Ask every caterer to itemize staff, rentals, service charge, and gratuity as separate lines before you compare a single per-plate number.
Why the per-plate number rarely tells the whole story
Couples usually start their catering search with a single question: what does it cost per person? That number is useful as a first filter, but it hides more than it reveals. A quote of seventy-five dollars a head from one company and one hundred and ten dollars a head from another might reflect nearly identical service once staffing ratios, rental equipment, and setup and breakdown labor are added back in. The gap often comes down to what is bundled into the base price versus what shows up later as a separate line.
National industry estimates published by wedding planning resources commonly place catering as one of the largest single line items in a wedding budget, frequently cited in the range of seventy to two hundred dollars per guest depending on service style, bar package, and region. Those are broad national figures, not Vermont or New England averages, and they should be treated as a starting point for a conversation rather than a number to hold any single caterer to.
The line items that change the total more than the menu does
Menu choice matters, but the structural decisions move the budget further. Plated service generally requires more waitstaff per guest than a buffet or family-style setup, and that staffing ratio is priced into the proposal whether or not it is spelled out. Bar service is its own decision tree: a hosted open bar, a limited beer-and-wine bar, and a cash bar each carry very different costs, and some venues require the caterer to provide licensed bartenders regardless of which option a couple chooses.
Rentals are the other place totals swing. China, glassware, flatware, linens, tables, and chairs are sometimes included in a caterer's package and sometimes billed through a third-party rental company that the caterer coordinates. Teams like Farmhouse Group Events build day-of coordination into their catering work, which can simplify this because the same team managing the rentals is also running the timeline on the wedding day, reducing the number of vendors a couple has to reconcile invoices with.
Service charges, gratuity, and the fees that surface late
Most catering contracts include a service charge, typically calculated as a percentage of the food and beverage total, and this is separate from gratuity for the serving staff. Some contracts fold the two together under one label, and some list them separately, and the difference in what a couple actually pays can be significant. Before signing anything, it is worth asking a caterer to write out, in plain language, exactly what percentage covers administrative and service charges and what percentage, if any, is passed directly to staff as tips.
Delivery fees, cake-cutting fees, corkage fees for outside alcohol, and overtime charges for events that run past a contracted end time are the other fees that tend to surface only when a couple reads the fine print closely. None of these are unusual on their own, but a caterer who lists them clearly at the proposal stage is easier to budget against than one who mentions them for the first time on the final invoice.
Building a realistic catering budget for a Vermont wedding
Rather than anchoring to a single national figure, a more useful approach is to request itemized proposals from two or three caterers for the same guest count, the same service style, and the same bar package, then compare the totals line by line. This makes it obvious where one company is charging more for staffing and where another is charging more for rentals, and it turns an apples-to-oranges comparison into something a couple can actually evaluate.
For weddings at working farms and outdoor venues, catering costs can also be affected by site logistics, since teams may need to bring in generators, tenting for the kitchen, or additional transport time for equipment. Caterers who regularly work tented and outdoor events, such as Black Radish Catering, are generally able to price those logistics accurately from experience rather than estimating them, which reduces the odds of a costly surprise closer to the date. Couples getting married at Riverside Farm can also look at Vermont Farms Catering, the venue's in-house catering partner, since a built-in vendor relationship often means the site logistics are already priced in accurately. To compare options broadly, the full vendor directory lists caterers by town and service style, and starting from the homepage makes it easy to filter by venue first if the venue is already booked.
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