Comparing wedding caterers usually starts with menus. For a marquee it should start somewhere else, because the menu is the part everyone can do.

Ask what they are bringing

Not “can you cater a marquee” — everyone says yes. Ask what physically arrives: gas ovens and burners, our refrigerated van, water, wash-up, waste. A caterer who has done it will answer in about fifteen seconds. One who has not will talk about the food.

Ask about power

The useful question is not “whose generator” but how much power do you actually need. A kitchen that runs on gas — ovens, burners, hot cupboards — needs almost none, which means it is not competing with the lighting or the band for a supply. A kitchen that runs on electricity needs a great deal, and somebody has to hire and pay for it.

Ask about water and waste

A field has neither. Potable water for cooking and a wash-up with hot water both have to arrive on a vehicle, and grey water, food waste and packaging all have to leave on one. “We’ll manage” deserves a second question.

Ask about ground and access

A good caterer will want to know whether a van can reach the kitchen position after three days of rain, long before they ask what you want to eat. If nobody raises access, they have not thought about it.

Ask what happens if it rains

The answer should be a written plan, agreed with you and the marquee company, that says where guests stand for canapés, how the walkway is covered, what a barbecue becomes, and what time on the morning the decision gets taken.

Ask who is actually there

The person who sells you the wedding is often not the person who runs it. Ask who is in the kitchen tent and who is running the floor, and whether you will meet them before the day.

Then talk about food

By which point you will have narrowed the field considerably. More on what we bring to a field, or read the questions couples usually ask.

One more: ask what the price actually includes. A per-head figure on its own tells you very little, and two quotes twenty pounds apart can land at the same number once hire is added. Our prices are published, with the equipment hire costs set out alongside them.

Two of the venues in this county are worth reading before you choose anyone: Haughley Park Barn, which runs an approved caterer list, and Henham Park, which is dry hire with no kitchen at all. The wider picture is on wedding catering in Suffolk.