Wedding Catering Checklist Dubai

YOUR WEDDING PLANNING GUIDE

A practical sequence for planning your wedding meal

Use this wedding catering checklist to organise the decisions from your first enquiry to the final service plan. For menu and booking options, explore wedding catering Dubai. myCHEF designs and coordinates your catering plan, then matches your wedding with vetted chefs, service professionals and licensed culinary partners suited to the venue and menu. We manage the complete food and beverage operation and coordinate it with your wedding planner, venue and other suppliers.

We recommend contacting us three to six months before your wedding. Larger weddings and peak dates from November to March should begin earlier — often six to twelve months. Short-notice weddings may be possible depending on the venue, menu and partner availability.

Peak outdoor season: November to March. Shoulder: October and April. Indoor or cooled-marquee season: May to September. Numbers live on the wedding catering cost guide. Menus live on the wedding menu planning guide.

WHO DOES WHAT

We are not the wedding planner

If you need a planner, hire a planner. We manage the food and beverage operation and fit it to their run sheet.

myCHEF

The food and beverage operation: menu, chefs, service team, dietary planning, setup and clear-down of the food service, and the named contact for all of that.

Your planner

The wedding: ceremony, florals, entertainment, photography, invitations, the run sheet everyone else fits into.

The venue

The building, the licence, often the preferred-supplier list, load-in windows, overtime, and whether an external kitchen is allowed at all.

The couple

Decisions. Taste. Final numbers. One named day-of contact who is not either of you.

WEDDING CATERING TIMELINE

When to book a wedding caterer: and what happens after

1. 01

   As soon as the date is real

   Often three to six months before. Peak dates from November to March, and larger weddings, often six to twelve months.

   • Write the date, venue or area, and a guest-count range.
   • Ask the venue, on day one, whether external wedding catering is allowed. If the hotel says no, stop designing an independent plated menu for that ballroom.
   • Name one person who is not the couple as the day-of food contact — planner, sibling, venue coordinator.
   • Send a brief: format if you know it, cuisine, dietary needs, budget band, and whether you need staff, bar, cake or rentals.
   • Hold the date only when the venue, the kitchen plan and the team can actually do that day.

2. 02

   Three to six months before

   The comfortable planning window for most Dubai weddings.

   • Lock the catering brief: plated, buffet, stations, canapés, family-style, or a mix.
   • Share cultural and dietary requirements: Halal default, vegetarian, vegan, Jain, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-conscious.
   • Decide what is in the food-and-beverage plan and what stays with other suppliers.
   • Walk the site or send photographs: kitchen, power, water, load-in, guest flow, weather cover.
   • If the wedding is in Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills, Dubai Hills or Arabian Ranches, write to the community office about trucks, parking and noise after 8 p.m.

3. 03

   Tasting window

   After the date is held and the menu direction is agreed. Typically four to eight weeks before. Larger or peak-season weddings: eight to twelve weeks.

   • Taste the dishes that will actually be served, not a generic show plate.
   • Check seasoning, portion, temperature and the order of the meal.
   • Confirm how allergy-aware plates will be produced — including whether a controlled kitchen has been confirmed.
   • Agree what changes after the tasting, in writing.

4. 04

   Four to two weeks before

   Operations, not mood boards.

   • Confirm staff numbers against the format, not a package name.
   • Lock rentals that the plan includes: tableware, glassware, linen, extra furniture.
   • Confirm bar: mocktails and soft drinks through myCHEF; alcohol only where the venue licence allows.
   • If the day is large, public, or serving alcohol in a licensed venue, check who owns the DET / CID permit calendar. Fourteen days is the alcohol-permit drumbeat.
   • Share load-in times, vendor meals, children’s plates and late-night food if they are in the brief.

5. 05

   Seven to fourteen days before

   Final guest count. The menu locks with those numbers.

   • Send the final headcount and the dietary list, named where it matters.
   • Reconfirm arrival, setup, service and clear-down against the planner’s run sheet.
   • Weather backup for anything outdoors.
   • Cake cutting, speeches and dancing: tell the kitchen when food must pause and when it must return.

6. 06

   Day of

   Setup is usually about two hours before guests. Service is usually about three hours unless the run sheet is longer.

   • The food team runs the food and beverage operation.
   • You stay with the reason everyone is there.
   • Clear-down is part of the catering plan, not an extra surprise at midnight.

Tasting: After the date is held and the menu direction is agreed, typically four to eight weeks before the wedding. Larger or peak-season weddings: eight to twelve weeks. Setup is usually about two hours before guests. Service is usually about three hours unless the run sheet is longer.