Many catering/event contracts have a clause that addresses when you must give your final guarantee to the hotel. This is usually due about 3-4 business days prior to your wedding. Once you give this number you are required to pay for that number of guests. Some hotels may allow you to raise this number slightly 1-2 days before your wedding, but you may not lower the number.

Set is the number of place settings set in the room and the total number of seats you indicate at each table. Some hotels give a 2%-3% allowance above or below the guarantee. This normally applies for weddings over 100 guests. What does this mean? This is means that if you think you may have a few last minute cancellations or no shows, you can estimate your guarantee on the low side.

For instance:

I have 250 guests rsvp’d for my wedding, but I have a feeling there may be some last minute cancellations a few days before. So, I guarantee the hotel 242 guests, but the number of guests on the diagram add up to 250. So my guarantee is 242 and set is 250. This way the minimum number of guests I am charged for is 242, but if 250 seats are filled I will be charged for 250 guests.

Any questions, please comment.