How much to spend on catering??

I'm paying 15 a head for 3 course, i think i got lucky with our caterer tho, most i've seen are around £30 a head

Ah nice, don't think I'll be able to get away with £15 but wish I could! I am pretty much now limited to one caterer. I have a choice of 3 "recommended" caterers which pretty much means I have to use one of them or pay a fee to bring someone else in. The one that was the cheapest and I liked the most is not available on my day One was ridiculously expensive (like £50) a head with other charges on top. So I've got one left who I am meeting up with next week. They seem willing to work things out so hopefully will get a deal. Just didn't want to go into a discussion with someone and them laugh at me if I am expecting to get something cheaper than they can offer.

Our 'orderves' (hor d'oevres?) were something like £8 per head for four choices. Our evening buffet was about £15 per head but it was more than 'nibbles'.

Why not try and focus on the quality of the food rather than just the price? Every caterer has to make a living and so you can't expect much tasty food for super-cheap prices.

Why not serve a starter and main and then your cake as a dessert? That saves the cost of one whole course.

Or have your canapés on arrival but no starter?

I've never been to a restaurant and had nibbles, starter, main course and dessert for £15. If I did I would expect it to taste like it was all from Iceland, or worse.

We're in Devon, and we're being quoted £27 a head for 3 courses with choices and £3 a head for bacon/sausage butties for the evening, plus we're allowing around £200 for cheese (64 guests).

To make the most of your budget, I'd suggest forgetting any hors d'oeuvres, canapes, amuse bouche, or any other nibbles. Consider a buffet, BBQ or hog roast, if the caterer offers them - you get more for your money.

That is a good point, I don't want to end up with something that I can afford but I don't like.

I will definitely consider not having a starter if I have capapes or maybe cake for dessert hopefully that will help manage by budget.

Wedding I went to recently they had loads of evening buffet food and it was barely touched! I don't want to go overboard and waste money on food people won't eat.

^ This!

Our venue are doing the catering at £40 per head for a three course meal, but we can basically serve whatever we want, so we could bring that down!

We think we'll go for a BBQ in the evening which will be around £5 a head - just to even things out a bit!

Agree i would aim for quality rather then quantity if your budget does not stretch maybe consider reducing a course or having a buffet or even afternoon tea.

We're having ours in our local favourite restaurant. We've actually got an amazing deal - we're paying £26.50 a head for a 3 course meal, tea / coffee and mints, and have exclusive use of the restaurant all afternoon. If we were to book a table at the restaurant any other time and order our most expensive options (cheese souffle starter, salmon main, creme brulee dessert) and coffees, it would cost around £32 per person - so we're getting a discount for having so many people.

In the evening we're having hog roast, but a kind of DIY one - we're doing sides, bread etc ourselves and carving ourselves so it works out to about £350 total and WOULD feed up to 250 guests but as we have half that, it's about £3 a head.

Knowing how much to spend on catering can be a bit of a minefield. Working in this industry ourselves, we are astounded sometimes by the pricing tiers. Basically it really depends on what you want and how extravagant you want to be.

My advice, particularly for the evening, is to have something a little different from the norm, something that you know will be popular with everyone. The hog roast and buffet can become a little tiresome for most. You can get a good stylish caterer for around £7-8 per head. If you would like any pointers please feel free to drop me a line and wed be happy to give some advice.

We had a fabulous buffet at our local pub for about a tenner per head and served the cake as pudding.

Job done.