6 tips for staying within your catering budget

Catering your wedding can be one of your largest expenses. Depending on your catering budget – your guest list may either grow or get trimmed down. How do you get the best bang for your buck when it comes to catering? We’ve got a few ideas that may help.

1. Make time to meet with several caterers. Interview them and ask for a tasting. Ask for ideas about what they can offer you that fits in your budget. (ALWAYS know what your catering budget will be!)

2. Choose items that will be in season during your wedding. Different fruits and vegetables are more readily at certain times of year. Ask your cater to help pick something that will cost less because it is readily available.

3. Maybe your caterer is already doing a nice chicken dish for another wedding the day before or after yours – perhaps is you choose the same dish, you may be able to cut your costs (assuming the cater can get a better deal buying more of the same items in bulk) I can imagine two weddings for the same day – and if yours has several of the same dishes as the other wedding, then your cater is only preparing those items once. Ask what other events they have booked near your wedding and what the menu is for those events.

4. Please don’t get exotic! Going to an event that has a soup that looks like cold snot and has a name you can’t even pronounce….it’s very difficult to enjoy the wedding when the food is strange. We know that it’s nice to have unique foods to open our experiences – but your guests don’t need to be forced to try new things because there isn’t anything else available. Plus, sticking with something traditional will most likely cost less and everyone can enjoy it.

5. Some venues require inside catering. Meaning they provide the catering to you. This is nice as it will cut down on your interviews for a caterer. Still, ask for a tasting – you want to know what the food will taste like before you commit to feeding all your guests. You can usually use the above ideas, and may even save some money because you are doing everything at the same place.

6. If you still need to try and cut costs – then stick with the basics. Don’t add on a bunch of options or extras. Also, serving sizes can have a large impact on your costs – if your guests get to serve themselves, they may take more than they can eat. Ask for servers to dish out an appropriate amount to each guest. You can even decide early on to have more salad and less of the main course served. Plated dinners are nice – as everyone gets what is on the plate. Remember though, the staff time required to bring and clear the plates. When counting the number of people to feed – remember to include your other “day of” vendors; photographer, wedding planner, DJ, Photobooth, etc. Each of these people are working hard to make your wedding run smoothly.

Remember, your guests are coming to celebrate you and your wedding! They really shouldn’t care what is being served – they should just happy to be there with you. Depending if you choose a plated meal or buffet type dinner, everyone will have an enjoyable time. And hopefully you won’t break the bank feeding your guests.

For a list of great caterers in the valley - check out our Vendor Page.

Destination Weddings in Arizona

There are some great places up north. Jill and I were up in Flagstaff a couple of weeks ago and we got to check out some of the wedding venues, florist and gown shops there. We were even lucky enough to find out about a small cocktail wedding show and check it out. We got to meet several vendors that are local. I look forward to working with them so that I can start referring them out. If you are thinking of a destination wedding, summertime is their busier season for up north (I wonder why) but don't let that stop you. We all know it is very hot here in the valley so why not go up north. There's Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff all of which are great places to go. I do have some contact info if any one would like it.

Catie & Brandon

We had many great weddings in May. Here is the first.

We were at Villa Siena for Catie and Brandons wedding. It was a fabulous reception. The venue is amazing. Mancini Entertainment kept the evening going with great music. Yea I know the bride and groom have a lot to say when it comes to what is played, so good job guys. Bon Cuisine took care off the guest with some oh so delicious food. All of the fun was captured by Serendipity Videography.

Night at the Movies - Theme Weddings

Sometimes everyone is only thinking about table tops and color coordination. Shelley went WAY beyond that! She had a fabulous Theme Wedding. It was Hollywood meets Movie Night. She had a popcorn machine, Candy Bar, and quotes from favorite movies were on her tables. The tables looked great with tall glass tubes holding glowing white LED lights - topped with white feathery accents. I hear she came up with the table decorations herself! Each guest had a blast as they got in the photo booth (oh yeah, she had one of those too). Shelley says "THANKS! Everybody raved about the photo booth."

We had a great time at her fabulous wedding. They brought their own fun props for the photos and the whole night was amazing!

Congratulations Shelley and Sly - we really appreciate being part of your big day. And we especially love "Pizzazz" of the evening!

Joanna & Nick

This is back in April. Joanna and Nick had a wonderful ceremony and reception at Orange Tree Golf Resort. They had an outside cerimony and then the guests moved into the waiting hall off of the ball room for cocktails. This is where we were set up. The guests wasted no time in using the booth. They loved it. Joanna and Nick went all out with the booth. They had the custom exterior, props and logo, I think the props were the biggest hit. There were some guests that wanted to take the props home with them. Unfortunatly, we were not able to get cards from the other venders to put them on here, but every one did an amazing job. The Orange Tree also blogged about the wedding, check it out. And these are their pics from the booth.

It was a blast!!!! Thanks guys.

What about the Flowers?

Maybe you've already picked your venue, you even have your colors all coordinated. But what about the flowers? (Hopefully you take them into consideration when you're choosing colors).

The main questions lately are regarding how much or how many. Do you only want flowers for your bouquet and the brides maids? What about the boutonniere? And family - who all is entitled to a corsage? Will your tables have flowers in the centerpieces or the head table be all decked out?


It's traditional for the bride, maid of honor, brides maids, groom and groomsmen to have flowers. Also, the mothers and fathers of the bride and groom. When you include grandparents and siblings with a corsage or boutonniere - they can feel more included in the wedding.
The best idea for keeping floral costs low is to get flowers that are in season. If you are dead set on a unique flower that needs to be imported - you are paying for a lot of shipping and handling instead of just the flowers.


"Picking" a florist (pun intended) is similar to choosing any wedding vendor. Interview several and feel comfortable with your decision. If you're not sure what you need to know, ask them? Ask what are the biggest hurdles they come across with weddings? What do they suggest to coordinate with your dress, colors, venue etc. Do you or your fiancé have allergies? What about silk flowers? (sometimes silk flowers get a bad rap - but they have come along way from the generic plastic stuff you remember)

Doing it yourself? I'm not going to tell you that you can't put together your own flower arrangements. However, keep in mind that professional florists know a whole lot more about flowers. They can assist with design, color coordination, and have everything fresh and ready on the big day. If you feel comfortable doing the flowers yourself - just remember that the few days before the wedding to have plenty of space in a refrigerator available for flowers, buy the flowers as fresh as possible, remember all the supplies you'll need and plan on putting together arrangement the night before. By the time you purchase all the necessary supplies and consider your time - DIY may not be the cheapest way to go. Also, remember to research what flowers do better in the heat or last longer out in the open. The last thing you want is wilted flowers because you didn't know they wouldn't last or shouldn't be touched too much.



As you decide on how many flowers to include and where to get them - remember that it's your wedding. Tradition may state that certain things are important, but realistically - this is your day and you can do whatever you want.

Photo courtesy of Ventola Photography

Bouquet pictured from Thee Wedding Warehouse Home of Endearing Floral Design

Ok..... A couple of quick notes today.
We hope every one had a great 4th of July.
Next, I used to tell people that our booths are like the ones at the mall. No longer will I sat that. Mari, one of our photo booth professionals, went to the mall with a friend and decided to try out the booth. In here own words " I just waisted three bucks on pictures that sucked." When asked about her experience she said that it was not pleasant. Well of course not it was not an A2Z Photo Booth.
Any way... I am working on getting out to a few places this month so you all can come get pictures. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have those up.
We'll blog another event in the middle of the week.