Wedding Season in Full Bloom! How to Evaluate Catering Venues

Love is in the air, and it's definitely showing here at Eggwhites Special Event Catering. While we enjoy the corporate cocktail parties, charity galas, birthday parties and more, we have to admit that weddings are some of our favorite events here at Eggwhites.

 Choosing a wedding venue is among the very first steps of planning the most important day of your life! The location of your wedding ceremony and reception will be something you will remember forever. Long after your wedding day has come and gone, it will be captured forever in your photos and your memories. We know planning a wedding can be stressful, but there's no need to worry. As a full service special event catering company we allow our clients to relax as we make their special event nothing less than magical. Our team of wedding experts are prepared to guide you every step of the way beginning with tailored suggestions for catering venues and the best wedding venues in Miami Fl!

WEDDING VENUES MIAMI FL

Every year we have the honor of producing weddings at premier catering venues in South Florida including Vizcaya, The Bonnet House, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Deering Estate, The Moore Building, Thalatta Estate, The Ancient Spanish Monastery, and more! We have catered a number of fabulous weddings in Miami, Palm Beach, the Keys and at a number of wedding venues in Broward county!

CHOOSING THE PERFECT WEDDING VENUE

Choosing the perfect wedding venue can be stressful. We have put together some helpful guidelines to organize your approach to finding your perfect wedding venue along with a summary of our favorite wedding venues in Miami and South Florida. You will find plenty of links to our Real Weddings Galleries to see what other couples have done and what worked well in different types of venues.  We hope to stimulate your imagination and help you visualize what you want your wedding day to look like. Looking at real weddings will further help you grasp the logistical elements of the venue, as well as give you some winning photography ideas.

TIPS TO EVALUATE CATERING VENUES

Let your personal wedding vision lead the way. Create a list of your priorities and characteristics you are going for when creating the overall feel of your wedding day. Your wedding vision is a great starting point to narrow down your list of wedding venue possibilities.

The next step is to evaluate the location, logistics and cost of the wedding venue. Make sure it falls in line with your criteria.

WEDDING VENUE COST

Miami is a goldmine when it comes to unique wedding venues. Its tropical climate makes it one of the top wedding destinations in the world. First and foremost, make sure the wedding venue fits within your budget. The fees range dramatically, from $6,000 to $15,000. Try not to set your heart on a venue that is too expensive. Keep in mind that if you blow your budget right out of the gate, you will not have enough left to actually fill the space to create your dream day!

Costs such as rentals are often overlooked in the early stages of the process. You must rent every fork, knife, glass, linen and chair. Do not let this scare you away from choosing a non-traditional venue. While this composite list of rentals might seem scary at first, the cost ends up being similar to the cost of a hotel. Oftentimes, a full-service caterer like Eggwhites Catering will handle procuring all the rentals for you. When you inquire about venue pricing information, make sure you get a list of all the potential fees and charges.  Often times there are additional costs that are not built into the basic package pricing.

WEDDING VENUE SPACE

The wedding venue capacity is a big factor in your wedding venue selection. Whether you are planning an intimate affair for 30 of your closest family and friends or a lavish fete for 300, it is imperative that the size of the wedding venue event spaces can comfortably accommodate your guest list, at your ceremony, cocktail hour and your reception. Give yourself a little wiggle room. Remember, everything starts with the space!

CATERING AND VENDOR RESTRICTIONS

Ask if your venue has a “preferred” list of vendors or if you can use any vendor you like. Find out if there is a fee to use vendors outside of the venue’s preferred vendor list. If your venue offers in-house catering, find out what restrictions they have when it comes to menu design, food and beverage. You are often limited to specific menu packages whereas you tend to have more flexibility in creating a custom food and beverage program when you choose an off-premise caterer.

WEDDING VENUE LOGISTICS

Some other very important specifics to consider include:

  • Accessibility for your guests
  • Exclusivity – will your wedding be the only event hosted at the venue that day? If not, how will your guests be guided to the right place? How will your vendor load-in and load-out be affected?
  • Rules & Restrictions in terms of noise, vendor timing and curfew, permits and cleaning fees

When it comes to these once in a lifetime occasions, no detail is overlooked, from mad libs written about the bride and groom to personalized favors for guests. Our couples customize their menu selections to reflect their tastes, such as Miami-style Mojo Marinated flank Steak at a Vizcaya wedding or fun stations like 'NY vs Chicago Hot Dogs' in memory of a first date at an otherwise formal wedding. From the soft and romantic to the dramatic and bold, each wedding is unique and personalized to reflect the character of the couple.

Our gorgeous weddings and creative brides have been featured in numerous bridal publications including The Knot and WeddingWire.  Visit our Venues page to take a peek at some of our favorite photos from recent weddings at each fabulous location to inspire you for your next event! Our Real Weddings Gallery features weddings we catered in Miami, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Inspiration abounds!

Book by this June to lock in 2012 pricing and receive a complimentary welcome cocktail for all of your guests!

Eggwhites Special Event Catering
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