Big catering operations are built for volume. I'm built for the opposite. Intimate weddings of 10 to 30 guests, where every plate is personal, every dietary restriction is solved, and the meal people remember long after the flowers are gone.
The large catering operations are good at one thing: feeding a lot of people efficiently. That's not what you're hiring me for. I do 10 to 30 guest weddings. The kind where everyone around the table actually knows each other. Where you can serve real plated courses instead of chafing dish trays. Where the food has a point of view, a story, a connection to the season and the place.
Every wedding menu starts with a conversation — about what you love to eat, where the produce is right now, what the evening is supposed to feel like. I've built menus around a couple's first date restaurant, around the region their families come from, around the fact that half the table is vegan and half the table won't touch vegetables. None of it is a problem. All of it shapes a better menu.
Wood-fire cooking is available for weddings where the setting allows it — and the Ojai hills and Santa Barbara estates often do. There's nothing that signals "this dinner is different" like watching courses come off a live fire. If that's the direction, we build around it.
What you won't get is a PDF of stock menu options and a deposit form. You'll get a menu that didn't exist before you called, designed specifically for the day you're planning. That's the whole model.
A multi-course menu designed specifically for your wedding — courses, ingredient sourcing, and a throughline that makes the meal feel considered rather than assembled.
Every restriction — gluten-free, vegan, nut allergies, autoimmune protocols — built into the menu from the start. Your guests eat the same quality, not a consolation course.
Course-by-course pairing recommendations with sourcing notes. You handle the purchasing; I tell you exactly what to get, where to find it, and why it works with what I'm cooking.
For weddings above 15 guests, I coordinate additional service staff. You don't manage vendors. One conversation with me covers the kitchen and the table.
I arrive early, assess the space, and build a production timeline that keeps the evening moving without pressure. Ceremony overruns don't derail dinner.
Kitchen left the way I found it, or better. You leave the venue without worrying about who's washing what. That's included, not an add-on.
The rehearsal dinner is its own event — smaller, more relaxed, more about the people you're about to spend the next thirty years with. It's not the wedding. It shouldn't try to be. I cook rehearsal dinners differently: tighter menu, more intimate format, the kind of evening where the table actually slows down and talks.
Most rehearsal dinners run 10 to 20 guests — the wedding party, immediate family, close friends. That's a size I love to cook for. Small enough that every course feels intentional. Large enough that the energy is right. I can do a four-course dinner at a long table, a more relaxed family-style with shared platters, or something in between depending on the vibe you're going for.
The night-before intimacy is real. Everyone is still themselves, the celebration is ahead of them, and there's nothing better than a dinner that honors that. These meals often become the ones the couple remembers most clearly — partly because they were present for it in a way that's impossible on the wedding day itself.
A wedding dinner should taste like the two people getting married — not like a hotel banquet that could be happening anywhere.
I specialize in intimate weddings of 10–30 guests. This is the range where I can deliver restaurant-caliber plated courses, give individual attention to every dietary restriction, and manage the full evening without a large catering crew. It's the sweet spot for food that actually feels personal. For events under 10 or over 30, reach out — we'll talk through what's possible.
Yes. Most of my weddings are outdoors — estate gardens, ranch properties, backyard venues, vacation rentals with outdoor kitchens. I've cooked on fire pits in the Ojai hills and open-air kitchens overlooking the Santa Barbara coast. I arrive early to assess the setup, bring what I need, and make it work in the space you have.
Wedding packages include: menu design and planning consultation, all ingredient sourcing, day-of cooking, service staff coordination, setup and full cleanup. Wine pairing recommendations are included at no charge — you handle purchasing, I tell you exactly what to get and why. Pricing starts at $125 per person for a 3-course dinner and scales with guest count, courses, and complexity. No surprises.
Yes, completely. This is one area where a private chef genuinely outperforms a caterer. I build dietary restrictions into the menu from the start — not as an afterthought. Gluten-free, vegan, nut allergies, autoimmune protocols — I handle them without compromise and without serving someone a sad side salad while everyone else eats the main. Just send me the full list when we talk.
Tell me the date, guest count, venue, and what you're hoping for. I'll build the menu from there — sourcing, cooking, service, cleanup. You just show up to your own wedding dinner.