Food tasting for wedding?

I work at a banquet facility and as far as I know we have always charged for food tastings. We've been in business for over 20 years and have been featured on theknot. So it's not uncommon nor a 'con' for a venue to charge for a tasting. Though we only charge $35 per person and if you have already booked with us (before the date of the tasting) the tasting is THEN free (only 2 dinners are compensated though) but if you were not you have to pay. If you went into a restaurant that you had never been before would you not pay because you only wanted to taste what their food was like? no so why would a banquet facility be any different? First and foremost we are a business.

Anyway, that is not how we have our food tastings. You come in to a private table for your party. You look over the menu, the appetizers we will be serving to everyone is listed and you get a choice of 8 entree's. You only get one but what many people like to do is say you have 4 people in your party (bride, groom and one of your guys' parents) they order 4 different entrees and share with everyone so you get a taste. While we serve appetizers and dinner (in a similar fashion that we would at your wedding serve, clear, go with next course) our wedding coordinator would go around seeing how everyone was enjoying themselves talking to people how they want their wedding set up answering questions etc. Feel free to ask servers questions as well, they may not know everything (such as price listing) but there are some things that they may be able to answer (such as linen colors) so that you don't have to flag down the coordinator.

We serve cake from a bakery that we often reccomend to our clients, a DJ (another vendor we often reccomend) is usually there as well. It's a quiet calm environment designed to give you a taste of our food and ask questions that you may have.

That's how ours works but I'm sure everyone does it a little differently. We have our dinner samplings (that's what we officially call the event) on the first monday of every month.

ETA: that first part isn't really directed towards you it's more towards the people that seem to think that they should get food/service for free. I don't really understand the logic, you have to pay for any other service you use, why should a dinner sampling be any different?

What you should do is ask again can there be a tasting for you for certain dishes. They should accommodate you since you are having the wedding there. For the tasting I had my tasting last two months ago. What you do is you will go to the venue and they get you set up with a drink to wash the food down or if you are serving wine and champagne they will give you some to sample. And then they will start bringing the food out. They will give you a sheet to check and fill out on which one you like the best and the host will come and take your comments and jot down which items you want served on that day. Any left overs you can take with you or finish eating there. Good luck and the tasting is fun. I have never done it before and I was nervous a little on my first time but me and my fiancee' enjoyed the experience together. One word of advice don't have alot of people with you because they you will have to deal with alot of opinions. I saw another table arguing over food and it was not right.

That[s a tough one. If it's already booked, you don't really have much of a choice but to trust that the food will be good or pay the $50 to try it. If you are really concerned about it, maybe making sure that the food will be up to your standards is worth paying the $50. After all, bad food can completely ruin a wedding. I used to work at a catering company and we did tastings all the time for free. I have never understood why a company would not do tastings for their prospective clients. Since you've already booked the venue, can you bring in an outside caterer? One that would do a free tasting to ensure that your meal will be perfect for your special day? My only other suggestion is to try and contact other brides who have had a wedding their and see how the food was. Good luck.

Wow thats a bit money grabbing of the venue! We had out tasting for free and it was just us having one at the time, we got to sit down with the chef afterwards and ask for any changes in presentention/taste. I'm not sure how it would work with a lot of people there as surely there wouldn't be time for that. If you have to pay anyway, would you go for a meal there that isn't the tasting and judge the food from that? You and FH could have different things and share each course?

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Food tasting for wedding?

How does this normally work?

The venue I've booked does not do a private tasting. They have a "mock wedding" about four times a year. We got invites in the mail and have to pay $50 per person! Also, there are only four entree choices to choose from, only one of which I would...

I've heard of venues starting to charge for tastings. Our venue did that, but because we knew people who used them before and had eaten the food we went based on their recommendations and didn't pay for a tasting.

If there are more options at this venue than the 4 offered at this "mock wedding", can you speak to the person in charge and tell them "these are the items I want to decide between, is there any way I can taste these items since I have no interest in 3 of the 4 you are offering?".

It really can't hurt to ask. Worst they say is "no" then you have to decide to choose without a tasting or pester them to get your items on their next "mock wedding".

It is outrageous that you have to pay for a tasting! What else is this "venue" nickle and diming you for? Is it too late to back out and find another venue?

We did not do a tasting at our venue, due to physical distance. But we ate at the restaurant on their premises, and felt satisfied that they would do a good job for the wedding. And they did.

I find these tastings to be a pretentious show put on to make the bride and groom feel like royalty -- in other words, mostly unnecessary. You already know what chicken parm and stuffed shrimp tastes like. You only need to find out if their quality is up to par and if their presentation is acceptable. Have you seen their food or been to a wedding there before? Then just choose what sounds good from the options they give you.

Or are their prices so low that you are worried about the quality of the food? In that case, it would be wise to fork over the $50 and make sure your guests arent getting some dried up chicken with velvetta on it.

To me $100 is not that much to make sure you get the food you want and the food you will be paying for. For me the peace of mind would be well worth it. I am a worrier, love to know everything in advance, so I would def. shell out the money to go. Just turn up, if they are a good company, they will have someone at the door to tell you what to do, or usher you in, it may be like a true wedding. Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I personally wouldn't PAY to choose foods for an event I'm going to PAY for.