Your cost per plate for guests? And where?

Question

We seem to have alot of people asking questions about costs for things so I'm curious about how much all of you are paying (or paid) per plate for your reception.
Aside from price, what did you have (dinner, lunch, sit-down, buffet, etc), where was the reception (state or region), what day of the week, and what were the charges for tax & gratuity.
I am looking in Central PA for a Saturday and am finding lower prices around $40 per plate and looking up to $60 per plate, tax is 6% and gratuity ranges from 17% to 21%. I'm encountering same prices for 1 entree sit-down or 2 or 3 buffet options.

Answer 1

im inviting 475 guests.. im having it at the addison park in northern nj.. it is $271 per person.. open top shelf bar.. sit down 5 course dinner.. amazing cocktail hour.. cake included.. amazing venetian hour.. we added every single thing they had to offer.. that is why it is so much.. we have the entire place the whole day.. it is HUGE! taxes and gratuities were about the same as yours maybe a little higher on the tax.. o and we added an hour and a half.. a half hour to the cocktail hour and an hour to the end of the reception.. cocktail hour starts at 6.. any other questions, feel free to email me!

Answer 2

$77 a plate gets an hour of cocktails and hors d'eouvres (3 types, passed by waitstaff), dinner (served soup, salad and dessert with a buffet entree), coffee service with cake at 10:00 p.m. and four hours open bar. Tax is 9% and gratuity is 18%. This is for a Saturday in May in Chicago. It was hard to compare prices because many of the other places we looked at also charged separately for tables, linens, china, wait staff. We had to add all that up, plus the facility fees, and then divide by the number of guests to get a per-person cost. All-in-all, we did well.

Answer 3

True story . . a Bride and Groom invited about 150 guests to their wedding on a Sunday afternoon in September. Out of 150 guests 120 guests RSVP'd "YES, I am coming." That particular Sunday afternoon A BIG professional football game was being played, and many of the wedding guests either had tickets to that game or were just big fans of that team. At 4PM when the Bride and Groom walked down the aisle only 85 people attended the ceremony. At 530 when the reception started only 70 people sat down to eat dinner. Several of the dinner tables were completely empty. Even the Best Man took his dinner plate back to his hotel room to watch the game So here's a perfect example of the Bride and Groom's friends and family members choosing their priorities. And even though they RSVP'd "YES, we are coming" . . watching a football game was much more important than an open bar, a five course dinner, a gourmet wedding cake at a grand hotel on a Sunday afternoon. Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant

Answer 4

Connecticut. The cheapest I've seen about $70 (for either basic sit down or buffet). This is not including tax and gratuity. This is the cheap end here.

The average, I say people spend here is about $85-$100 a per person. This will get you a nice sit-down w/ cocktail hour, open bar, salad course and entree. Plus, dessert.

You start getting lavish at around $120+ a plate.

I know most people will problem thumbs down this reply. But, I am being 100% realistic. These are the basic per person averages at a reception venue. I'm helping my cousin plan, so I know. I've been looking at prices and menus with her for months. We've been all around the state.

Answer 5

We are paying $12.00/plate for adults and $5.00/plate for kids 10 & under. This includes thier choice of Steak tips w/rice / Blackened Chicken breast w/rice or Meatless Lazagna (for the vegetarians) kids can choose from Chicken fingers w/fried or Grilled Cheese w/fries, everyone will get a salad and dinner rolls as well. Coffee & Tea. 7% Sales Tax & 18% Gratuity. Includes champagne toast and cutting & serving the cake. We live in Maine.

Answer 6

We had a garden party reception and served a South African style BBq, for 45 guests the food cost us around £330, when you divide that up it doesn't sound like a lot per head (around £7.35) but as the people cooking were all fine dining chefs the food was awesome, I guess we saved a lot by not having it in a restaurant or hotel.

Answer 7

We had a Saturday evening wedding, and our sit-down dinner consisted of Chicken Jerusalem, mashed potatoes, vegetable (just can't remember which lol), roll, salad, drink, and cake. It also included a glass of champagne for the toasts. We paid about $50 a head (buffet would have been more expensive), which was a steal. I live in Southern California. Tax and gratuity were included - tax was 8.25 and gratuity was 18%. We had our wedding & reception at a really nice restaurant overlooking the shoreline of Long Beach and our room was free as long as we met the minimum requirement for the number of people (which was no problem). Our wedding was 60 people total.

Answer 8

Im in arizona, we are having our wedding on a saturday and we are paying $17 per person. We are inviting 150 people. and going to be eating bbq chicken, bbq pork, cornbread, potatoe salad, green salad, mac salad,rolls and cowboy beans. The catering company includes plates etc and serves each guest their food. The total cost after tax will be about 3000.00.

Answer 9

3 years ago, we paid $75 per plate (which was very low) in March on Friday night at the Jersey Shore. We had a sit down dinner.

Tax was 6% at the time and they automatically added the 20% gratuity.

Answer 10

We will be having a buffet with 2 meats, 4 veggies, salad, bread, and non alc drinks for $12.95 per person. There is a 15% charge for gratuity on top of that. We are located in Kentucky.

Answer 11

We were going to have a buffet dinner, but realized that it would be cheaper to do a sit down b/c we would be charged for the most expensive item on the buffet for all guests. It is 13.95/plate for Prime Rib or 8.95/plate for Chicken Cordon Bleu. Open bar not included, but we are only paying for alcohol that is used not the whole bottle, yada yada.....Erie, PA