Veil & Vow 2022

The ringmaster

Caterers manage all the details — so you don't have to

BY KIMBERLY KIRCHNER

Food has been the centerpiece of human celebration for as long as celebrations have existed, from harvest feasts to birthday cakes. Weddings are no exception. According to Wedding- Wire’s most recent Newlywed Report, 87% of couples hired a caterer for their wedding in 2020. The Wedding Report, an industry research company, found that food and beverages were the second-highest wedding-related expense at 16% of the total cost — surpassed only by jewelry. For many couples, the reception dinner is nearly as important as the ceremony itself, and a delicious, smoothly-delivered meal is the centerpiece of a memorable wedding celebration.

It’s also probably the most logistically challenging aspect of the wedding. Feeding one hundred-plus guests (131 is the current average, per WeddingWire) the correct meals, at the correct temperature, in a timely manner, while working within a pre-arranged program of speeches, dances and bouquet tossing, is no small feat. Fortunately, a quality caterer is able to juggle all the intricate details — and all the unexpected dilemmas — of the reception. Meanwhile, the couple can enjoy their day in blissful ignorance of the complex choreography going on behind the scenes.

If you’ve only ever experienced a wedding from the guest side, it’s easy to believe that caterers are simply the people who bring the food. But for many couples, especially those without a professional wedding planner of their own, the caterer takes on the role of ringmaster: receiving flower deliveries, coordinating with the DJ and, of course, making sure the tents are put up on time.

“We act as the middleman,” said chef Mike Mongeon, owner of KJ Nosh Catering Company. “When [clients] are off doing their other things, we work behind the scenes, whether we're receiving the wedding cake, or other desserts, or flower arrangements that need to be placed. If they don't have an actual wedding coordinator, then they rely on us to field a lot of these things while they're in the moment.”

Like many catering companies, KJ Nosh has its own wedding coordinator on staff, to help direct the flow of vendors, guests and wedding party members before, during and after the event. “Skye [Breault, KJ Nosh’s on-staff Event Coordinator] has got a lot of contacts with most of the vendors, so we acquire that [list] at our initial consultation, and then we'll reach out and make sure we're on the same page. That they have the same timeline, when we're gonna go for dinner service or cocktail hour. If there's a snafu, then they could communicate to us that it's going to be too late by x amount of time, or we need to move it forward,” Mongeon said.

Mongeon and Breault’s goal, he explained, is to ensure the event plays out as planned, with minimal involvement from the newlyweds. But given the high stakes and grand expectations that come with holding a wedding, some couples can have trouble handing over the reins. “When they don't really communicate with some of the other vendors, they may be concerned; ‘Are you sure they’re coming?’‘Are you going to be able to receive the cake?’ or, ‘do you know the florist? Can we do this so you have a space to put the flowers, can you put them out, can you light the candles?’ All the little stuff that they want to be in control of, but they can't because, you know, it's their big day,” he said.

So how do you step back and let the professionals take over when you’ve spent upwards of a year agonizing over every detail? “Communication and being organized are the most important, especially, I think, in this business,” Mongeon said. “There's a lot of moving parts.”

Having a clear outline for the day’s events — and making sure your vendors know exactly what you’re expecting — is the best way to set everyone up for a catastrophe-free day. Mongeon recommends “having a firm timeline, so we have some kind of protocol to follow as far as how the day's gonna go … because that'll play into serving time with the food and things like that.”

As long as they have all the relevant information, the vendors are able to execute the day’s plan without constant supervision from their clients. Instead, the happy couple can focus their attention on what really matters: celebrating the start of a new stage in their shared lives.

“Having everything in order is important, especially when it comes to the big day,” Mongeon said. That way, clients can “kind of take that step back, where they're not fully involved because it's their day.”

And if something does go awry, trust that the professionals have seen it all, and are prepared to handle dayof hassles with ease, whether it’s a shattered plate or an unexpected plus-one. “Our job is to make sure everybody's fed and happy,” Mongeon said. “So we always keep a buffer in there, just in case something does go wrong. We make it flawless, and nobody would even know.”