Booking a caterer for Thai, Panguni and Avani muhurthams

Tamil weddings cluster around auspicious months, and in Madurai the busiest are Thai (mid-January to mid-February), Panguni (mid-March to mid-April), Vaikasi (mid-May to mid-June) and Avani (mid-August to mid-September). On the best muhurtham dates in these months, there may be 40 weddings in the city on a single morning, and every caterer, hall, nadaswaram group and decorator is booked.

If your date falls in one of these months, book catering six to twelve months ahead. Many families fix the hall and the caterer on the same week, often right after the engagement, because both depend on the date and the guest count. In the quieter months, such as Aadi, Purattasi and Margazhi, when few weddings are held, two to four weeks is usually enough for smaller events.

Before paying the ₹25,000 advance that holds your date, confirm a few things in writing. The menu, at least in outline, and the price per leaf. The guest count you are booking for, and how much it can change and by when. What is included: cooks, servers, vessels, leaves, water, buffet tables. Travel charges if the venue is outside Madurai. And the tasting date.

Also ask how many weddings the caterer is serving that day. On peak dates we cook for several families at once from our Melur Road kitchen, so we assign a separate head cook and team to each wedding, and we tell you who that person is. A good caterer will give you their name and number weeks before the day.