Weddings
Almost every couple starts with a Saturday in summer, because that is what a wedding looks like in your head. And almost every couple then discovers that a Saturday in summer is the single most expensive way to do it, because every venue, photographer, band and caterer in the country is competing for the same handful of dates.
Moving midweek or off-season is the biggest lever you have on a wedding budget, and unlike most ways of saving money it does not make anything worse. In several ways it makes the day better.
On our side we apply a straight ten per cent discount on the food for midweek and winter weddings. That is a real reduction rather than a marketing gesture, and it exists because those dates are genuinely easier for us to staff and schedule.
But the bigger saving is usually the venue. Many charge dramatically less midweek, and off-season rates can be lower again. Stack a venue discount on top of catering, photography and everything else that flexes, and couples routinely find the same wedding costs meaningfully less simply for happening on a Thursday.
Nobody at your wedding will remember what day of the week it was. They will absolutely remember whether the food was any good.
- Cai
This is the part couples do not expect. On a peak Saturday every good supplier in the region is working, often juggling more than one job. Move to a Thursday in October and you have people's full attention. We are not rushing off anywhere. The team is fresher. There is more time for setup, which with live fire genuinely matters, because a fire that has had three unhurried hours to settle cooks better than one built in a panic.
And the same budget buys more. If you are not paying peak rates you can put that money into the menu instead - better cuts, an extra course, proper evening food. Our cost breakdown shows where that money goes.
Live fire and cold weather belong together. A fire in July is lovely. A fire in November, as the light drops at four in the afternoon and everyone gathers towards the warmth with a drink, is something else entirely. It becomes the centre of the party rather than a nice detail in the background.
Winter also brings the best of the game season, which for what we cook is the strongest argument of all. There is a fuller case in our piece on why the cold months suit live-fire catering.
I am not going to pretend there are none.
Guests need more notice. A midweek wedding means people booking time off, so give them longer than you would for a Saturday. Some will not manage it.
Shorter days in winter. If outdoor photographs matter enormously to you, plan the timeline around the light rather than assuming it.
Weather is less predictable - though in Britain that is true in July as well, and we cook in it regardless.
For most couples these are manageable. For some they are not, and a summer Saturday is worth paying for. Both are fine, as long as you have actually weighed it up rather than defaulting.
Tell us the date you are considering and we will show you the difference. Midweek and winter weddings carry a discount on the food.
Get a Free QuoteIf your date is flexible, it is the cheapest upgrade available to you. Same guests, same vows, better food, less money.
- Cai
