Wedding Catering at Boxted Hall

On the approved caterers list

80 seated in the hall, more under a marquee

A marquee on the croquet lawn for larger numbers

We bring a full field kitchen

Boxted Hall is one of the few venues where the caterer question is settled before you start looking: they insist you choose from their approved list. We are on it.

The approved list

Boxted Hall states plainly that caterers must be chosen from their own approved list, and advises couples to contact caterers as soon as the date is booked so the caterer can be held too.

That advice is worth taking. A short approved list at a popular venue means the same handful of caterers are being asked for the same Saturdays.

The house, and the lawn

An exclusive-use country house in Suffolk with private gardens and parkland. It seats 80 for dining in the hall and takes 120 for a buffet-style reception. Larger weddings go under a marquee on the croquet lawn, and there is accommodation for up to 24 guests.

Two quite different jobs

Catering eighty people inside the house and catering a marquee on the croquet lawn are different jobs, and it is worth being clear which one you are planning.

Inside is an intimate, formal service. On the lawn we are into field kitchen territory — our own ovens, refrigeration, water and wash-up, sited out of sight, with everything leaving with us at the end. The cooking runs on gas, but the refrigerated vehicle, the hot cupboard and the water boiler all need electricity, so unless we can use a supply at the house there is a generator hired in for the day.

The second is our strongest work, and it is why a house with a lawn suits us better than a house alone.

Menus that suit it

For eighty inside, a seated three courses. For a marquee on the lawn in summer, the barbecue menu or a sharing table down long tables.

With a house party staying over, it is worth talking about the rest of the weekend as well as the wedding day — breakfast, a relaxed Sunday lunch, and the night before.