Catering rates, August 2026
What a Kerala wedding costs
At the 26 Kerala hotels and resorts with a rate on our file, wedding catering costs ₹2,500–₹16,000 a plate, with a midpoint of ₹5,375 (on file since August 2026). For 300 guests at the lowest band, food and service come to ₹7.5–13.5 lakh; the hall, rooms and decor are separate lines.
Which month are you looking at?Send the month or the muhurtham with your name. A planner replies on WhatsApp within one working day. Venue rates and open dates follow once each venue confirms them in writing.
| What you are pricing | On our file | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wedding catering from a venue's own kitchen | ₹2,500–₹16,000 a plate, midpoint ₹5,375, at 26 hotels and resorts | Venue rates on our file since August 2026 |
| 300 guests, food and service | ₹7.5–13.5 lakh at the convention and city-hotel band; ₹10.5–21 lakh at the city five-star band | Worked from the same rates |
| 600 guests, food and service | ₹15–27 lakh at the convention and city-hotel band; ₹21–42 lakh at the city five-star band | Worked from the same rates |
| How an auditorium bills | A day rental for the hall, with the caterer on a separate contract | How Kerala venues charge |
| How a hotel bills | Per plate, against a minimum number of plates | |
| How a resort bills | Exclusive use of the property for the nights you take |
How much does a wedding cost in Kerala?
At the 26 Kerala hotels and resorts with a range on file, in-house wedding catering runs ₹2,500 to ₹16,000 per plate, with a midpoint of ₹5,375 a head (indicative ranges for the venues' own kitchens, on file since August 2026, not yet checked against a published rate). At the convention and city-hotel band of ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate, a 300-guest sadya-style wedding is ₹7.5 lakh to ₹13.5 lakh for food and service, and a 600-guest wedding ₹15 lakh to ₹27 lakh. Kerala venues charge on three models: auditoriums rent the day with the caterer separate, hotels bill per plate against a minimum guarantee, and resorts sell exclusive-use buyouts. Decor, production, rooms and licences are separate lines.
Reading these figures from abroad? Planning a Kerala wedding from abroad covers the video calls, the one trip and paying advances from overseas, with pages for families in the Gulf, the UK and the US and Canada.
Catering is not the whole budget, and on most Kerala weddings it is not even the largest line. It is, however, the only line that a venue will quote before you have committed to anything, which makes it the one number worth having in your pocket during the first conversation with your parents.
The three things that move it: how many people you are feeding, which month you are feeding them in, and whether the muhurtham forces the kitchen to serve at an hour it does not normally serve. A 5.40am ceremony means breakfast for four hundred, and that is priced differently from a lunch.
Two worked budgets: 300 guests and 600 guests
Scenarios, not quotes, dated August 2026. Each line multiplies a guest count by a per-plate band on file for venues in our book. The convention and city-hotel band is the lowest range in the book (Gokulam Park Hotel & Convention Centre, Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort, Sterling Munnar among them); the five-star band is the spread across the 5 city five-stars with a rate. A sadya served in sittings at an auditorium with an outside cook is usually cheaper than either, and we do not hold a verified per-leaf rate to print.
| Scenario | Band on file | Catering total | Indicative abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 guests, convention or city-hotel band | ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate | ₹7.5 lakh – ₹13.5 lakh | ≈ $8,625 / £6,675 / AED 31,500 to ≈ $15,525 / £12,015 / AED 56,700 |
| 300 guests, city five-star band | ₹3,500–₹7,000 per plate | ₹10.5 lakh – ₹21 lakh | ≈ $12,075 / £9,345 / AED 44,100 to ≈ $24,150 / £18,690 / AED 88,200 |
| 600 guests, convention or city-hotel band | ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate | ₹15 lakh – ₹27 lakh | ≈ $17,250 / £13,350 / AED 63,000 to ≈ $31,050 / £24,030 / AED 113,400 |
| 600 guests, city five-star band | ₹3,500–₹7,000 per plate | ₹21 lakh – ₹42 lakh | ≈ $24,150 / £18,690 / AED 88,200 to ≈ $48,300 / £37,380 / AED 176,400 |
Work it out for your guest count
Move the slider. Each line multiplies your guests by a per-plate band on file for venues in our book. Food and service only, August 2026.
The three ways a Kerala venue bills you
The auditorium rents the day. Kalyana mandapams and convention halls quote one figure for the date, and the caterer is a separate contract, often one you choose. The hall cost barely moves between 400 and 900 guests, which is what makes the classic big Kerala wedding possible. The hotel bills the plate against a minimum. City five-stars and most resorts quote the per-plate rate above against a minimum count; 150 guests against a 250-plate floor pays for 250, and the minimum is the most negotiable number on the page. The resort sells the property. Backwater and heritage properties price exclusive use from what they would have earned those nights, so a smaller guest list does not shrink the figure much. How Kerala venues charge takes each apart; the budget-tier guide works a complete wedding through each model.
By region
| Region | Venues priced | Range | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malabar | 2 | ₹2,500 – ₹7,000 | ₹4,375 |
| Kochi | 9 | ₹2,500 – ₹16,000 | ₹5,000 |
| The southern coast | 4 | ₹2,500 – ₹15,000 | ₹5,375 |
| Munnar | 3 | ₹2,500 – ₹12,000 | ₹6,000 |
| The backwaters | 6 | ₹2,500 – ₹14,000 | ₹6,125 |
| Wayanad | 1 | ₹5,000 – ₹10,000 | ₹7,500 |
| Thekkady | 1 | ₹5,000 – ₹10,000 | ₹7,500 |
Every venue we hold a rate for
| Venue | Where | Per plate | Max guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gokulam Park Hotel & Convention Centre, Kochi | NH-66, Edapally, Kochi | ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate | 2,500 |
| The Gateway Hotel Marine Drive Kochi | Marine Drive, Kochi | ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate | 800 |
| The Park Hotel Calicut | GH Road, Kozhikode | ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate | 800 |
| Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort | Muhamma, Alleppey | ₹2,500–₹5,000 per plate | 300 |
| Sterling Munnar | Pallivasal, Munnar | ₹2,500–₹5,000 per plate | 600 |
| The Travancore Heritage | Chowara, Thiruvananthapuram | ₹2,500–₹5,000 per plate | 800 |
| Holiday Inn Kochi | Marine Drive, Kochi | ₹2,800–₹5,000 per plate | 1,000 |
| Fragrant Nature Backwater Resort & Spa | Kollam | ₹3,000–₹6,000 per plate | 500 |
| Radisson Blu Hotel, Kochi | Woodlands Road, Ravipuram, Kochi | ₹3,500–₹6,000 per plate | 1,200 |
| Crowne Plaza Kochi | Kundannoor, Kochi | ₹3,500–₹6,500 per plate | 1,500 |
| Vasundhara Sarovar Premiere, Vayalar | Vayalar, Alleppey | ₹3,500–₹6,500 per plate | 1,000 |
| Vivanta Trivandrum | Mascot Square, Thiruvananthapuram | ₹3,500–₹6,500 per plate | 1,200 |
| The Raviz Resort & Spa, Kadavu | Kozhikode (Calicut) | ₹3,500–₹7,000 per plate | 5,000 |
| Le Méridien Kochi | Maradu, Kochi | ₹4,000–₹7,000 per plate | 1,225 |
| Taj Green Cove Resort & Spa | Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram | ₹4,000–₹7,500 per plate | 800 |
| Casino Hotel, Kochi (CGH Earth) | Wellington Island, Kochi | ₹4,000–₹8,000 per plate | 400 |
| Tall Trees Resort, Munnar | Bison Valley Road, Munnar | ₹4,000–₹8,000 per plate | 300 |
| Kumarakom Lake Resort | Kumarakom | ₹5,000–₹9,500 per plate | 2,000 |
| CGH Earth Marari Beach Resort | Mararikulam, Alleppey | ₹5,000–₹10,000 per plate | 300 |
| CGH Earth Spice Village, Thekkady | Thekkady, Periyar Tiger Reserve | ₹5,000–₹10,000 per plate | 150 |
| Vythiri Resort, Wayanad | Vythiri, Wayanad | ₹5,000–₹10,000 per plate | 200 |
| Brunton Boatyard, Fort Kochi (CGH Earth) | Fort Kochi, Kochi | ₹6,000–₹12,000 per plate | 150 |
| Windermere Estate, Munnar | Bison Valley, Munnar | ₹6,000–₹12,000 per plate | 150 |
| CGH Earth Coconut Lagoon, Kumarakom | Kumarakom, Vembanad Lake | ₹7,000–₹14,000 per plate | 200 |
| Niraamaya Retreats Surya Samudra | Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram | ₹8,000–₹15,000 per plate | 200 |
| Malabar House, Fort Kochi | Fort Kochi, Kochi | ₹8,000–₹16,000 per plate | 80 |
80 of the 107 venues in our book have no rate on file. They are in the venue book without a price rather than with an invented one.
The big wedding halls are among them. Halls are usually hired by the day with the meal booked separately, and we do not yet hold a dated rent for any of them: not for Al Saj or Uday Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, nor for CIAL or Adlux near Kochi airport. The convention-centre page compares them on capacity and rooms instead. Chittoor Kottaram, a heritage palace in Kochi let for exclusive use, also quotes per date rather than publishing a rate.
Kalari Kovilakom, Kollengode is on file at ₹10,000–₹20,000 per person, a retreat rate. That is not a per-plate catering price, so it is left out of the table above and out of the range; the venue is listed with the other Thrissur & Palakkad venues.
What the per-plate rate is not
The rate above buys food and service. It does not buy the hall, the rooms, the decor, the lighting, the licences, or the changeover hour if your hall runs two weddings a day. Moving a wedding between the three venue models changes the total more than any menu negotiation does.
Questions
What does a wedding cost per plate in Kerala?
Across 26 named Kerala hotels and resorts with an in-house per-plate range on file since August 2026, not yet checked against a published rate, the midpoint is ₹5,375 a head for catering. The full spread runs from ₹2,500 at Gokulam Park Hotel & Convention Centre, Kochi to ₹16,000 at Malabar House, Fort Kochi. These cover food only — decor, production, stay and licences are separate lines.
How much does a 300-guest wedding cost in Kerala?
For catering alone, at the convention and city-hotel band on file, ₹2,500–₹4,500 per plate, 300 guests come to ₹7.5 lakh to ₹13.5 lakh; at the city five-star band of ₹3,500–₹7,000 per plate, ₹10.5 lakh to ₹21 lakh. An auditorium on a day rental with an outside sadya cook usually lands lower, and we do not hold a verified per-leaf rate to print for it. Venue hire, decor, rooms and production sit on top.
Which part of Kerala is cheapest for a wedding?
Of the regions where we hold catering rates, Malabar has the lowest median at ₹4,375 a head, and Wayanad and Thekkady share the highest at ₹7,500. Guest numbers move the total far more than the region does.
Does the per-plate rate include decor?
No. A per-plate rate is food and service. Decor, floral, staging, production, lighting, room nights and any licence or permission are quoted separately, and on most Kerala weddings the decor line is the one that varies most between quotes.
Are these Kerala venue prices confirmed?
No. They are indicative per-plate ranges, on file since August 2026, not yet checked against a published rate. A venue will quote its own number against your date, your guest count and your menu, and a peak Makaram date will not be priced like a Mithunam one.
Want a real number for your date?
Give us the month and the guest count, and we will go through what the per-plate rate leaves out. A planner replies on WhatsApp within one working day; venue figures follow once the venue confirms them in writing.
What happens after you enquire
- A planner replies on WhatsApp within one working day. Expect questions about the date, the numbers and the community the wedding follows.
- A written scope and a fee band. What we would do for this wedding and what it costs, before you decide anything.
- A video walkthrough if you are abroad. Shortlisted venues walked on camera in your evening, so the single trip to Kerala is spent deciding, not looking.