Your Guest Will Be Judging Your Catering Choice.

I went into catering tastings thinking this would be simple. Pick a chicken. Maybe a vegetable. Smile politely. What actually happened was me judging mashed potatoes like I was on a reality cooking show with absolutely no qualifications.

Step 1: Suddenly, I Have Standards

On a normal day, I will happily eat:

• Leftovers
• Snacks labeled “mystery”
• Something directly out of a bag

But the moment I sat down at a catering tasting? Is this chicken dry? Who am I?

Step 2: The Menu Is a Personality Test

You think you’re picking food. You’re actually revealing your entire identity as a couple.

Questions start flying:

• “Are you formal or fun?”
• “Elegant or laid-back?”
• “Plated dinner or buffet?”

Meanwhile I’m like: which options include the most carbs?

Step 3: The Chicken Dilemma

Every wedding has a chicken. It’s the law.

But now you must choose which chicken:

• Lemon herb chicken
• Garlic roasted chicken
• Chicken that sounds identical but costs $4 more

And everyone acts like this is a life-altering decision. Or maybe that’s just Aunt Sophie.

Step 4: The Sides Get Competitive

You think sides are just… sides. They are not. They are where opinions get intense.

Mashed potatoes vs. roasted potatoes becomes a full debate.

Someone always says: “People LOVE a good mac & cheese!

And suddenly mac and cheese is the main character.

Step 5: The “Will People Like This?” Spiral

At some point, you stop thinking about what you like.

Now it’s:

• “What if someone doesn’t eat this?”
• “What about picky eaters?”
• “What about that one cousin who only eats beige food?”

You cannot win. Someone will always want something else, like Aunt Sophie.

That is their journey.

Step 6: The Fancy Food Identity Crisis

You’ll be offered dishes that sound like they belong in an art gallery:

• “Deconstructed seasonal vegetables”
• “Infused reductions”
• “A foam of something”

And you’ll sit there wondering: “Can we just have pasta?”

Step 7: The Realization That People Just Want to Eat

Here’s the truth no one tells you:

Your guests are not expecting a five-star restaurant experience.

They are expecting:

• Hot food
• Enough food
• Food that doesn’t confuse them

If it tastes good and they’re full, you’ve already won.

Final Thoughts: Feed People, Not Expectations

If you:

• Overthought every option
• Changed your mind 12 times
• Ended up choosing something simple

Congratulations! You are doing it correctly.

Your wedding meal doesn’t need to:

• Be groundbreaking
• Be trendy
• Impress food critics who are not in attendance

It just needs to make people happy.

Bonus Advice (From Someone Who Judged Potatoes Too Hard)

• Always include a crowd-pleaser (yes, this is your mac and cheese moment)
• Make sure there’s enough food (people remember hunger)
• Don’t skip dietary options. Your vegetarian friends will love you forever
• And please… feed yourselves. You deserve to actually eat at your own wedding

At the end of the day, wedding catering is simple: Give people good food, let them celebrate, and no one will remember whether the green beans were roasted or sautéed.

But they will remember if there was mac and cheese.