Quick 1000% yes, please feed your vendors at your wedding. All right guys, let’s talk vendor meals. Do they need to eat? What do they need to eat? When do they need to eat? The quick and dirty of this is yes they are human just like you. Oftentimes they are working 810 twelve hour days and they get hungry just like the rest of us. So please do feed them. A hot meal. Doesn’t need to be the same meal that the rest of your guests are eating but it does need to be a hot meal. Oftentimes a protein and veggies. Make sure you have a vegetarian option for those that do not eat meat as their protein. The win for us. We always say that your media team for sure should be eating when the couple is eating. That way they’re done at the same time as you’re done. Oftentimes your other vendors can wait until the end of everybody else being served the wear. They oftentimes do not need a table at your dining with the rest of your guests. We’re happy to be in a vendor room where we can just decompress, not have to be on, be able to eat our food, chat amongst ourselves, and then get ready to carry out the rest of your day.
AUBREY KUCZEREPA-ABBATECOLA, OWNER & FOUNDER OF SEAS YOUR DAY EVENTS & CREATOR OF WINNING YOUR WEDDING PLANNING E-JOURNAL
This is such a great question. Yes, you should definitely feed your vendors that are with you for more than 4 hours. This is usually your DJ, your videographer, your photography team, your planner. Making sure that your vendors are also taken care of will give you that in return. They will definitely take care of you as well. In fact, most of these vendors that are with you for more than 4 hours require a vendor meal for them and their team. So make sure to check your contracts as far as cost. Usually your caterer will provide you with a discounted vendor meal, so make sure you ask your cater what those fees are. And ideally, it is very important that your vendors eat at the same time that you are eating because this will ensure that they are ready to go for the next thing in the timeline. Otherwise, if they don’t eat while you are eating, they are definitely not going to get a chance to eat. And they’ll probably have to wait till dancing time, which is usually seven. You don’t want to do that to your vendors. Where should they eat? So most of the vendors I know, they are okay with eating in a different room and that’s usually what happens. But I have worked at venues where there is no vendor room and so having a table for them where they can just sit and relax for a few minutes, even if it’s 1015 minutes, it’s always appreciated. So if there is no vendor room, think about having an extra table. It doesn’t need to be all fancy because they’re not going to sit there for the whole entire time. But if there is a vendor room, ideally vendors like to go to that vendor room. Anyway, I hope this helps.
Vendor meals. Yes, we need to eat. In order for your vendor team to do their best work for you, we need to have fuel in the tank. So we very much appreciate being fed by our hosts. Sometimes the caterer will say that vendors can eat from the food stations after the get have been served. Sometimes the caterers will put aside some, like a plate of various appetizers or orders from your cocktail hour, and that will be our meal. Sometimes caterers do a special meal that is just for us, and it can be as basic as a turkey sandwich, a bag of chips, and a Saran wrapped chocolate chip cookie, which is fine. Or it can be like a hot plated entree, a piece of fish, a baked potato, and a sauteed vegetable. It doesn’t really matter. It has to do more with what your caterer wants to provide. If you want to provide a vendor meal, the vendor meals should cost way less than you’re paying per person for your guests. In my area, Philadelphia, it’s usually $30 to $50 per vendor. And if you have a large vendor team and you need to feed a lot of people, I would ask your caterer if it can be more of a turkey sandwich situation than a hot entree, but that’s really between your caterer and yourself. As far as the budget is concerned. Do involve your planner, like me, so that your planner can tell the vendor team if they’re being fed. The timing of that meal is not always in our control, but ideally, the vendors are fed in a staggered fashion so that we are available to you in your event. And we usually eat in a place that is tucked away. No vendor wants the guests to see them stuffing their face. So sometimes it’s your cocktail hour area where your guests are no longer because they’re in the main part of your reception. Sometimes it’s a special room, like a break room or something. But ideally, your vendors want to be super close to the action, so that if they need to hop up and do something for you, they can so down the hall, around the corner, and through these hallways where we’re ten minutes away from you is not ideal. Something super close but somewhat private would be great for us to eat. So thank you for thinking of of us. We get hungry too.
JEAN KINTISCH, FOUNDER/OWNER, PINE HILL EVENTS
INDUSTRY: Â Event Planning
3 THINGS ON A WEDDING DAY YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT?:Â Caffeine, comfortable shoes, my event kit
BIO: With more than 30 years of event planning experience, Jean offers her clients friendly, personal service and provides as much or as little help as they need.