Wedding Catering in Water Mill, NY

About $150 to $400 or more per person for food and service, so a 100-guest wedding runs $15,000–40,000+ before the bar and rentals (a 2025 Hamptons magazine figure; The Knot's 2026 study puts the national average at $80 a guest and the Mid-Atlantic at $123). The proposal then adds an administrative fee of 15–25% (20% at two named Hamptons caterers, one of which states it is not a gratuity), sometimes a 15% gratuity, and Suffolk County's 8.75% sales tax on the whole charge. The bar is another $40–75 a guest for beer and wine or $75–150 for a premium open bar. A $200 quote is about $261 a head once the fee and tax are on it, before any gratuity.

For a summer wedding, 9–12 months for the caterer and 18–24 months for a Saturday at a venue that hosts weddings; the average American engagement is 15 months, and the Hamptons calendar is shorter than that. For a corporate gala or conference, 6–12 months; a retreat, client dinner or holiday party, 4–6 months; 50–100 guests, 4–8 weeks. For a dinner party under twenty, two to three weeks, with 48–72 hours possible for a simple menu and three to four weeks in December or for a Friday. Off-season weddings (January to March) want six months rather than a year. A third of all catering orders nationally land in the fourth quarter, so a December party is a September booking.

Usually not. The administrative or service fee, 15–25% across the market and 20% at two named Hamptons caterers, covers coordination, insurance, kitchen staff and vehicles; one Bridgehampton caterer says in writing that it is not a gratuity for the service staff. Gratuity is a separate line: one East Hampton caterer adds 15%, another leaves it discretionary. New York taxes the whole catering charge, and a mandatory gratuity escapes the 8.75% Suffolk sales tax only if it is separately stated, called a gratuity, and paid entirely to the staff; a service charge by any other name is taxed. If your proposal has a service charge and no gratuity line, ask what the staff receive.

You tell us about the event once: what it is, when, roughly how many, where in the Hamptons, and the style if you have a preference. We put you in touch with one caterer who does that kind of event at that size in that town, insured and cooking from a permitted kitchen, and they call you within one business day. From there it is their tasting, their proposal, their contract and their staff. It is free for hosts; participating caterers pay us a referral fee for the introduction. We are not a caterer and we do not sell your details; the one company we send you to is the only one that gets your number. We cover 9 South Fork towns and 6 kinds of events.