How to Choose a Wedding Caterer in Alexandria: Ten Questions to Ask

Planning a wedding or gala in and around Alexandria? The ten questions that separate a caterer from a kitchen that delivers food, from a house that has run Egypt's tables since 1937.

The food is the easy part. What makes an evening is everything around it: who greets your guests, how thirty tables are served at once, who runs the floor while you dance. These are the questions we would ask any caterer, including ourselves.

1. Who is on the floor?

Ask for the staffing plan: butlers at the door, a waiter brigade, a maître d'. A good house will tell you the ratio of waiters to guests without being asked.

2. Who designs the menu?

A menu chosen from a list is a menu for someone else's wedding. Ask whether the chef will design it with you and whether it can cross traditions, Greek mezze beside French patisserie beside Egyptian sweets.

3. Where does the cake come from?

Many caterers subcontract the centrepiece. Ask who bakes it and whether the dessert table is made by the same kitchen.

4. Is the coffee live?

A coffee station pulling real Greek coffee and espresso in front of guests is the difference between a dinner and a late evening.

5. What happens at setup and breakdown?

Ask when they arrive, what they bring, and whether the venue is cleared afterwards. The answer should be: early, everything, and yes.

6. Can they cater at your venue?

Délices caters in and around Alexandria. Ask about your venue, access and the kitchen on site.

7. What is the minimum?

Full white-glove service is built for scale. Délices works from 100 guests; smaller gatherings are better served by the café.

8. Who do you speak to?

At a family house, the family. If your call is answered by a sales team, the evening will be run by one too.

9. What is their track record?

Ask about the occasions they have run: weddings, diplomatic receptions, galas. A house that has served palaces since 1937 will have answers.

10. How far ahead should you book?

Popular dates fill a year out. Call early, agree the date, and plan the rest in conversation.

When it has to be Délices, call us to plan it.