While selecting the perfect venue for your wedding is important and sets the tone for the event, the next step is selecting the food and catering. Be warned, even if you choose a stellar venue, the eventual comments from your wedding will be remembered, which is ultimately going to majorly hinge on the quality of food you serve.

Given how important catering and food are for your big day, we have lined up a few essential tips for selecting the best wedding catering services in Dubai.

Going with preferred caterers: pros and cons

When you are discussing food and venues you are going to come across the term ‘preferred caterers’ and are probably wondering whether you should go with them or not.What that basically means is that your venue has worked with a couple of caterers in the past, has had a good experience with them, and now is now recommending them to new clients.

There are both advantages and slight disadvantages to going with preferred caterers. On the plus side, working with them is fairly hassle free they know their way around the venue, have set up shop there before and you wont have to supervise or instruct them as closely as you would any other caterer.

Similarly, since they are being recommended by the venue, there is a high chance that these caterers have had good reviews in the past and had enough satisfied clients to merit the recommendations.

In some venues however, the term preferred caterers may actually mean that you have to pick one of the options given to you and can’t call in your own caterer. In others you can arrange for your own caterer, but that is usually accompanied by additional costs, because the venue may have to make certain adjustments and concessions to caterers who haven’t worked with them before.

Wedding Menu Tasting Questions & Tips

Having decided on the initial basics, you need to start with a menu tasting, which is your chance to know how good the caterer is. Go through the selected wedding food menu and make any changes you deem necessary.

Before you go for your menu tasting however, it is important to create notes and take a list of questions you need to ask because it’s easy to get distracted in the moment and miss out on key details.

Also note that you may need to pay tasting fees in certain cases if you end up not choosing a caterer you tried out, so make sure you know all the terms and conditions prior to tasting.

You can begin by meeting with the caterer and letting him/her or their team walk you through the whole menu if it is particularly large. Once you know what they did, what they chose and why, you can start giving your own feedback.

In terms of important questions, you need to ask about the number of people being served, the allowed margins (plus minus), whether any live stations will be set up, the type of presentation overall, selection of table cloths, china, glassware and cutlery. This is your opportunity to ask about anything you want and get it done the way you like. Once you give the final go ahead, last-minute changes are never easy.

You can, and should, also give your feedback on flavoring and choice of sauces etc. because all this is part of the menu tasting.

If you still haven’t planned your menu tasting, be sure to book an appointment with your caterer well in advance of the actual event. You can either shortlist caterers first and then sample them or shortlist them on the basis of menu tastings, it works either way.

You can start by browsing our list of wedding venues in Dubai and filling in the booking enquiry form with your catering requirement selected and we will do the rest for you.

We hope this guide of ours can help you navigate the waters when it comes to selecting the right catering service and food vendors for your perfect Dubai wedding. If you have any tips or suggestions please feel free to share them with us as well.