Dining Guide Snapshots

Since most Couples spend 50% of their budgets on catering, it is important to know where that money is actually going. Princeton's Main Street Fine Catering provided us with a sample menu (below); we asked the company's director of catering and sales, Teri Lands, to walk us through it and show us how to save money without sacrificing quality.

Passed Hors D'Oeuvres
"We recommend offering at least five or six passed hors d'oeuvres, to give guests a variety of options. When passed hors d'oeuvres are made from scratch, lots of labor is involved in assembling each little bite. However, you can reduce the cost by serving inexpensive options, like chicken skewers, mini quiches, and quesadillas. Hors d'oeuvres that include expensive items, like seafood, should always be passed, rather than left out on a platter—that way, guests will eat less."

Entrée
"A 'duet plate' like this one is expensive because guests are getting both a fish and a meat entrée on one plate—that’s double the cost of food and labor. Instead, have guests order just one entrée in advance by marking their response card accordingly. This allows us to order and prepare exact quantities of each entrée. If you let guests order at the table, you have to pay for extra food so that no one is denied his or her first entrée choice."

Cocktail Hour Action Stations
"Action stations, which feature a chef preparing appetizers to order, cost more than stationary hors d’oeuvres, like crudités or cheese platters. Another option is to feature a self-serve station, like a bruschetta table where guests put on the toppings themselves. No extra staff is needed in this setup."

First Course
"Instead of creating a salad that includes an expensive item like crab, try a simpler composition of spinach with strawberries, almonds, and a poppy seed dressing. It's less expensive than including a protein in your first course, and more exciting than a plain salad of mesclun greens."

Dessert
"When you have a flavorful wedding cake, you don't necessarily need an extra dessert. If you’re concerned that your guests will want more options, you can have each tier of your cake be a different flavor and do a cake-slice buffet instead of serving additional sweets."