Food and drink: where the wedding budget actually goes

Across the weddings we plan, food and drink is almost always the largest single line in the budget, and the one most sensitive to guest count. Everything else scales gently; catering scales exactly.

Venues price catering per head, and the gap between a set menu, a served three-course dinner and a full Thai and Western buffet is significant. Where a venue is a hotel or resort, in-house catering is often mandatory, which removes your ability to shop that line.

Drinks are priced three ways: per person for a package, on consumption, or by corkage if you bring your own. Corkage sounds cheapest and often is not once you have paid it per bottle. We run the three numbers for your actual guest list rather than assuming.

Thai guests, Western guests and mixed groups drink and eat very differently, and a menu built for one group disappoints the other. Mixed weddings usually need both, which is a real cost, not an upsell.

Service charge and VAT are commonly added on top of quoted catering prices in Thailand. We always ask venues for the all-in figure so the number you plan against is the number you pay.