Weddings
It is almost always the first question a couple asks me, usually with a slightly nervous laugh: so, roughly, what does this cost? And I get it. Wedding catering is one of the biggest lines on the whole budget, and the industry has a bad habit of hiding behind "it depends" and "request a bespoke quote" until you are three emails deep and still none the wiser.
So let me do the thing most caterers will not, and talk about money plainly. Here is what live-fire wedding catering actually costs in 2026, what you are paying for, and the things that quietly push the number around.
Prices vary enormously, because no two weddings are the same job. As a real-world guide, we range from around £70 a head for a smaller, local wedding through to about £150 a head for a large wedding a long way from our Sussex base. Where you land inside that comes down mostly to scale and distance, which I will come to.
That spread is genuine, not a hedge. A wedding for 60 just down the road is a completely different operation from a wedding for 150 two counties away. For a figure tailored to your own day, the calculator on our weddings page builds a real estimate from your guest count, menu, date and location in about a minute.
A live-fire quote is built from four honest parts, and it helps to see them separately:
The food. Wild game and properly sourced meat, cooked over fire, with seasonal sides, sauces and the bits that make a plate sing. This is the part you taste, and it is where the quality lives.
The fire and the travel. Getting the kit, the fuel and the team to your venue. We cook on-site, in front of your guests, which means we bring the whole kitchen with us. For venues further afield there may be travel and, for the crew, accommodation.
The labour. The chefs and front-of-house who cook and serve on the day. Live fire is hands-on cooking from setup to service, not trays wheeled out of a hidden kitchen.
Third-party hire. Anything we bring in for you - extra serving staff for very large numbers, chiller units, tableware. It is always itemised so you can see exactly what it is.
A good quote should read like a shopping list, not a magic number. If you cannot see what each pound is buying, ask.
- Cai
Scale is the biggest lever. A larger wedding needs more chefs, more kit and a bigger setup, so big celebrations sit towards the top of the range rather than the bottom. A smaller, more intimate wedding is a lighter operation and sits nearer the £70 end.
Distance. A venue near our Sussex base costs far less to reach than a remote spot up north. It is not about the postcode being fancy, it is simply diesel, time and, for the far ones, a night's accommodation for the team. Scale and distance together are what carry a quote from the £70 end to the £150 end.
Your menu. A whole fire-roasted haunch carved to order sits at a different point to a relaxed sharing barbecue. Neither is wrong. We build the menu around your day and your budget, not the other way round - our guide to planning an outdoor wedding menu walks through the choices.
The date. A midweek or off-season winter wedding often comes with a discount that a peak summer Saturday does not. If your budget is tight, a Thursday in November is your friend.
To keep it simple and predictable: a £500 non-refundable deposit secures your date, 50 per cent of the balance falls due 12 weeks before the wedding, and the final balance four weeks before. No surprise invoices, no drip-feed of extras. What you agree is what you pay.
If a quote comes in dramatically below everyone else, look closely at what has quietly been left out. Travel not included. Staffing for service not counted. Cheaper cuts standing in for the good stuff. A wedding is not the day to discover the gap between the headline price and the real one. An honest caterer would rather lose the job than surprise you on the morning - which, incidentally, is the whole point of our guide to choosing a wedding caterer.
No obligation, no pressure. Tell us your date and guest count and we will come back with an honest, itemised guide price within 24 hours.
Get a Free QuoteGood wedding food is worth budgeting for, because it is one of the few things every single guest experiences. But you should never have to guess what it costs. Ask for the shopping list, understand the levers, and pick the caterer who tells you the truth before the deposit, not after.
- Cai
