each of our two large pans simultaneously.

Around 45 minutes later, the food is ready.

The quantities have changed dramatically. The basic cooking time hasn’t.

That is why, when you’re comparing wedding catering ideas, I think serving capacity is just as important as the menu.

Some wedding catering ideas scale more easily than others, which becomes increasingly important as guest numbers rise.

Do You Need More Than One Wedding Caterer?

Sometimes you do – and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

We have shared the main catering at weddings with another company, and sometimes we provide the main meal while another caterer arrives later to provide evening food.

At other weddings, a traditional caterer provides the formal wedding breakfast and we arrive to cook paella for the evening guests.

For years, I noticed something happening when we provided the main meal.

We would finish serving the paella, start packing everything away and another catering van would arrive to provide the evening food.

That got me thinking.

Why couldn’t we do both?

So we introduced freshly cooked steak burgers as an evening option for weddings where we are already booked to provide the main paella.

One Caterer for the Main Meal and Evening Food

Once the main service is finished, the Paella Cart goes back into the van and we bring out our large paella stands. Heavy round grill plates are placed over the gas burners and, closer to the evening serving time, we begin cooking the steak burgers.

We can cook large numbers continuously. Once cooked, they are transferred into heated containers ready for an assistant to serve, while I continue cooking in front of the guests.

Guests can choose cheese, salad and sauces.

It works incredibly well.

We cater the burgers for the same guest numbers, with a minimum of 60 portions, and only offer this service when we have already provided the main paella.

At one wedding for 100 guests, the couple actually told us that one of the deciding factors in booking us was that we could provide the main food and their evening food.

Instead of coordinating two separate caterers, they could deal with one.

That is something worth asking when planning your own wedding. Before automatically booking another supplier for the evening, ask your main caterer what else they can provide.

Sometimes the Most Memorable Wedding Food Is Something Completely Different

Alternative wedding catering doesn’t have to mean replacing the main wedding meal.

Sometimes it can simply mean introducing something guests aren’t expecting.

One of the most memorable food suppliers I have ever encountered at a wedding served oysters.

A very smartly dressed gentleman and his female assistant circulated among the guests carrying specially designed boxes filled with ice and fresh oysters.

He opened the oysters in front of the guests and had different sauces arranged in holders around his belt so he could prepare each one there and then.

Naturally, I had to try one.

It was delicious.

I spoke to him afterwards and he told me that they travelled around the world providing the service.

It was simple, unusual and memorable.

And that’s the point.

When looking for unusual wedding food ideas, you don’t necessarily need to make the entire wedding unusual. One unexpected food experience can be enough to give guests something they’ll remember.

Wedding Evening Food – Keep It Simple and Keep It Moving

By the evening, the atmosphere at most weddings has changed.

People have eaten, speeches have finished, drinks are flowing and the dance floor is open.

Your evening food doesn’t necessarily need to be another elaborate meal.

It needs to be tasty, easy to eat and, importantly, capable of being served efficiently.

Paella can work extremely well as evening wedding food for exactly this reason, particularly when the main wedding breakfast has been formal.

Burgers, pizza and other street-food-style options can also work brilliantly.

But again, think about numbers.

If 100 guests decide they want food at 9pm, can the caterer serve them at a sensible rate or will the last person still be waiting while everybody else has gone back to the dance floor?

That is a much more useful question than simply asking what toppings are available.

When considering wedding catering ideas for later in the day, simplicity and serving speed can become particularly important.

Dietary Requirements Are Now a Major Part of Wedding Catering

This is something that has changed considerably during my time as a caterer.

When I first started, vegetarian requests weren’t particularly common and vegan requests were even less so.

Today, we nearly always expect to provide a vegetarian/vegan paella at a wedding – perhaps 10 portions alongside the main meat options.

Food allergies and intolerances are also discussed far more frequently than they were when I started.

All of the paellas we cook are made without dairy, gluten-containing ingredients or nuts, and we can provide a vegetarian/vegan paella. We can also provide vegetarian burgers with vegan cheese where required.

Our minimum quantity for a vegetarian/vegan paella is 10 portions.

Whatever style of wedding catering you choose, tell your caterer about dietary requirements in advance and ask them specifically about ingredients, allergens and their procedures.

Don’t assume that something described as “vegan”, for example, automatically makes it suitable for somebody with a particular food allergy.

Planning an Outdoor Wedding? Look Beyond the Food

Some of the most enjoyable weddings we cater are in marquees, barns, fields and private gardens.

But outdoor wedding catering introduces practical questions that couples sometimes don’t think about until quite late in the planning.

For example, does the venue have enough electrical capacity?

The band may need power. The DJ and lighting need power. Caterers may need power. Other suppliers may also be plugging equipment in.

You don’t want the evening entertainment suddenly disappearing into darkness because everything has overloaded the supply.

There are plenty of other questions worth asking:

• Is gas or a naked flame permitted?
• Is there easy access for catering vehicles?
• Is there enough parking?
• Where does all the waste go?
• Are suitable bins available?
• Are there adequate toilets?
• Is there sufficient outside lighting after dark?
• Are there restrictions on music later in the evening?
• Will venue staff remain onsite throughout the event?
• Is there first-aid provision?
• Is the car park monitored or secure?
• Are there restrictions on the size or location of an outside caterer’s setup?

And here’s one that is very easy to overlook:

What Happens if the Weather Turns Bad?

What happens if it rains?

A field that is perfectly accessible when you view the venue on a sunny afternoon can be a very different proposition after hours of heavy rain.

Where will guests park? Can suppliers still get their vehicles in and out? Could vans become stuck on wet grass?

One of the best questions you can ask a venue is simply:

“Have you experienced any problems at previous weddings here?”

If the answer is yes, ask what happened and what has since been done about it.

An experienced venue should be happy to discuss the practical side of holding an event there.

Experience Also Means Knowing When to Say No

A professional caterer’s job isn’t simply to do whatever they are asked.

Sometimes experience means saying no.

I once arrived at a wedding venue and a member of staff asked whether I had cooked paella there before.

I hadn’t.

They replied:

“Well, we hope you’re better than the last one.”

Naturally, I asked what had happened.

Apparently, the previous paella caterer had been asked to carry a large pan full of freshly cooked paella into the main area and place it on a table.

They dropped it.

The entire paella ended up on the floor.

I’ve been asked to move large pans of hot paella in similar circumstances myself.

I won’t do it.

A large paella pan full of extremely hot food is heavy and difficult to move safely. If I don’t believe something is safe, I’m prepared to say no.

The safest way to serve the food matters more than putting the pan somewhere because it might look nice.

When choosing any wedding caterer, experience isn’t only about whether they can cook.

It’s also about whether they know what not to do.

Don’t Order More Wedding Food Than Your Guests Can Eat

One thing I see quite regularly is couples worrying that they won’t have enough food.

That’s completely understandable.

Nobody wants guests going hungry at their wedding.

But that worry can sometimes lead to the opposite problem: far too much food.

You may already have canapés, a starter, a main meal, salads or sides, a wedding cake and evening food.

Do you really need to add another dessert?

When couples ask whether we can provide desserts, one of my first questions is often:

“Are you having a wedding cake?”

Usually, the answer is yes.

My response is:

“Well, you’ve already got dessert.”

It normally gets a laugh, but there is a serious point behind it.

Talk to your caterer.

An experienced wedding caterer should have a good idea of how much food you genuinely need and should be prepared to tell you when they think you’re ordering too much.

I’d rather give somebody sensible advice than sell them food that’s likely to end up being thrown away.

Questions to Ask a Wedding Caterer Before You Book

Whatever style of wedding food you’re considering, here are some of the questions I would ask:

• How many weddings of a similar size have you catered?
• How long will it take to serve all of our guests?
• How do you cater for vegetarian and vegan guests?
• How do you manage food allergies and dietary requirements?
• What equipment and space do you need?
• Do you need electricity or water?
• Do you use gas or naked flames, and does our venue allow this?
• What happens if the weather is bad?
• Can you provide both the main wedding food and evening food?
• What happens to your catering waste?
• What information do you need from us before the wedding?
• What happens if guest numbers change?

And I would add one more:

What could go wrong, and what is your backup plan?

An experienced caterer won’t be offended by that question.

They’ll probably already have an answer.

Choose Wedding Catering That Fits Your Wedding

I’ve catered enough weddings over the years to know that there is no single “best” way to feed wedding guests.

Over that time, I’ve seen highly skilled chefs deliver elaborate formal wedding breakfasts with military precision.

At other weddings, I’ve worked alongside efficient pizza companies, fish and chip caterers and even a converted London taxi serving pie and mash.

One particularly memorable experience involved a travelling oyster specialist, who freshly opened an oyster for me while circulating among the wedding guests.

And I’ve watched hundreds of people gather around enormous paella pans as their food cooked in front of them.

They can all work.

The important thing is matching the catering to your wedding.

Think about the atmosphere you want, how many people need feeding, your venue, dietary requirements, serving speed and what else is happening during the day.

Then talk to experienced caterers and ask questions.

If a relaxed style of catering with freshly cooked food and a little bit of theatre sounds like your kind of wedding, that’s exactly what we do at Your Paella.

We’ve been providing live paella catering for weddings, private parties and events since 2011, travelling to venues across the UK and cooking everything fresh in front of the guests.

Whether you’re planning a relaxed garden wedding, a marquee celebration, a barn wedding or something rather more formal, we’d be delighted to talk through your plans.

The best wedding catering ideas are ultimately the ones that fit the style, size and location of your particular wedding.