“We’ll bring everything” is the sort of thing every caterer says and very few explain. So here is what everything means.

Start from nothing

A barn has a kitchen. A field has nothing: no power, no water, no drainage, no walls, no floor, no light. If you are having a marquee wedding, that is your starting position, and every single thing that happens between the ceremony and the last plate has to be carried into it.

This is why marquee catering is a logistics problem before it is a cooking problem, and why it is where a competent operator wins and a good cook fails.

Cooking

Ovens, burners and hot cupboards, sized to the room. The number matters less than the relationship between it and the guest count: enough capacity that a three-course meal reaches every table in one service rather than in waves.

Hot cupboards are the unglamorous hero. Cooking a hundred and fifty portions is not hard. Holding them at temperature while a hundred and fifty plates go out is the actual skill.

Refrigeration

Running from the moment we arrive, not from the moment we start cooking. In July this matters more than the ovens do, and in any month it is what a food safety inspector would look at first.

Power, and how little of it we need

The kitchen runs on gas — ovens, burners, hot cupboards. That is the single thing that makes cooking properly in a field practical at all, and it means the only item we genuinely have to plug in is our refrigerated van.

It is worth knowing when you are pricing a generator for the day. You will probably still need one for the lighting, the band and the bar, but the catering is rarely the reason it has to be a big one — and we are not competing with anybody else for the supply.

Water

Potable water for cooking, and a wash-up station with hot water. A field has neither. This is the single most commonly underestimated item, and it is why a caterer who says “we’ll manage” should be asked a second question.

Waste

Grey water, food waste and packaging all leave with us. Nothing is tipped into a hedge and nothing is left for the farmer, whose field it is and who will still be farming it next week.

We walk the ground before we go. It is a small thing that says most of what needs saying about how a company works.

What it needs from you

Less than people expect. A reasonably level patch of ground for the kitchen tent, close to the marquee, and vehicle access to that point.

Access matters more than distance. On wet ground, whether a van can reach the spot is the difference between a smooth set-up and a bad morning — and it is worth walking the field with your caterer before anyone commits to a layout.

The question to ask

If you are comparing caterers for a marquee wedding, the useful question is not what is on the menu. It is: what are you bringing, and what are you expecting to find there?

The answers vary more than you would think.

More on marquee wedding catering, or the questions couples usually ask.