Many couples planning their outdoor wedding may not have used outside caterers before for an event. Here at Ever After we have one caterer we work with exclusively, Outside Inn Cuisine, owned and run by Philip and Andrew who also have the Dartmoor Inn at Lydford. This means couples can go to the restaurant to taste the food in comfort and check the quality of the food on offer before they book with us. For us food is a really important part of your wedding day and we value our link with a local restaurant who can provide the very best quality wedding food for your day.
So what are some of the things you need to look out for when you’re dealing with outside caterers? These questions are posed by wedding planner extraordinaire Sarah Haywood in her book the Wedding Bible:
- is the cooking and catering equipment included in the price?
All kitchen equipment is included in the price per head of Outside Inn Cuisine. This includes cookers but also fridges for chilling your drinks onsite.
- what about crockery, glasses and linens
We provide all crockery for your wedding breakfast and the caterers provide all the serving dishes for your drinks reception and wedding breakfast. We have the Schott Zwiesel Pure range of Tritan crystal glasses for champagne, red and white wine and water. We also provide coloured drinking glasses if you want to add a pop of colour. We have a choice of 3 coloured table linens and a selection of table runners to choose from and white linen napkins. We also provide a cake table, cloth and Kate Spade cake knife for your wedding cake. The team at Outside Inn are happy to cut your cake and serve it as part of your evening food for guests.
- Do I need to hire tables, chairs and waiting staff?
Ever After provide all tables and chairs for your wedding breakfast. We also have a range of bar stools and tables and outdoor sofas for your drinks and evening reception. We have plenty of sequinned cushions to add some sparkle to your evening reception and new for this year, a light up sofa! And as we have all these items on site, there is no worry about delivery or collection. Outside Inn provide all waiting staff for your arrival drinks, post-ceremony reception and canapes, wedding breakfast and evening food.
- Do you charge corkage?
Great news – we don’t charge any corkage! You can supply your own drinks and there’s no additional charge for serving drinks to your guests on arrival, the post-ceremony drinks reception or during the wedding breakfast. If you want the caterers to provide staff to serve evening drinks, you need to speak to them about this to make a separate arrangement. Alternatively you can hire a mobile bar to take care of your evening drinks.
- Do we need to hire fridges and/or ice to chill our drinks?
Fridges are included in the catering price per head and that also includes ice for your drinks. If you’re having ice baths for your evening drinks, we’ll take care of that for you too.
- Does the cost include laying and clearing tables and packing up?
It does at Ever After. The day before the wedding we will lay up one table for you to check it’s exactly as you want it. When you have approved it, we and the caterers will lay up the wedding breakfast tables on the day. We also do all the clearing up on the night and the day after your wedding – you don’t have to lift a finger!
We have menu suggestions you can download here from our website and you can also email me at [email protected] for the very latest menu ideas including a floral menu which we’re working on for next year.
Philip and Andrew at Outside Inn Cuisine are happy to sit down with you and talk through your ideas for your wedding food to come up with a menu of amazing, locally sourced, seasonal food to suit you and delight your guests.
