Venues
In-House Catering, Approved Lists and the Cost of Bringing Your Own
Who feeds your guests is usually decided by the building, not by you. Understanding why changes how you choose the building.
Everything here earned its place by changing an outcome. Nothing about venue catering arrangements is included to round the number up.
What matters most
- Most venues either provide catering or restrict who may.
- Approved lists exist for practical reasons as well as commercial ones.
- Bringing your own often carries a fee and additional requirements.
Why venues control catering
Kitchens are expensive to run and catering is where most venues make their margin, which is why so many require you to use theirs. There are practical reasons too, since an unfamiliar caterer in an unfamiliar kitchen is a genuine operational risk on a busy day.
Licensing, hygiene certification and insurance all attach to whoever is producing food, and venues carry responsibility for what happens on site. Understanding this makes the restriction less irritating and the negotiation more realistic. It also explains why the exceptions that exist are usually conditional rather than free.
Reading an approved list
An approved list is a compromise, giving you a choice among caterers the venue already trusts to work in that space. The list may reflect genuine experience of the building, or a commercial arrangement, or both, and it is fair to ask which.
Once the deposit is paid, ask how a caterer gets onto the list and whether one can be added, since some venues will consider it and others genuinely cannot. The practical advantage is real, because a caterer who knows the kitchen, the access and the staff will produce a smoother service. Where the list does not include anyone who can cook the food you want, that is important information about the venue.
Bringing in your own caterer
Where it is permitted, expect a fee, a certification requirement and conditions about access, equipment and cleaning. Establish exactly what the venue kitchen provides, since many function spaces have preparation areas rather than working kitchens. A caterer working without a proper kitchen needs to bring equipment, which changes their quote and their access requirements substantially.
Ask who is responsible for waste, for cleaning and for any damage, because these fall between the parties and get forgotten. The saving from bringing your own is frequently smaller than expected once the fee and the additional requirements are counted.
Cultural and religious catering
Many weddings require food prepared to specific religious standards, whether halal, kosher, vegetarian, Jain, or prepared by a particular community's cooks. Some of these requirements cannot be met by a general caterer at all, and involve the kitchen itself rather than only the ingredients. Ask about this at the enquiry stage rather than after booking, because it may be the constraint that decides your venue entirely.
Between the two families, venues experienced with a particular community will answer in practical detail about kitchens, timings and supervision. Where a venue cannot accommodate it, that is a reason to look elsewhere rather than to compromise on something that matters.
Drink, corkage and licensing
Alcohol is usually controlled even more tightly than food, because the licence belongs to the venue and cannot simply be lent to you. Where you may supply your own, corkage is charged per bottle or per head and can substantially reduce the apparent saving. Establish whether the venue permits any self-supply at all, and whether it applies to all drinks or only to specific categories.
For a dry wedding, which many communities hold, ask whether the venue's pricing assumes a bar and whether it can be adjusted. Get the arrangement written down, since bar terms are frequently discussed verbally and remembered differently.
Traditions vary by family as much as by community, and the family version is the one that counts.
Choosing a venue with this in mind
If food is central to how your community celebrates, the catering arrangement should be one of the first questions rather than a later detail. A slightly less beautiful venue that lets you feed people properly will produce a better wedding than the reverse. Ask to taste the in-house catering before booking, and to taste it as it would be served at scale rather than as a plated sample.
Ask how many covers the kitchen can serve at once, since a room that seats more than the kitchen can serve produces long gaps. The answers separate venues that host weddings from venues that merely have a nice room.
Everything above, in order of what to do first
- Why venues control catering. Kitchens are expensive to run and catering is where most venues make their margin, which is why so many require you to use theirs.
- Reading an approved list. An approved list is a compromise, giving you a choice among caterers the venue already trusts to work in that space.
- Bringing in your own caterer. Where it is permitted, expect a fee, a certification requirement and conditions about access, equipment and cleaning.
- Cultural and religious catering. Many weddings require food prepared to specific religious standards, whether halal, kosher, vegetarian, Jain, or prepared by a particular community's cooks.
- Drink, corkage and licensing. Alcohol is usually controlled even more tightly than food, because the licence belongs to the venue and cannot simply be lent to you.
- Choosing a venue with this in mind. If food is central to how your community celebrates, the catering arrangement should be one of the first questions rather than a later detail.
The takeaway
Decide how your guests will be fed before you fall in love with the room they will be fed in.
It is a party with paperwork attached. Keep them in that order.
Questions readers ask
Is corkage worth paying?
Sometimes, particularly where you have access to drink at a much lower price. Calculate it per bottle against the venue's list price rather than in the abstract, since the gap is often narrower than assumed.
Our venue's caterer cannot meet our religious requirements. What now?
Ask whether an external caterer can be approved specifically for that reason, as some venues make exceptions. If not, this is a good reason to choose a different venue rather than to compromise.
