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About Nicholas

I created this blog to really help Adelaide brides who are planning their wedding. I've been been a professional photographer for 15 years. My work has appeared in the New York Times, Style Me Pretty and brides.com. In 2015 Style Me Pretty interviewed me, in 2016 Complete Wedding Magazine called me "One of the World's Best Wedding Photographers".

Profile: InStyle Catering

Whenever I'm a guest at a wedding there are two things I really pay attention to, the quality of the celebrant, and the quality of the food. If these two things are fantastic then it's a great wedding.

Here I speak to one of Adelaide's best wedding caterers Adam Bishop from Instyle Catering.

How many weddings do you typically cater for each year?

We limit the number of weddings we cater for, for the sake of consistency of service... Over the past years we average approximately 70-75 weddings annually (1-4 weddings a weekend over Friday, Saturday and Sunday of any given week).

Are you licensed, with health permits and liability insurance?

Yes – It is very important to have the appropriate accreditations from local council and other food and safety accreditations. Public liability is a must for any catering business to protect both clients and us.

Do you provide servers and staff who coordinate the meal service?

Yes, we employ our own front of house staff (both food and beverages). Our front of house staff have been with us for years and all staff have a high skill set when it comes to the service and timings of any menu structured meal service.

Do you specialize in certain cuisines?

I get asked this regularly and I struggle to answer it – LOL. The cuisines we mainly produce are modern versions of many cultures (Asian, European, French & Middle Eastern)… Modern Asian dishes are always very popular in the warmer parts of the year so we do focus on that cuisine a lot, along with modern Italian & Middle Eastern dishes.

What can you do for guests with allergies and dietary restrictions?
Over the past 20 years, I have noticed a massive increase in the amount of dietaries we see from individuals in each wedding we cater for. Only eight or so years ago, at the most, we would come across maybe a couple of vegetarians, a seafood allergy and a pregnant guest on our final event order for any wedding… These days the list can be huge for any one wedding we do. Gluten free requirements have taken over the vegetarians when it comes to dietaries. So much so that we structure our menus to be 95% GF. This way, we don’t have to make any special changes for GF guests. We do not regard vegetarian and GF guests as "severe" dietary requirements, and we can easily structure a menu for all the guests, to include the vegetarians and GF guests alike….. Of late, we see an increase in nut allergies from people, along with: vegans - allergy to the onion & garlic family - Lactose intolerance, etc……. In the main, we cater for any dietary, as long as we know the full details well before the event date, even if you're a "Vegan but eats cheese, fish and honey" ;)

Do you provide alcoholic beverages and bartenders?

Yes – We have our own liquor licence and we have a great selection of beverage packages available. We also supply highly skilled drinks waiting staff whether we are supplying the beverages or clients supply their own beverages and our staff just serve them.

Do you have preset menus or can brides create a custom menu?

The menus we have on our website are pure suggestions. Part of the service we provide is that I sit down with each client to find out about their own individual tastes when it comes to food and menu design… From there, I suggest and structure a suitable custom menu that represents the Bride & Groom as individuals, to be then shared amongst their closest friends and families for one of the biggest days of their lives.

Can you explain the price differences between sit-down meal vs. buffet vs. stations vs. cocktail-style reception?

Sit down menus are dearer than Canape/cocktail menus due to the labour in preparation and onsite labour to service the menu. Also, there are costs to hire marquee, tables, chairs, linen, glassware, crockery, cutlery etc. Whereas most of those things are not required for a canape menu structure.

With us, quantity of food is the same whether you have a sit down or cocktail menu structure. In the main, yes the menu cost for a sit down is dearer than a cocktail menu but the biggest extra costs for a sit down structure is all the additional equipment hire costs.

How much do you charge for children's meals? What about vendor meals?

We charge $30 for both kids meals and vendor meals

What is the ratio of servers to guests?

For a sit down menu structure with drinks service, we provide 1 waiting staff person per 20 guests

For a cocktail menu structure with drinks service, we provide 1 waiting staff person per 25 guests

How do your staff dress?

Our staff (men & woman) wear black plants, a modern look black and white patterned shirt and a black bib apron with modern leather straps that cross both the back and waist.

Do you do menu tastings and is there an extra charge for this?

Yes – Our tastings are carried out on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening from 6pm (when available). Tastings are for up to 6 guests max and the tasting costs $450.00. Guests are free to bring along wine and champagne to the tasting (as long as the chef can taste the wine too! ;)

How far in advance do brides need to book you?

To secure a booking in the most popular months (Oct, Nov & March), I suggest booking 12-18 months out to have a pick of the Saturdays. To put it into perspective, as of December 2017 I am booked out for next October and only have one Saturday free next year in November.