Overview

You choose how much of this you want. We can be involved from the start, we can be there only on the day, or we can simply point you at the right suppliers and let you get on with it. All three are legitimate and the right one depends entirely on how daunting you find the prospect.

From the start. Working with you through the planning: what needs deciding and in what order, which suppliers to talk to, and keeping the whole thing moving so it does not all land in the last month.

On the day. Included with every catering commission at no extra cost, because a kitchen without somebody controlling the room is how food arrives late. One running order that the kitchen, the venue, the photographer and the band are all working to, and somebody whose job is to notice that the speeches have overrun by twenty minutes and move the kitchen accordingly.

Just the introductions. Sometimes all anybody needs is to be told who is good. That is what the Little Black Book is for, and we will happily talk you through it.

And because we are the caterer as well, none of it has to be relayed between two companies who have never met.

Venue Support

With a combined experience of all areas in food and beverage, sales, and venue management, Reeves Events can deliver our same excellent service within your location. Whether you need support with sales and event coordination, or a full package taking care of licensing, team management, sales, bar facility, and on the day event management then we can provide you with a package to suit the specific needs of your venue and clientele.

What coordination actually covers

Coordination is mostly a series of small decisions taken early enough that nobody has to take them late.

• The running order — when the room sits, when the speeches happen, when the evening food goes out. Speeches before the meal make the food better and the timings easier.
• Supplier timings — marquee, florist, band, photographer, cake. Somebody has to know who arrives when and who needs power.
• The wet-weather plan, written and agreed, with a named decision time on the morning.
• The table plan and dietary requirements, matched seat by seat.
• Front of house on the day, so the questions come to us instead of to you.

Where we are also catering, all of this is easier — the kitchen and the floor are the same team. See marquee wedding catering and how booking works.

Event management, planning and coordination

Most event management companies do not cook. Most caterers do not run the day. We do both, which removes the join that usually causes the problems.

We work as event managers, event planners and on-the-day coordinators across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire — for weddings, private parties, corporate events and anything else that has a running order and more than one supplier turning up.

What that covers

• Planning — the running order, the timings, and the decisions that need making months out rather than in the last fortnight
• Supplier coordination — marquee, florist, band, photographer, cake, bar. Somebody has to know who arrives when and who needs power, and it should not be you
• Budget shape — an honest view of where money makes a difference and where it does not
• On the day — front of house, so the questions come to us instead of to you
• The wet-weather plan, written and agreed, with a named decision time on the morning

Why one company rather than two

When the caterer and the coordinator are the same people, the kitchen already knows the running order and the floor already knows the menu. Nobody is relaying a service route through a third party, and there is no gap for a problem to fall into.

It is also cheaper than hiring both, which is not the main argument but is worth saying.

See how booking works, or corporate events.

If you are looking for a wedding planner

Searches for a “wedding planner in Suffolk” and for “event management in Suffolk” often mean rather different things, so it is worth separating them.

Planning from the start means working with you from early on: what needs deciding and in what order, which suppliers to approach, and keeping it moving so it does not all arrive in the final month. We do this, and it is quoted for what it is.

On-the-day coordination — the running order, the suppliers, the timings, somebody controlling the room while it happens — comes with every catering commission at no extra cost. It is the part most couples discover they actually needed.

Somewhere in between is where most people land, and that is fine. We would rather scope it honestly than sell you a package with things in it you will never use.

And if you already have a planner, those days run beautifully. We work to their schedule rather than ours, and a good planner makes our job easier rather than harder.

Where the experience comes from

Arabella’s career began in private households, cooking for ultra high net worth families — including for the late Queen, and for royal families from overseas — and latterly running large private estates. Demanding work, and the sort that teaches you how a household actually functions rather than how it looks in a photograph.

She started this business while raising two children, which is its own education in what can realistically be delivered on a given day. There have been highs and lows in it, and the useful part of that is the knowledge left behind — which is what we are offering you here.

“You are a catering company. Why would you recommend anyone else?”

A fair question, and the honest answer is that we cannot be everywhere and we are not the best at everything.

We will recommend our own catering, obviously. But there are specialist areas where another company will simply do it better than we would, and we would rather say so than take the booking. And catering, however much it matters, is one element of a day that has a dozen other suppliers in it.

What we have from twenty-odd years of this is the people. Some good, some not, and the ones who matter are in the Little Black Book. Nobody pays to be on it and we take nothing for a referral, which is the only reason it is worth reading.

Not only weddings

Some people are entirely unfazed by organising an event from start to finish. Others would rather not, and there is no correct answer.

So this is not a wedding-only service. A significant birthday, a company evening, a christening, a wake — any of them can be daunting, whatever the size, and the help is the same. See parties and private events, corporate events or milestone birthdays.

What it costs

It depends on which of the three you want, and we would rather scope it honestly with you than publish a package that suits nobody. On-the-day coordination is included with catering. Involvement from the start is quoted for what it actually is. Introductions cost nothing.

A fourth option: advice, bought once

Separately from all of the above, Arabella takes a small number of private event planning consultancies — a single paid engagement rather than a retainer, for people planning something significant who want a senior opinion once and are not looking for a supplier attached to them for a year.

It is advice rather than catering, it is not tied to booking us for anything, and it is not restricted to weddings. If that sounds closer to what you need, start there instead.