Private Chef Experiences · Mendocino County
Microweddings on the Mendocino coast
Twelve people. Twenty. Thirty at the outside. A house on the bluff, the people who actually matter, and a dinner worth flying in for. This is the work we’re built for — and the size most catering companies, sized for two hundred, can’t reach down to.
Small doesn’t mean simple — it means better
A microwedding is the one format where the food gets to be as good as the setting. At two hundred covers a menu is shaped by what can be plated at scale and held hot across a room. At sixteen, none of that applies, and the whole kitchen opens up.
- Courses that only work at this size — fish cooked to order, things finished at the last second, a dish that wants eating within a minute of leaving the pan.
- Genuinely seasonal. A small menu gets built the week of, around what actually landed at Noyo and came out of the valley.
- Our chefs cook it themselves, start to finish.
- Every dietary need handled properly — as its own dish, not a plate with something taken off it.
The couples we cook this for have usually made a deliberate choice: fewer guests, better everything. That trade pays off beautifully by the time it reaches the table.
Cooked where you’re staying
Most microweddings on this coast happen at a house rather than a venue — a rental, a ranch, an inn taken over for a few days. We cook in that kitchen. No tent, no generator, no field kitchen, no rental crew, and none of the overheads that make small weddings expensive elsewhere.
Haven’t settled on somewhere yet? Our venue guides tell you plainly which places have a kitchen worth cooking in and which have none at all — written from the kitchen side.
Good to know
How small is too small?
There’s no such thing. We’ve cooked for four. A dinner for eight is a perfectly normal booking here.
What does it cost?
The wedding itself is from $250 per person, typically $275–350, with a $1,400 event minimum on all events. At a small guest count the minimum is usually the number that matters — it’s all published in full on our rates page.
Can you cook the other meals too?
Yes, and for a small group it’s usually the best value in the whole thing. Welcome dinner, the wedding itself, the rehearsal, brunch the next morning — priced as one wedding weekend.
Do you do the cake?
Dessert, absolutely. Tiered cake is its own craft, and we’ll point you to someone who does it beautifully.
What about flowers, rentals, a photographer?
We keep honest guides to all of it: planners, photographers, florists, rentals and bar service.
Check your date
Tell us the date, where you’re staying and how many are coming. We’ll send a menu and a real number.
Related: rehearsal dinners · wedding catering · venue guides · what to expect.