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Catering

The catering is often the most expensive cost of the wedding and will have large impact on whether the wedding is successful. It's not simply the quality of the food but also the service, the time between courses, and whether people are waiting on long lines to get drinks. You want to make sure you're working with experienced professionals and have an adequate number of servers and support staff or you may spend a lot of time at your wedding complaining rather than enjoying the occasion.

There are some important things to consider before picking a caterer:

Buffet or a sit-down meal? A buffet is less formal but also can save money. If you have servers behind the buffet serving the food, people will take less food and then it will cost less.
Main dish? Chicken is the perfect stand-by as it's acceptable to most people. You will want to make sure the caterer can also offer a vegetarian dish and can cater to anybody who has special eating requirements.

Drinks
For drinks, you have several options. The least expensive option is to serve no alcohol and instead offer a cash bar where your guests pay for their own drinks. In this case, you will want to inform your guests in advance so they know to bring money.

Another option is to provide wine and beer only. While this is more expensive than a cash bar, it's a nice step up. You can either let the caterer provide the wine or you can bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee per bottle. You can save money by bringing your own wine, especially if you buy it from a wholesaler in bulk.

The most expensive option is to have an open bar where the drinks are free. In any case, you will also want to have champagne for all the guests for the wedding toast.

Picking a Caterer
When picking a caterer, the best method is talking to people to get personal testimonials. Of course, you can cover the basics on your own:

Food quality. Don't be afraid to ask for a sample!
Presentation. All caterers should have pictures of their meal presentation. If you care, ask.
Menu. Do you require special services like ethnic cuisine or vegan?
Price.

While these should be guiding factors it is hard to get a sense of a caterer's professionalism, timeliness, and other "experiences" without, well, experiencing their work. Don't be afraid to ask for references and talk to former customers. If you attend a wedding and love the cuisine, ask the hosts who the caterers are!

Facilities
It's important to match the reception venue with the caterer. Some venues have kitchen facilities with refrigerators and ovens, but many do not. You will want to make sure the caterer has portable equipment if there aren't sufficient facilities on premise.

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