Meet Top North Carolina Wedding Caterers in Raleigh, NC, and the Triangle
No wedding is complete without delicious food. You should book your caterer as soon as you secure a wedding date and venue, or nine to 18 months in advance. When it comes to North Carolina wedding caterers, you’ve got lots of options. Whether you choose a buffet, stations, plated meal or family-style dinner, this guide will help you find the North Carolina wedding caterer that fits your preferences. Keep in mind guests with dietary restrictions or special preferences like vegan, vegetarian, dairy- or gluten-free diets. Don’t forget about signature cocktails, specialty rentals like elevated serving stations and late-night snacks!
We’ve got the scoop on the top North Carolina wedding caterers and what makes them stand out! If you want your wedding day cuisine to be uniquely delicious, keep reading!
How much does wedding catering cost in North Carolina?
It’s important to understand how food and drink costs will fit into your overall wedding budget before you go to any tastings. You’ll find a detailed breakdown of how much catering packages will cost in our catering guide. You also need to be sure to include meals for your photographer, videographer, catering staff and any other vendors who will be present at your reception.
Meet The Best North Carolina Wedding Caterers
A Raleigh Mainstay: Rocky Top Catering
Left: Bay scallops ceviche with aquachile and dragon fruit boba. Middle: Roasted red beet larb with Thai basil on a rice paper crisp. Right: New York strip steak with chimichurri.
This team is adored by vendors and couples alike. Rocky Top Catering have more than 20 years of experience as a North Carolina wedding caterer based in the Raleigh area. They believe that delicious, creative cuisine and exceptional service are essential ingredients in making an occasion memorable. The bottom line is that Rocky Top presents restaurant-quality wedding food at an affordable price. This team is trusted by many local wedding pros and they partner with many of our recommended venues. Rocky Top even operates several event spaces of their own in the Raleigh area.
What can couples expect from a tasting and who should they bring?
“Once we get a client’s proposal perfect, both budget- and selection-wise, we offer a private tasting for the couple to sample the menu that has been selected. This is a great way for us to get to know everyone better and really get a feel for the priorities on your special day. We will make dietary notes and tweak items to suit taste through this process. If the couple has parents helping to fund the reception, they’re invited, too.”
Left: Flat iron Romano-crusted sea bass and potatoes. Middle: Roasted beet crostini with whipped goat cheese and grape jus, strawberry-basil tartlet with white balsamic syrup, buckwheat blini and salmon lox salad with dill cream cheese. Right: Vegan seared sweet potato with black bean puree, pico de gallo, lime broccoli and walnuts.
What sets your team apart within the catering industry?
“The first-rate client experience is what separates us. During the planning process, it can be rather stressful with a lot of decisions to be made, but with an experienced team on our side helping to guide clients, we feel we are taking their best interests to heart. Among our directors, sales team, chefs and operations manager, we have well over 20 individuals who are available as manager support and assistance on event day. With our experienced onsite team, plus a wealth of talent from the salaried positions, we have the necessary infrastructure to handle all events and the curveballs that may be thrown day-of.”
What are your suggestions for the best dining styles for various reception sizes?
“Stations offer the best bang for your buck. Our goal, no matter the service style, is for guests to receive their food within 25 minutes. This is true whether it’s plated, buffet or stations. The beautiful aspect of stations, when done correctly, is that guests can pick and choose where to go. If station A has a line, head to station B and grab a plate. This gives you a chance to enjoy and then you can visit station A or C. When done in this manner, all guests, no matter the guest count, should have their first plate within 10 to 12 minutes. With the increase in goods and services, stations have now become one of the more favorable styles from a pricing perspective. We offer dynamic tiered pricing based on guest count and the number of stations.”
Fine Dining Wedding Caterer: Catering Works
Left: Herb-encrusted halibut with herbed beurre blanc and king trumpet mushrooms. Middle: Petite greens tossed with berries, pecans and chevre. Right: Chocolate sable cookie topped with hazelnut mousse, edible flowers, gold leaf and caramel sauce.
This female-owned-and-operated family business has been a Raleigh mainstay for more than 30 years. Sisters and owners Jill Santa-Lucia and Lorin Laxton have a passion for the art of entertainment. Catering Works offers more than just food: They have a wedding dessert team called Pastry Works and a floral division called Bloom Works. Catering Works has racked up many positive testimonials from its ability to serve events both on- and off-site. The company’s green initiative has resulted in implementing the use of compostable utensils, composting food scraps and partnering with local organizations to donate leftover prepared meals.
Left: Asian tuna with marinated vegetables. Middle: Tomato salad with chèvre, green goddess and balsamic pearls. Right: North Carolina catfish with collards, okra and field peas.
What sets your team apart within the local catering industry?
“The Catering Works chef and owners are dedicated to superior quality with food and service. Our core team is long-standing and dedicated to making sure every event goes off without a hitch while serving delicious food.”
How can you upscale traditional, casual Southern faves such as barbecue?
“We focus on creating a twist on the classic. With our barbecue station, we feature smoked turkey, barbecue and brisket with a plethora of house-made barbecue sauces and sides. Chef Rich Carter likes to call himself the Bubba Gump of barbecue sauce.”
What’s your signature dish?
“Creative stuffed chicken combinations like spinach with chevre (goat cheese) and roasted peppers in an artichoke cream sauce.”
Chapel Hill, NC, Event Catering Team Beau Catering
Lauren Erickson Bennett, Katie Hopkins and office manager Carmack Kelley present mini cupcakes, mini Southern tomato pies, a charcuterie plate, tomahawk pork chops with honey roasted apples, chicken-fried cheesesteak sliders and shrimp-and-grits bites.
Hillsborough-based Beau Catering has a reputation throughout the state as a top North Carolina wedding caterer offering exquisite food and exceptional service. Its namesake and executive chef, Beau Bennett, passed away in 2021, leaving behind a passionate team of professionals who are dedicated to carrying on his legacy. Known for classic Southern with fresh Californian influence, Beau Catering believes in simple recipes that allow the ingredients to shine. From crispy fried chicken dipped in rosemary gravy to pistachio-encrusted eggplant, everything on Beau Catering’s menu tastes like heaven and is made with love.
Left: Mini shrimp rolls, clam chowder with three types of potatoes, sweet and sticky ribs with brown sugar sauce. Middle: Strawberry milkshakes. Right: Elevated chicken and dumplings with gnocchi and pâte à choux, chives and seared, skin-on chicken.
What sets your team apart within the local catering industry?
“Our focus on local food and personalized service.”
What are your suggestions for serving styles when it comes to receptions?
“For small- to medium-sized weddings, we suggest a plated or family-style meal. For larger weddings, we recommend a buffet.”
What is your signature dish?
“Beau’s famous crab cakes.”
Creative Wedding Food and Innovative Plating from HL Catering
Left: Bacon wall featuring coffee and cocoa bacon, candied bacon and maple-chipotle bacon. Right: Double-decker grilled cheese.
With a reputation for fresh food and cutting-edge presentations, HL Catering offers popular displays and interactive stations. And, we love that they’re all about custom menu building. Chef Houston Loper has executive experience at the Atlanta Fish Market in addition to his culinary school training. He utilizes his background to provide a fine dining touch and unparalleled creativity.
Left: Short rib steak frites with salad dressed in lemon vinaigrette. Middle: Poke with crispy rice, yuzu and tapioca pearls. Right: Mini lobster rolls.
What sets your team apart within the local catering industry?
“We often are asked about what our company’s food personality is, and when it comes to weddings, our goal is to let the personality of the couple shine through the menu – after all, it is supposed to be all about them and not us. We spend a significant amount of time learning about our couples’ food taste and curating a unique menu for their big day.”
What are your suggestions for the best dining styles for various reception sizes? “The beauty of a small wedding is that you can host a seated, full-service meal. This style of dining gives the event an upscale feel. You don’t need a huge team to pull it off either. Bartenders can double as servers and prep cooks. You can’t beat a buffet for a large wedding – guests love to come and go as they please.”
Empire Eats Catering
Left: Macaroni and cheese. Middle: The Pit’s smoked brisket, pork chopped barbecue with roasted green beans. Right: Mediterranean grazing board with hummus, assorted olives, pita and veggies.
The company – which also owns several local restaurants – operates on the belief that great food and great hospitality are all it takes to make someone feel at home. We love that the group intentionally focuses on taste, rather than trends. If you’re looking for a wide range of cuisine options from your North Carolina wedding caterer, Empire Eats might be the one for you. Many favorite menu items from Sitti, Gravy, The Pit and The Raleigh Times Bar are offered. Empire Eats Catering provides quality service, whether you’re trying to please guests who are vegetarian, have a Southern palate or appreciate comforting Italian foods.
Chicken and waffles with maple-Sriracha syrup from The Morning Times.
What sets your team apart within the local catering industry?
“Our catering team is part of our restaurant family – Gravy, The Pit, Sitti and The Raleigh Times Bar – and we want everyone to feel the same level of hospitality and comfort at their events as they do at one of our restaurants. Hospitality is the cornerstone of all that we do.”
How can you upscale traditional, casual Southern faves such as barbecue?
“You can enhance the decor and the fine china that it is served on, but in the end, if you want barbecue, you want the whole hog cooked low and slow over charcoal and wood like they have done here in North Carolina since the 1700s. No need to put lipstick on our pigs!”
What wedding food and drink customs are you happy to see return as the pandemic wanes?
Guests being allowed to plate their own food [and] choose their portion sizes and toppings at stations. It allows us to be much more creative in displays and eliminates the waste created with individual portion cups and portions not matching the guests’ desires.
Are there any wedding trends from the past few years that you believe are going to stick around for a while?
Online booking. Having been in the business for a long time, it used to be so critical to have face-to-face meetings, but during the pandemic, we learned to work through email, and many times, I was meeting my couples for the first time on their big day. Couples are more comfortable with that now, and I am not seeing a shift back to in-person meetings
Saladelia Cafe & Catering
Saladelia Cafe & Catering has been a fixture in Durham since opening its brick-and-mortar cafe in 1988. Owners Fida Ghanem and Robert Ghanem serve seasonal menus inspired by their Lebanese roots, which always include freshly baked bread and locally sourced ingredients. Saladelia’s empire has grown to several locations on the campuses of both Duke University and UNC as well as a second cafe in Durham and a catering business that offers hors d’oeuvres like mini chicken biscuits and entrees like stuffed balsamic pomegranate chicken with caramelized onions, roasted potatoes and Saladelia’s signature house-made focaccia.
The Ghanem’s also operate Mad Hatter’s Cafe & Bakeshop in Durham. Mad Hatter’s offers classic, highly decorated wedding cakes.
Cake Couture Boutique
Brie Marrow and her husband, Mariston, started their catering and specialty cake business from the ground up. We love that Cake Couture focuses on bold flavors without sacrificing exceptional presentation. Menu staples like shrimp and grits, lobster tails brushed with cajun butter and deviled eggs are sure to put a smile on any wedding guests’ face.
Traditional Latin Flavors from Ta’ Contento
Based in Chatham County, another husband-and-wife team is behind this fresh, Latin American restaurant and food truck. Nora Anaya and Hans Vargas partner to create delicious menus for their restaurant as well as large events. Ta’ Contento’s food truck can even be rented for your cocktail hour or reception! It’s menus feature flavorful, Latin American cuisine that’s prepared with love and care.
Brunch Catering from Flying Biscuit Café
Modern day couples truly can take their pick when it comes to catering. Nothing is off the table – you can even order breakfast for dinner, if so desire! Or, if you like a more traditional meal, seek out Flying Biscuit’s full breakfast and brunch menus for a final meal before your guests depart.
Funky Fresh Catering
Funky Fresh aims to provide each couple with a highly customizable catering plan. If you want to have a high level of flexibility and personalization for your wedding food choices, Funky Fresh will work closely with you to make your every wish come true!
“I think that is a key differentiator in our process – we are not necessarily food centric but client centric,” says co-owner Pam Evans.
