North Essex is the same drive for us as half of Suffolk. Dedham, Colchester and the Stour valley are inside an hour of our kitchen at Mickfield, and we cater there through the season.

Marquees in Essex

Most of the Essex weddings we cater are marquees: a field, a paddock or a large garden with nothing in it. We bring the complete kitchen — gas ovens and burners, our refrigerated van, our own water, wash-up and waste — so the venue does not have to be a venue.

That is the whole argument, and it has its own page: marquee wedding catering.

Where we work

The Stour valley and the Dedham Vale, Colchester and its villages, Halstead, Braintree and Coggeshall, and down towards Chelmsford.

We work regularly with Chelmer Marquees, who cover the county, and with Events Under Canvas, Anglia Coastal Marquees and Great Events. If you have already booked a marquee company, we will speak to them directly rather than through you.

The food

East Anglian rather than generic: Red Poll beef, Newmarket Musk sausages, glazed Suffolk ham, English asparagus in season. At an Essex summer wedding the barbecue and sharing menus do the most work — a crown roast of pork with orange, sage and garlic cooked on the grill, or a ploughman’s down the middle of long tables. See all six wedding menus.

Coming from Suffolk, and why that is not a problem

Our kitchen is at Mickfield, near Stowmarket. North Essex is closer to us than a good deal of Suffolk is — Colchester is under an hour, and the Stour valley is on our doorstep. We are not driving down from London and we are not a national outfit sending whichever team is free.

For a marquee wedding the distance that matters is not the one on the day. It is the recce, and the fact that somebody who has actually seen your field is the person building the kitchen in it. We would rather walk a site in February than guess from photographs in July.

What an Essex venue usually means for the catering

Converted barns. Beautiful, and almost never built with a kitchen. Most have a room the venue calls a catering space, which in practice is a sink, a worktop and a socket. Ask what the actual power supply is rated at before anyone promises you a hot three courses.

Walled gardens and farm fields. Nothing at all, which is easier to plan for than something inadequate. We bring the whole kitchen — see marquee wedding catering.

Coastal and estuary sites. Wind is the variable nobody costs in. It affects the marquee, the service, and whether anything can be plated outside.

Three questions worth asking an Essex venue

1. What is the power supply, in amps, and is it three phase? “There is electricity” is not an answer a caterer can plan against.
2. Where can a vehicle actually get to, and what happens to that route after a week of rain? A field that takes a transit in August will not in October.
3. Is there a tied caterer, and if not, is there a list? Some Essex venues take a commission for being on theirs. It is worth knowing whether a recommendation is a recommendation.

If you are weighing up a venue and want a straight answer about what catering there involves, ask us before you sign. We have no stake in which one you pick.

Menus

The six wedding menus, all cooked on site wherever the day is:

• Canapé menus
• Wedding breakfast menus
• Sharing and feasting menus
• Barbecue and summer menus
• Evening and street food menus
• Vegan and vegetarian menus

Or see all six together, and buffets and sharing tables if you are not planning a seated meal.

What we bring to an Essex site

For a marquee or a barn without a working kitchen we bring the whole thing — ovens, burners, hot holding, refrigeration and our own power. What we need is somewhere firm to stand it, vehicle access that holds up in the conditions on the day, and a straight answer about water.

North Essex barns are the common case here, and the recurring problem is a room the venue describes as a catering space that turns out to be a sink and a socket. We would rather see it in February than discover it in July.

The seasons here

Essex summers in the Stour valley are as good as anywhere in the country and the barbecue and sharing menus do most of the work — see barbecue and summer menus.

Autumn is underrated here. Venues are more available, the light through a barn in October is better than in June, and the food improves — braises, game and puddings nobody wants in a heatwave. A late-season wedding is usually easier to book and often the better day.

Beyond weddings

We also cater private parties, milestone birthdays, corporate events and wakes across north Essex. If it is a private house or a field rather than a venue, that is our normal rather than a complication.