Wedding Planning Template for US Couples Booking a Catered Reception — Guest List, Budget and True Cost per Guest (Excel & Google Sheets; CSV imports into Airtable)

The per-plate price on a catering quote is not what you pay: the venue's service charge is added on top of it, and in many US states the sales tax is then charged on the plates and the service charge together — so a guest list priced at the quoted plate figure lands under the real bill. This workbook does that stack from the numbers on your own signed contract: 3 sheets, 8 fields you fill in, 12 live formulas, and one figure that tells you how many guests you must cut to land inside your ceiling.

Your numbers

Your result

Expected attendees after declines-
Catering subtotal at the quoted plate price-
Venue service charge on the catering subtotal-
Sales tax, charged on plates and service charge together-
Catering all-in (what the caterer actually bills)-
Per-guest extras across all attendees-
Total wedding cost, all in-
True cost of one guest, fixed vendors included-
Left under your ceiling (a negative figure means you are over it)-

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The per-plate price on a catering quote is not what you pay: the venue's service charge is added on top of it, and in many US states the sales tax is then charged on the plates and the servi

A full-service wedding planner is retained on a percentage of your total spend or on a flat fee — that percentage is written in the planner's own contract, and this workbook takes it from there rather than from a figure we invente

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