Typically, food and drinks at your wedding reception account for 50% of your entire budget. If you work out your catering costs first, you’ll be able to build a reasonable budget around that price. But how much does it cost to cater a wedding?

Below, we’ve detailed the typical costs of wedding catering, what wedding catering includes, tips on saving money on wedding catering, a guide on how to select a caterer, and more!

Having a theme for your wedding will make all your decisions easier. Once you decide on a theme, it’ll be simpler to sort through the options. When you keep your theme in mind, you’ll know exactly what’ll work for your wedding. And what won’t! If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the choices, you can decide on a theme, then ignore anything that doesn’t fit.

Normally we try to avoid the word “cheap”. We’ll say we want an inexpensive venue. Or we want to be practical, thrifty, sensible. We want to stick to our budget! All true. But really: if you’re on a budget, you need a cheap wedding venue. The real trick is finding one that doesn’t look cheap. See an idea list of affordable wedding venues, typical prices, and easy ways to save money.