Wedding Caterer Run Sheet Template

A wedding caterer run sheet template gives the catering team the eight milestones they actually read: venue access, cocktail service, entrée, speeches hold, mains, cake cutting, dessert, and close. The full wedding run sheet contains 20 rows in the reception section alone. A caterer does not need all of them - they need the rows that move food, hold a service, or mark the end of a phase. This page shows exactly which rows those are, with timings taken from the PlannedBy classic run sheet template.

What caterers need from a wedding run sheet

The PlannedBy classic run sheet covers a five-hour reception across 20 rows, from the couple being introduced at 6:00 PM through to send-off at 11:00 PM. The morning and split scenarios run a similar count. A caterer working from the full document will find rows for the MC introduction, first dance timing, golden hour photos, and bar close - none of which require catering action.

What the caterer needs is a single-page extract: the eight rows where food moves, the coordination window during speeches, and the bump-out deadline. Sharing the full document creates questions about rows the caterer cannot control and does not need to.

The other thing the caterer needs is the same document as the venue coordinator. If the couple's run sheet shows a different venue access time from the caterer's note, one of them will be wrong on the day. A shared source - one document, one set of times - stops that conflict before it starts.

Caterer run sheet: the 8 milestones

The table below uses the PlannedBy classic template timing, which sets the reception at 6:00 PM for a 3:00 PM ceremony. Every time here comes from that template.

The speeches row at 7:00 PM is the one that most often catches caterers off-guard. The run sheet shows speeches running for three speakers at five minutes each. In practice, speeches run longer. The caterer needs to know this window is variable, not fixed, and that clearing should wait for a signal from the MC - not from the clock.

The other timing gap worth noting is between cake cutting at 8:30 PM and dessert at 9:00 PM. The 30 minutes covers the first dance and a short break before dessert service. That window is in the run sheet, but it is easy to miss if the caterer only has verbal briefing.

Setting up the caterer section from your run sheet

The PlannedBy run sheet generates the full 20-row reception section automatically. Once the ceremony time is set, every downstream row - including entrée, speeches, mains, and dessert - inherits the correct time. The caterer's extract is a filter of those rows, not a separate document to maintain.

The simplest approach is to share the full run sheet with the head caterer and highlight the eight rows they own. A printed copy with those rows circled works. For venues where the run sheet is shared digitally, the caterer's rows can be copied into a short separate document.

Getting copies to the right people

Australian couples use an average of 13 wedding professionals per wedding.¹ A catering team of four people - head caterer, venue coordinator, wait staff supervisor, kitchen manager - each needs access to the same timing. Sharing one copy with the head caterer and assuming it reaches the team is the most common distribution failure.

Print the caterer's milestone page separately. Give one copy to each person in the catering team who will be on site. The venue coordinator should have the same copy, not a different version. If there is an MC, they need the speeches row marked with the signal the caterer will be waiting for.

For reference on building the supplier-facing version of the run sheet, the wedding photographer run sheet template shows the same approach applied to a different vendor's rows.

What changes for different ceremony times

The 6:00 PM reception time above comes from a 3:00 PM ceremony. If your ceremony is at a different time, every caterer milestone shifts by the same amount.

Use the run sheet generator to produce the correct timings for your ceremony. The caterer's milestones update with the rest of the day.

Frequently asked questions

What should I send my wedding caterer before the day? Four things in writing: venue access time, each service window with start and end times, the speeches window marked with the MC hold signal, and the bump-out deadline. A one-page extract from your run sheet covers all of them. The eight milestones in the table above are the ones a caterer needs.

Why do caterers need a separate copy from the main run sheet? The full wedding run sheet contains rows the caterer cannot act on: getting-ready timings, family photo slots, transport details. Sharing the full document means the caterer spends time reading rows that do not concern them and may miss the ones that do. An extract of the eight relevant rows is faster to read and easier to act on.

How long is a wedding reception from a caterer's point of view? From venue access through bump-out, a catering team typically works 8-10 hours for a wedding reception, even though guests experience around five hours of service. The setup and clear-down on either side of the service window are where timing errors from a wrong run sheet do the most damage.

What happens to the caterer's run sheet if the ceremony runs late? If the ceremony runs more than 15 minutes late, the caterer needs to know before the cocktail period ends. Kitchen timing for mains in particular depends on the reception opening time. The run sheet should include the name and number of the on-the-day contact who will send the update if the ceremony runs over - usually the coordinator.

Who should hold the caterer's run sheet on the day? The head caterer, the venue coordinator, and the day-of coordinator each need a copy. If there is an MC, they need the speeches row and the hold signal. Four named people with the same document covers most weddings.