10 Wedding Planning Mistakes to Avoid – Advice From a Wedding Caterer

Wedding planning mistakes are surprisingly easy to make. Planning a wedding is exciting, but there are hundreds of decisions to make and plenty of things that can easily be overlooked.

Since 2011, I’ve catered at weddings across the UK with Your Paella. I’ve cooked at beautiful country estates, hotels, barns, marquees, private gardens, woodland weddings and some locations that have made me arrive and think, “How on earth are we going to do this?”

I’ve seen extremely formal weddings run with military precision and relaxed family-organised celebrations where everyone simply had a fantastic time.

And one thing I’ve learned is that there is no single recipe for the perfect wedding.

I’ve never really been to a bad wedding. I’ve certainly been to some that could have been better organised, though!

So rather than telling you how you should get married, here are 10 wedding planning mistakes worth avoiding, based on things I’ve actually experienced while catering weddings.

1. Wedding Planning Mistakes When Choosing Your Venue

It’s very easy to fall in love with a wedding venue because of the view, the photographs or the setting.

One of the most common wedding planning mistakes is choosing a beautiful venue without considering how it will actually work on the day.

But before booking, think about how everything is actually going to work on the day.

One wedding I’ll never forget was at an old copper mine high up in the Lake District.

As I got close to the location, I turned onto the road and saw three cars coming towards me with wedding ribbons on their bonnets. The first car stopped alongside my clearly branded Your Paella van.

A gentleman in a suit looked at me and said:

“Don’t worry mate, you’ll get up there.”

That wasn’t particularly reassuring!

I carried on. Up and up we went, and the weather became progressively worse. By the time we arrived, the wind was incredible and the rain was practically coming sideways.

The venue wasn’t large enough for us to cook inside either.

Think About Access for Your Wedding Suppliers

We battled through it and, with some brilliant help from the ushers and bridesmaids, successfully served three different paellas to around 120 guests.

It turned out well, but it taught me never to underestimate venue access.

I’ve also catered at an old mill in Yorkshire where the couple sensibly suggested I visit beforehand because they knew access was difficult. They were right. I eventually took six people with me simply to get everything down to the catering area. The couple understood the additional cost and were happy to pay it.

I’ve had other venues where the distance between the van and catering area was enormous.

My advice: Don’t just ask whether a venue accepts outside caterers. Think about how your suppliers will get their equipment in, where they’ll park, where they’ll work and how they’ll get everything out again.

And tell your suppliers about difficult access before the wedding day.

2. Creating a Wedding Timetable With No Room for Delays

Here’s something I’ve learned about wedding breakfasts:

They’re very often late!

That’s not necessarily a problem. Weddings involve lots of people, photographs, speeches and unexpected delays.

We always establish a serving time beforehand. If we’re simply serving paella, we have some flexibility. If we’re providing starters, salads and other elements as well, timing becomes much more important.

One thing I’ve found particularly useful is having a nominated contact.

On the wedding day, I don’t want to keep contacting the bride or groom. They have far more important things to be doing!

I’ll normally work with the best man, chief bridesmaid or another nominated person and ask them to let us know immediately if timings change.

Good communication makes an enormous difference.

My advice: Build some flexibility into your wedding timetable and nominate somebody you trust to communicate with suppliers on the day.

3. Getting Your Wedding Food Numbers Wrong

Of all the wedding planning mistakes involving catering, getting the food numbers wrong is one of the easiest to make.

One of the biggest concerns couples mention when discussing their wedding catering with me is:

“What if there isn’t enough food?”

It’s understandable. Nobody wants guests going hungry.

But I’ve seen both extremes — too little food and far too much.

If you’re having several different food suppliers, don’t automatically assume your guests will divide themselves evenly between them.

At one wedding, for example, we were serving paella alongside a pizza company. Paella can be served very quickly because it’s already there in our huge pans. Individually prepared pizzas naturally take longer.

A queue formed for the pizza. Hungry guests saw that they could get paella immediately and came to us instead.

We consequently served far more people than anticipated and eventually ran out.

Too Much Wedding Food Can Be a Problem Too

I’ve also experienced the complete opposite.

We once provided evening catering at a beautiful hotel in Bedford. We’d cooked around 100 portions of paella and were ready to serve while elegantly dressed guests chatted and drank on the lawn.

Serving time arrived.

Nobody came.

Twenty minutes later… still virtually nobody.

The hotel manager came over and asked how it was going.

“It’s not!” I told him.

Then I discovered why.

The guests had already eaten a seven-course meal, desserts and a hog roast.

And then we turned up with another 100 portions of paella!

We gave some to guests and hotel staff, but sadly a lot of perfectly good food eventually had to be thrown away.

My advice: Don’t simply order as much food as possible because you’re frightened of running out. Tell your caterer exactly how many guests you’re expecting and what other food is being served. An experienced caterer should be able to help you work out sensible quantities.

4. Choosing Wedding Suppliers on Price Alone

One wedding planning mistake that can become extremely stressful is choosing an important supplier based on price alone.

This is one of the most important pieces of advice I can give.

Over the years, we’ve received calls that begin something like this:

“Please, can you help me? I’m getting married next week and my caterer has pulled out.”

Sometimes it’s two weeks before the wedding.

I can’t know why another caterer has cancelled, and there can of course be genuine reasons. But whatever the reason, it’s an awful situation for a couple to find themselves in.

Popular Saturdays in June and July can be booked 12 or 18 months ahead, which makes finding a replacement at very short notice extremely difficult.

With Your Paella, once we’ve accepted your £200 booking deposit, you’re booked.

If we’ve committed to your £1,000 event and somebody subsequently offers us a £3,500 event on the same date, that doesn’t matter. We’ve already made a commitment to you.

My advice: Price matters, particularly when you’re working to a wedding budget, but reliability matters too. Check how long a supplier has been trading, read their reviews, understand their booking terms and, importantly, talk to them.

A cheap quote isn’t a bargain if your supplier doesn’t turn up.

5. Planning an Outdoor Wedding Without a Real Plan B

For outdoor celebrations, one of the biggest wedding planning mistakes is assuming that having a Plan B simply means having somewhere to shelter from the rain.

Everybody planning an outdoor wedding in Britain thinks about rain.

But rain isn’t the only thing nature can throw at you.

I’ve catered weddings in extremely high winds, intense heat and, occasionally, something couples rarely seem to consider:

Insects!

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s memorable.

I’ve watched guests, staff and myself desperately swatting insects while everyone scrambles around looking for repellent. It’s horrible at the time, although I have to admit it can look quite funny when everybody starts simultaneously slapping themselves!

Extreme heat brings different problems.

I’ve watched a beautiful wedding cake, genuinely a work of art, begin to melt on an exceptionally hot day.

At another wedding at a cricket club, the wind became so strong that it actually snapped a leg on one of my commercial-grade pop-up shelters.

Fortunately, we were catering for around 50 people and there was a small kitchen available. I carry separate tripod stands as a backup, so we moved inside, put the paella pan onto a tripod and carried on cooking.

That’s what a Plan B should actually mean: something that will work if Plan A becomes impossible.

My advice: If you’re planning an outdoor wedding, consider rain, wind and extreme heat, and perhaps put some insect repellent somewhere too!

6. Assuming a Wedding Planner Automatically Solves Everything

I’ve worked at weddings with professional planners, completely family-organised weddings and everything in between.

My experiences with wedding planners have been mixed. Some are good. Some are excellent. And some… well, let’s leave it there!

One particularly formal wedding had a Master of Ceremonies who impressed me enormously.

Everything happened with almost military precision. Everybody knew what they were doing, where they needed to be and when they needed to be there.

We simply fitted into the operation like a glove.

But I’ve also catered at very relaxed weddings organised by families and friends, and I genuinely enjoy them. Everybody pitches in, people are relaxed and they can be enormous fun.

You don’t necessarily need a wedding planner to have a well-organised wedding.

My advice: Whether you employ a professional planner or organise everything yourselves, make sure responsibilities are clear. And if you’re paying somebody to plan your wedding, research them with the same care you’d use when choosing any other important supplier.

7. Forgetting to Ask Guests About Dietary Requirements

Most couples I’ve worked with are actually very good at this.

We’re normally told in advance about vegetarians, vegans and common dietary requirements involving gluten, dairy, nuts or shellfish.

It’s the unusual requirements that can catch everybody out.

I’ve had somebody approach me during a wedding and ask:

“I’m allergic to tomatoes. Does that have tomatoes in it?”

Unfortunately, yes.

I’ve had a similar situation involving peppers.

If neither the couple nor the caterer knows about a specific dietary requirement until the food has already been prepared, there may be very little that can safely be done.

When couples know about an unusual requirement beforehand, they can discuss it with their caterer and, if necessary, arrange an appropriate alternative meal for that particular guest.

My advice: Ask your guests about allergies and dietary requirements well before the wedding and give the information to your caterer. Don’t assume every requirement can be dealt with when somebody arrives at the serving area.

8. Planning the Wedding You Think You’re Supposed to Have

Weddings can be wonderfully strange.

One that sticks in my memory took place at a beautiful country estate with a grand manor house in the distance.

There was a marquee, and outside a young woman was playing guitar and singing. It created a wonderful atmosphere.

And then there was the enormous television screen on the back of a truck.

It was during the World Cup and England were playing, so the bride and groom had arranged a huge outdoor screen. Hay bales were placed in front of it and the guests sat watching the football.

They loved it.

I’ve seen bands followed by DJs, special illuminated dance floors and all sorts of entertainment.

I’ve even seen a bride on a bouncy castle in her wedding dress.

Why not?

It’s your wedding.

My advice: Don’t feel that your wedding has to look like everybody else’s. Spend your money on the things that matter to the two of you and create the day that you want.

9. Forgetting the Boring Questions When Viewing a Beautiful Venue

Wedding venues naturally show you their best features.

The beautiful grounds. The ceremony room. The views. The photographs.

But sometimes you need to ask about the boring stuff.

Parking. Water. Electricity. Supplier access. What happens when it rains.

And yes…

Toilets.

I once catered at a woodland wedding where the toilet was essentially a wooden hut.

There was one toilet.

It had a sheet for a door.

And you did your business into a hole.

Now, that might be exactly the rustic experience you’re looking for!

But I’d rather know about it before the wedding.

My advice: When viewing a venue, look beyond how beautiful it will appear in your photographs. Think about what spending an entire day there will actually be like for you, your guests and your suppliers.

Ask the awkward and boring questions. They’re often the ones that matter.

10. Forgetting the Most Important Thing: It’s YOUR Wedding

Most wedding planning mistakes can be avoided with good preparation, honest conversations with your suppliers and a little flexibility.

After catering weddings since 2011, if I could give a couple one piece of advice, it would be very simple:

It’s YOUR day. Make it your day.

Of course you want your family and friends to be happy. But you can’t please everybody.

Get the important things organised early, particularly if there’s something specific you really want that may be difficult to find at short notice.

Research your venue.

Read reviews.

Talk to your suppliers.

And I mean actually talk to them.

Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and ask difficult questions. You can learn a lot from a conversation. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore that feeling.

Once you’ve done the planning, though, remember why you’re doing all of this in the first place.

I’ve catered at hugely expensive weddings and much simpler celebrations. I’ve seen incredibly formal occasions and relaxed family weddings.

I honestly can’t say I’ve been to a bad wedding.

Some have been poorly organised. Some haven’t gone entirely according to plan. But a perfect wedding doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune or having absolutely everything run to the minute.

You’re getting married surrounded by your friends and the people you love.

Make it yours.

And enjoy it.

Planning Your Wedding Catering?

If you’re currently planning a wedding and you’re considering freshly cooked paella for your wedding breakfast or evening food, you’re welcome to talk to us about your plans.

Your Paella has been catering weddings and events across the UK since 2011, cooking fresh paella in front of guests from our distinctive paella cart.

We can discuss your guest numbers, menu choices, dietary requirements, venue access and the practicalities of making everything work on the day.