do caterers do sit down dinners instead of buffett.?

Question

ok. i live in new york and we are planning our wedding. we were looking at a few catering halls but the price is ridiculously high. we agreed that we were not going to spend $20,000 dollars in a hall for one day but we still want a reception.
so what we are going to do is rent a hall we've been to a few and they are beautiful and they only cost around $2,000 dollars then hire a rental place to decorate the hall for us which is about $1,000 dollars. then have a caterer. My question is i would love to have a sit down dinner instead of a buffet and i don't know if caterers do that. My fiance is a chef and he tells me that when they do catering they only do the sit-down if the party is in the restaurant if not then they send a few waiters to give the food but as a buffet. i'm going to be looking around this week but i just wanted some input if it can be done that way.

i don't care if i have to pay more we are already saving money the way that we are doing it so if we have to pay more for the sit down will do it without a problem.
the wedding is for about 130 people and on a saturday night.

kazacan4
as you say my fiance is a chef in a restaurant not a catering hall. that's why he told me that. you are right when you say that when you actually call catering halls you could do the sit down and not only buffets.
the restaurant he is a chef at is not by no means a catering hall is a regular restaurant that once in a while it is closed to parties if you want that.

Answer 1

The reason many caterers will only do buffets is because there is no place to prepare the plates. If the reception hall has a kitchen or a staging area suitable for the caterers to plate each meal it may be possible. It is not easy to prepare that number of plates and keep them warm but some caterers are equipped to do so. Ask around at the reception hall. The managers there should have a few ideas of places that may do it or that have done it there in the past. Good luck!

Answer 2

You should even be able to find a personal chef that would make for you anything you wanted, from lasagna to steak to Moroccan etc. You are in New York, certainly your fiance knows people (even other guys from the restaurant) who would like to broaden their horizons and make stuff they don't ever get a chance to make. You could even have it family style or Tapas. As for a sit down, I would think they would appreciate that even more because a true chef knows it is all about presentation. I think chefs hate buffets because it is a huge hog trough at that point, right? Search the internet for personal chef and ask them if they would bring a staff to serve, or enlist some of your young cousins to help. In the young cousin category, I would recommend the family style approach to limit the running around of novice servers.

Remember, it is your wedding and you should get what you want! The only resistance you might get is that if the hall you've rented only allows certain caterers or companies in the hall (due to bad luck with other caterers not cleaning up). If you get a contract with your friend the chef, that they will clean up, you shouldn't even have a problem with that!
Good luck!

Answer 3

If it isn't at a restaurant, then caterers may only do buffet...but you should check with the caterers you want to use. I can understand your dilemma though--I live in NY and just got married in August, so it's a pain to have to cut corners and pinch pennies.

Also remember that the size of your guest list is a big factor in determing price. Also the day of the week and the time of year, so if you want a sit-down reception you may want to take a look at those two things and see where you can compromise to meet the price you want to spend. Don't rule out restaurants as well (especially if you are having a smaller wedding), because they will provide you with everything (including sit down dinner) and will be affordable.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I am sure that you could find a caterer to do that but you are going to end up spending a lot more money because you will have to have a couple of dinner options and you will have to pay for the staff to plate it, serve it, and clean up afterwards. With the buffet you generally just pay for the setup and the cleanup. You should probably talk to a few caterers and get prices for both.

Answer 5

I'm surprised at your fiance's response as you say he is a chef. It's true that Chef's who work at a restaurant are usually allowed to do only buffets outside of their workplace BUT - catering companies do just as the name implies "CATER" - they CATER to your wishes. You don't go to a restaurant and ask them to have a sit-down restaurant meal outside of their place. You DO call any caterer in the yellow pages, express your wishes to them, talk to their chef, and they do what you want, where you want. Your fiance is not very experienced outside of his little restaurant world. Sorry.

Answer 6

I have never heard of a caterer NOT doing a sit down dinner. Unless you're just picking up a bunch of food at some small, local restaurant, a qualified caterer will do a sit down meal.

Answer 7

Of course, most caterers do that if you wish. In any facility, not just a restaurant.
However, most people go with a buffet not ONLY because of the price, but because it offers more choices to your guests. Then, you plan things as elegantly or simply as you wish.
As a guest, I much prefer a buffet to a served meal.
When we married, we had a lovely, elegant buffet meal for our 200 guests in a ballroom.

Answer 8

There are a lot of places that do this! You just have to ask, however if you are trying to save money it might not be the way to go bc you have to pay for the staff, try going onto the knot.com they have a search engine for catering companies, if your near Westchester by chance, I once worked for Jean Jaques the food is amazing, and staff is top notch.

Answer 9

To find out gather a list of caterers that you're interested in and call them to ask. Most will do sit-down dinners if you ask, especially for weddings.

Answer 10

some will but if not, go thought a temp service ad hire a waiter staff to serve the catered food if they offer what you want on their menu for about 2 hours, but then you will also see if they will clean up or have to go through a service that will provide silverware and china (wll at least not paper plates)