usahgrad
10-04-2005, 08:24 AM
Ok, the other day I sat down with my mother-in-law to be and we worked out a plan in which we would hire some people she knew and purchase food and cater our wedding ourselves. I haven't had a fiasco with caterers, but I just don't feel comfortable spending that much money on people I don't know at all.
I think the biggest problem I have is that the caterer I thought I was going to go has had it's own surprises. A few weeks ago, I went for what the company calls a "consultation" (which has a $150 fee if you don't go with their catering company). For $150, I met with a consultant at the City Natatorium (not the company office) for less than half an hour and briefly described the size of my wedding and what I was looking for. She said she would put together everything we talked about into a proposal. So here I am, expecting the proposal to be something semi-important or conclusive or anything along that lines and it wasn't. It was a reprint of the menu with my name at the top and a listing of china costs at the bottom (I had to ask her for the cost of silverware because it wasn't on there). I was a little upset by that but not to much.
The next thing that happened was that I asked about tasting, for the simple fact that no one wants to pay that much money for a special event to get food that tastes ABSOLUTELY terrible. We can put together whatever selections we would like, but it's going to cost us $10 a plate to try it.
The last thing was, when I asked for referrals, my consultant said she had to compile some wedding referrals because she'd never been asked for them before. When she did "compile" them, there were only two added to a list of business and personal referrals. Two referrals makes me think that they are either (a) not that serious about catering weddings or (b) really bad at it.
So I was really worried about it and the experience has made me leary in general. I'm still looking at caterers, but I was looking for some other options as well, which is why I had the previously mentioned discussion with my mother-in-law to be. She's hosted a few main stream events before and had an idea of what we could do. The cost for her idea is over half the cost of a caterer, so I was thrilled.
When I introduced the idea to my mother (who is sponsoring the wedding), she said no way! She wanted to spend the extra money on the caterer and we actually got in a fight about it! I couldn't believe we were fighting over not spending as much money.
I think the biggest problem I have is that the caterer I thought I was going to go has had it's own surprises. A few weeks ago, I went for what the company calls a "consultation" (which has a $150 fee if you don't go with their catering company). For $150, I met with a consultant at the City Natatorium (not the company office) for less than half an hour and briefly described the size of my wedding and what I was looking for. She said she would put together everything we talked about into a proposal. So here I am, expecting the proposal to be something semi-important or conclusive or anything along that lines and it wasn't. It was a reprint of the menu with my name at the top and a listing of china costs at the bottom (I had to ask her for the cost of silverware because it wasn't on there). I was a little upset by that but not to much.
The next thing that happened was that I asked about tasting, for the simple fact that no one wants to pay that much money for a special event to get food that tastes ABSOLUTELY terrible. We can put together whatever selections we would like, but it's going to cost us $10 a plate to try it.
The last thing was, when I asked for referrals, my consultant said she had to compile some wedding referrals because she'd never been asked for them before. When she did "compile" them, there were only two added to a list of business and personal referrals. Two referrals makes me think that they are either (a) not that serious about catering weddings or (b) really bad at it.
So I was really worried about it and the experience has made me leary in general. I'm still looking at caterers, but I was looking for some other options as well, which is why I had the previously mentioned discussion with my mother-in-law to be. She's hosted a few main stream events before and had an idea of what we could do. The cost for her idea is over half the cost of a caterer, so I was thrilled.
When I introduced the idea to my mother (who is sponsoring the wedding), she said no way! She wanted to spend the extra money on the caterer and we actually got in a fight about it! I couldn't believe we were fighting over not spending as much money.