Wedding Caterers in Sussex

Jacaranda was started in 1998 by Bee, Jon and Ian and works from Riverground Stables in Cowdray Park, just outside Midhurst. It caters weddings across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, and says its weddings come "without any hidden extras", from the first tasting to the last toast.

Alongside formal wedding breakfasts it runs Coco Dining, a set of vintage French vans that can serve burgers, wood-fired pizza, fish and chips, curries, crêpes or oysters and champagne, or be used as a bar. A sister company, South Downs Marquees, supplies marquees, so one firm can handle both the tent and the food.

Its list of venues it regularly works at includes Cowdray House, Bignor Park, Findon Place, Cissbury Barn, Grittenham Barn, Fitzleroi Barn, Highden Estate, the Hyde Estate and the Weald and Downland Museum, and it says it can normally cater at any venue. It does not publish prices.

Gastro Catering has been running since 2008 from Millbrook, on Horn Lane in Henfield. Its kitchen smokes its own fish and meat, cures its own charcuterie and grows its own herbs and edible flowers. For weddings it offers canapés, plated meals, sharing feasts brought to each table, evening food, and cooking over coals: barbecues, hog roasts and a wood-fired pizza trailer. It also sells drinks packages and can serve your drinks.

Tastings are free. The firm says it handles everything from private dinners for 8 to corporate events for 800. Its Sussex venue list includes Firle Place, Glynde Place, Stansted Park, Sullington Manor Barn, Southlands Barn, Cissbury Barns, Highden Estate and Devils Dyke Farm, and it names the marquee firms it works with too. No prices are published; its enquiry form asks for your date, guest numbers and type of venue.

Fresh Catering & Events works from a unit at the Old Brickworks in Plumpton Green, near Lewes. It says it can cater anything from a dinner for 10 to a wedding for 600, with canapé receptions, three-course meals, barbecues, hog roasts, bowl food (small hot dishes eaten standing up) and buffets. It also offers drinks packages and cash bars, marquee and tipi hire, furniture hire and wedding planning.

Its site sets out what you get: your own event manager, all the waiting, bar and kitchen staff, and the crockery, cutlery, linen and glasses. The team sets up the venue or marquee, lays the tables, serves, then clears everything away at the end of the night.

Sussex venues it names include Firle Place, Glynde Place, Bartholomew Barn at Kirdford, Cissbury Barns, Highden Estate, Nymans, Great Ote Hall and Montague Farm. It does not publish prices.

Marks Meals is based in Lewes, covers most of Sussex and caters for 30 to 500 guests. It is the only caterer here to publish a full wedding price list, set for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, with prices quoted plus VAT. A two-course wedding breakfast is £45 a head and three courses are £52; couples pick one meat and one vegetarian or vegan dish for each course, plus one dessert for everyone. Canapés are £10 a head for four or £13.50 for six.

There are cheaper, more relaxed options too: sharing starters at £12 a head and sharing mains at £28, a hog roast at £22.50 a head, a build-your-own barbecue from £24 a head and a grazing table at £25 a head. The hog roast, barbecue and grazing table each need at least 50 guests. Waiting staff are included in almost all prices; if food cooked at its gazebo is served to the tables instead, that adds £4 a head. Crockery and cutlery cost £2 a head, and extra staff £18 an hour. Bookings for 2028 will be 10% higher.

It also sells drinks packages from £5.45 a head, glassware included. With Briar House Barns at Rotherfield it sells all-inclusive packages: £10,500 for 100 guests, £15,600 for 150 and £20,000 for 200, covering tables and chairs, a dance floor, a stocked bar, a three-course wedding breakfast and evening guests (subject to capacity).

Field Food is run by Libby and Henry, who started with a supper club in their house in Hove. Their kitchen is at Barcombe Nurseries, an organic farm just outside Lewes, and their menus follow the seasons, built around what local growers and farms have at their peak. Most of their weddings are served family-style, with big dishes and platters passed along long tables; they also do canapés and buffets, but say fine dining "isn't really our thing".

They prefer smaller weddings and take on a limited number each year. Their partner venues are Water Lane at Hawkhurst, just over the Kent border, the Gooseberry House at Pulborough, and the Flint Space near Lewes, which holds up to 40 guests. Tastings take place at their kitchen and are paid for. Their team looks after the food on the day, and evening food can be platters, cheese boards or bowl food. No prices are published.

Vamos Paella was set up by Melissa in 2011 after years living in Spain, and cooks paella in giant pans in front of your guests, along with tapas. Its paellas are gluten and dairy free, which makes dietary needs simpler. It has five wedding menus that work for a festival-style day or a seated wedding breakfast, and evening food such as chorizo hot dogs, glazed hams and cheese towers. Its menu says it can serve up to 500 guests in one sitting.

Its terms set a minimum spend of £2,000 on catering, with a 20% deposit and the rest due a month before the wedding. Travel is free within 15 miles of Brighton and £40 an hour beyond that. It helps you find local waiting and bar staff and hire plates, glasses and linen, and can provide a maître d' (a head waiter who runs the service). It offers a tasting.

Harold's Hog Roast is a family business that began in Hastings and has a background in butchery. Its hog roast machine hire includes free delivery within 15 miles of TN39, the Bexhill postcode. It caters for 50 to 500 guests across Sussex, Kent, London and the South East, and all its prices are quoted without VAT.

A standard hog roast in baps with stuffing, apple sauce and crackling costs £840 for up to 80 guests and £1,000 for up to 100, then £10 for each extra guest. Vegetarian and vegan options are £7 a head, and its "make it a meal" option with two homemade sides is listed at £15 a head. A barbecue with three items and two salads is £20 a head, and a ploughman's spread, served as a buffet or on platters for the wedding breakfast, is £14 a head.

Canapés start at £10 a head, desserts at £5, and it can run a bar. Plates, cutlery and napkins are compostable; proper crockery and cutlery cost £2 a head, and staff start at £14 an hour. Final numbers are needed 14 days before and payment a week before. The hog roast needs a flat 3m by 3m space.