Full-service caterer
Plans and serves the meal for your event. Handles menu, staffing, service, and final counts.
Also called: catering, caterer, food, meal service, banquet.
When couples book this
Usually booked about 10 months out. It moves with your date.
Your wishlist, before you talk to anyone
Questions you can answer early — they become the yardstick you compare candidates against.
What kind of food are you dreaming of?
How would you like the meal served?
Wishlist mirror of the service_style candidate fact — compare what each caterer offers against it.
What must the caterer be able to accommodate?
How do you want the bar handled?
Wishlist mirror of bar_handling.
What to ask each candidate
Facts that differ from one vendor to the next — worth writing down while you shop.
How is the meal served?
Who handles the bar?
Does the caterer provide tableware, linens, or furniture?
What settles once booked
The working details you and your vendor pin down together.
Staffing level
How do guests choose their entrée?
Entrée counts
Dietary needs and allergies
Kids' meals
Vendor meals
Menu tasting
Who cuts and serves the cake?
How are special meals identified at service?
What time do they arrive?
The time you agreed together, not an estimate worked back from the ceremony.
What times are set on the day?
One row per moment — a serving round, a pickup leg, a person's slot, a set. Each row becomes its own block on your run of show, labeled with whatever you type, so name it for whoever will be reading it.
What time do they finish?
Who do you call on the day?
The name and cell number of whoever is on site — not the office line.
Where do they come in, and where do they park?
The load-in door or dock, where the vehicles go, and who opens up.
Do they need a meal?
Counts toward your caterer's vendor-meal number.
What balance is due on the day?
Your own figure, from your contract — what is still owed when they arrive.
What gratuity are you planning?
Your own figure. It rides beside the balance on the day-of money sheet.
How it lands on your day
Caterer load-in
Kitchen setup
Meal service
Caterer breakdown
Caterer load-out
Set time
One block per row of the cell's dayof_service_times answer; the row's own label names it, and its `until` makes it a window.
How it’s usually priced
Usually priced per guest.
What your vendor reads from your plan
Book on or off Beetrothed — either way the plan assembles a brief your vendor can work from: the event, counts, menu, service, schedule, contacts.
More in Food & drink
Plan your full-service caterer — and everything around it
These questions live as one cell of a connected plan: your budget, guest list, checklist and timeline all read from the same answers. See the whole board work, or join the waitlist and we’ll write when it’s your turn.
We will write when there is something worth telling you.