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🎧 Listen to learn:

• Why wedding catering costs more than a restaurant meal
• What staffing, rentals and service contribute to a catering proposal
• How your wedding venue can affect the menu a caterer creates
• What goes into serving a large plated wedding dinner
• Why family-style wedding dinners have become increasingly popular

Why does wedding catering cost so much? For couples planning their first large event, a catering proposal can come with expenses they have never encountered at a restaurant. On this episode of the Wedding Day Podcast, Iron Diamond Media owner Sonja Babich sits down with Eric Sandstrom, owner of Portland-based Art of Catering, to explain the food, staffing, rentals, equipment and service behind a wedding meal.

Eric shares how Art of Catering prepares food on-site, even when that means creating an auxiliary kitchen at a vineyard or another unconventional venue. He explains why back-of-house space matters, how the team builds custom menus around each couple and what it takes to serve a large room quickly when guests have selected different entrées. He also shares his approach to family-style service, including one clever reason to serve the salad course separately.

The conversation also explores changing Portland wedding seasons, rehearsal dinners evolving into larger welcome parties and Art of Catering's expanded Central Eastside home. Plus, Eric plays a round of "Splurge or Save," weighing in on late-night snacks, oyster bars, charcuterie displays, welcome drinks, french fry bars and vegetarian options.

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Produced by Dan Riggs Films & Summit Hill Studios summithillstudios.com
and Iron Diamond Media irondiamondmedia.com