SC - HELP!!!!!

[Mary Morman]

>Help request for friend's medieval wedding<

	Ok, at the risk of sounding terribly crass, are they paying you
anything for this?  I stopped catering weddings gratis for friends a long
time ago when I realized that I was giving folks a wedding present worth
several hundred dollars (in this case, a caterer would charge upwards of
thousands of dollars) when a 30 dollar trip to the Crystal Shoppe would
have taken care of my gift needs quite well.  I would start with a nice
sit-down talk with your friends and ask them just how much they are
looking to spend on this celebration.  Are they really prepared to lay
out 1500 dollars or so just on food?  They must also take into account
tablecloths, dishes, glassware, flatware, serving utensils and vessels,
all things we take for granted when doing an SCA feast.  If they want to
serve alcohol, or even just have one champagne toast, the liquor budget
must also be discussed.  (Punch bowls with a choice of alcoholic and
non-alcoholic beverages is the cheapest way to serve alcohol if they want
to do that.  You will get  8-10 glasses of champagne out of one bottle,
so be prepared to buy 30-40 bottles of something not real cheap for a
toast.)  If you start looking at the real costs for these things, I think
this will give you more of a guideline for what you want to do than
anything else.  
	I noticed that others had mentioned multiple courses or buffet,
again, these thngs will be determined more by budget than anything else. 
I would also suggest to them that a sit-down dinner may not be the best,
and that appetizers, cake, punch, and desserts might be the way to go. 
Time of day for the reception dictates that sort of thing more than
anything else, so get the specifics there before you start.  Consider the
amount of time you will have to put into this sort of thing, even call a
few caterers and ask what kind of price they would charge for a similar
function (don't even go into the medieval menu aspect of it) to get an
idea of the worth of this project.  If you have to take time off for this
and/or loose lots of sleep, then you should build SOMETHING into the
price to recompense yourself for the labor.  You can certainly cut them
quite a deal, but fair is fair.  And, while you are at it, I would just
ask them
	 'What happened to your smallish wedding?' :)  
	Good Luck, 
	Mistress Christianna MacGrain

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