Our venue was the Des Moines Downtown Public Library, and Baratta's is one of the approved caterers. Since I've enjoyed the foods they have prepared at their cafe at the Historical Building, I thought it was a good choice. It was the BEST choic...e ever! I had notified Baratta's in March of our intention to use their services in October, so that wasn't a large window of time anyway. However, they DID respond right away and provided me with all of the information I would need. I was very slow and late in getting my vendors in order, so it was actually the end of August before I got back to them. They still treated me very respectfully and graciously, and not in a judgmental way at all. The finance' and I finally got around to scheduling a tasting the end of September, but they gave us several food-choices to try. We wanted appetizers rather than a plated-meal, and there was one item that we decided wouldn't fit into the menu. We were given suggestions of substitutions, AND, Lora paid attention to MY dietary needs and assured me that we could have a wide variety of offerings. She also took the time to answer my questions regarding the contract, so I understood the rights and responsibilities of both sides. They even allowed me to bring in additional desserts, which they graciously served also! The day of the wedding, the staff worked in a very professional and efficient manner to set up the table linens that I had also ordered, and asked me if I liked how they had folded the napkins to better fit the design of the tables. They even allowed me to change one of their decorations to one of mine, to better fit our color-scheme. The set-up up of the serving tables was very inviting and the food smelled divine! I was busy enjoying the company of my guests, so I ate only a little that day, but it was all really good. My guests kept telling me what a wonderful reception we had and how much they loved the food! Their clean-up was also very efficient. I did have left-overs, and Jessie and her staff followed my request to prepare them to go home with us. I wanted someone with expertise to take over the prep and serving of the food for the reception, so I could enjoy the time with my guests. And, for the money I paid, I got a VERY good value!