Beyond Catering & Events

Chris Dilg did an amazing job for our wedding. He exceeded our expectations and was just wonderful to work with. He guided us through the process, did not try to up sell any services/products, and was a fantastic "wedding planner." Also, we received numerous compliments from our guests regarding the food, drinks, and dessert. We even received compliments about the coffee!! I highly recommend Chris for your special event. He'll go "Beyond" for you!!!

We had to hire our caterer without ever tasting their menu, so when I tell you that Beyond Catering completely blew our expectations out of the water-- believe it. The food was fresh, delicious, and definitely impressed our guests. Working with Maura was also great-- she's extremely communicative and professional. Thank you Beyond Catering!

The whole Beyond team was an amazing part of our wedding! The space looked incredible and the food was delicious. Our guests all loved it!

Maura and her team at Beyond Catering and Events was such a pleasure to work with! They truly made the entire planning experience a breeze. The food and level of service was great and I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Maura and the beyond catering team were the best! The food was delicious. All of our guests have such positive feedback. So easy to work with!

We worked with Maura W. for our wedding day - food, bar, and servingware/bar rentals. Beyond Catering pricing was extremely competitive and their full service allowed us to limit the # of vendors we worked with, saving us a lot of worry on our wedding day. We did have a change of contact which is always nerve-wrecking, but Maura was extremely communicative and professional, it eased all of our worries. Maura & the team executed everything perfectly on our wedding day & the #1 compliment we got (from our guests) outside of great tasting food was the portion size - none of our guests felt hungry or like they didn't have enough food. Full bellies & full hearts! Would definitely recommend Beyond Catering for your wedding.

The food provided by Beyond Catering & Events was out of this world! We had picked many things from their menu and they also allowed us to customize some appetizers and a meal option. Many of our guests have even commented on how delicious the food was! We couldn’t be happier with our experience working with Beyond.

If you're looking for a caterer for your Chicago wedding, you can stop looking now- you found it with Beyond Catering! The food is to die for. We had many guests come up to us telling us that this was the best wedding food they ever had. The Beyond team went above and beyond to bring our wedding dreams to life. They even helped source a sushi chef who live rolled sushi during our cocktail hour. We had a pescatarian menu, and they helped us come up with amazing appetizer and entree options for our guests. They were able to pull off a quick room flip during our cocktail hour, turning our ceremony space into a beautiful place for dinner and dancing. We worked with Lale who is a rockstar at her job. She answered every question we had, and worked hard to make sure we came in under budget. She is such a professional, and has deep expertise that enables her to advise you on everything from appetizer choices to floor planning. She was so kind, and we knew that our wedding was in great hands with her. Hire Beyond!

I am so glad that we chose Beyond Events as our caterer for our wedding because they were fantastic! We originally met with Courtney and the team in 2019 because we were originally supposed to get married August of 2020, but had to postpone to August 2021 and the transition with them was seamless. Without hesitation they worked with us and our new date and we then worked with Lale who is also amazing! The food was an important detail of our day and it did not disappoint! They allowed us to customize some dishes and went above and beyond to make sure we had the best day possible. Lale and her team were amazing, on time, professional, friendly, and so easy to work with. All of our guests raved about the food and had nothing but great things to say about the service! Everything was perfect and I 100000% recommend Beyond to anyone looking for a caterer! We love them and hope you do too!

First the good stuff: the food from the hor d'oeuvres down to the main course and late-night food was great! The service, especially of the head table, was very attentive and they kept our wine glasses full. Lale was very easy to work with and whenever we came to her with an issue, she did what she could to fix it quickly. However, there were several hiccups throughout our experience with Beyond Catering at our wedding. (1) From the beginning we were explicit on which wine we wanted served and that we wanted it served throughout the night. A week before the wedding they asked us if we wanted their 'house' wine served after dinner and that despite giving them a years+ notice they might not have enough of our specified wine. We ended up having to bring an extra case of our own in case we ran out, which we did. (2) The 8 month pregnant matron of honor and her husband were being very cautious with COVID and requested to have their meal outside near the dance floor after dinner. We were told that would be no problem. But on wedding day, despite confirming that was the plan, their food didn't make it up to the dance floor until we went searching for it a full hour after dinner. (3) While we (the bride and groom) saw all of the hor d'oeuvres, many of our guests did not see any of them. There were definitely not enough, which was surprising given our attendance was about 25% lower than what we had originally planned (and paid) for.

My husband and I used Beyond Catering to cater our wedding in July 2021. We are so impressed with this company and would recommend them to anybody! We worked with Courtenay and Jill over the course of two years to design the menu and keep it in our budget. When COVID hit, they were accommodating to help us move the wedding to a new date without issue. We even used them for our Covid-safe “micro wedding” in 2020. They were organized, communicative and extremely easy to work with. Beyond quickly became our favorite vendor to work with. On the day of the wedding, head chef Sergio did an amazing job executing the menu. We are still getting so many compliments from guests on how yummy the food was and how friendly the catering staff was. We can’t recommend Beyond Catering enough!

We used Beyond Events for our wedding at Bridgeport Art Center in August 2021. They were fabulous! We rescheduled our wedding a few times because of COVID-19, and the Beyond Events staff was flexible and helpful the entire time. Their customer service made us relaxed while planning a wedding in the Pandemic. Plus, the food was INCREDIBLE! So many of our guests raved about the food stations we had, and we are so glad that they had such a variety for everyone. We couldn't be happier with Beyond Events, and w highly recommend them for any event of any size. Thank you!

One of the most important things on the list for my wedding for incredible food and Beyond Catering did not disappoint! The biggest compliments I received from my guests were how delicious and fresh the food tasted. Courtenay specifically, was the star of the show. I really wanted a flowy vibe which strayed away from a sit down dinner and Courtenay suggested action stations which did not disappoint!! She also has a sharp eye for décor and recommended some incredibly cute pink water glasses to compliment my table runners/flowers. Courtenay also went above and beyond while trying to help me and my parents figure out what we could do if we needed to more venues due to COVID. She was in constant communication with me, my parents, and my day of coordinator and I feel like the day would not have gone as smoothly without her support. I cannot thank Courtenay and her entire staff enough for making my wedding amazing!!

Beyond catering was wonderful for our wedding day. Our guests loved their meals and the staff was very professional. Courtenay was our point person and she did a fantastic job ensuring everything went smoothly the day of and was quick with communication! Highly recommend.

As with many other couples getting married this year, our plans changed about a month before our planned wedding. We pivoted to host a 12-person family only wedding outside in our courtyard. Because we live in an apartment, I knew we would be hard-pressed to find a caterer who would be able to prepare dinner on site, but that is something we really wanted vs. a buffet. From the first inquiry, Courtenay was so helpful in helping bring our little micro wedding to life. We had the chef set up in our garage and a server to assist and serve apps and dinner. The food was amazing! The appetizers especially. I was so impressed with the whole set up. The service made the night so special and felt so elevated. Cannot recommend Beyond Catering enough!!

Beyond Catering & Events is exactly that - above and BEYOND! I worked with Courtenay for a wedding this past summer and she and the whole team were so great to work with. From the initial inquiry to tasting to quote and contract to planning and day-of, they didn't miss a beat. They are a well-oiled machine and very detail-oriented. Courtenay communicated with me very well, confirming details timeline, etc. which, as the planner, made very happy. This resulted in little to no need to spend time on the day of directing or reviewing details as all was handled and settled beforehand and made for a smooth day. OH! And aside from just the amazing customer service, the food was soooooooooo GREAT! I kept sneaking bites of appetizers and the main meal was just top-notch! I would highly recommend them for their quality food, great customer service, professionalism, and a great member to add to your wedding team that will go above and Beyond!!

Really good service. The food was amazing. We had an all vegan wedding, and they seemed to be the only caterer we tried who really made an amazing vegan meal. Everyone raved about the food. There were some issues with extra costs at the end, but they worked with us to keep the prices down. The woman who ran the event was amazing from the time we met her at the tasting until the end of the wedding night.

We used Beyond Events for a buffet style wedding with an Italian flare. Courtney was great to work with! We received so many compliments on our food from families that love to eat. They do not serve the typical bland chicken or overcooked beef dinners. Beyond Events has a wide variety of food options and everything we tasted was delicious. They also provided plenty of food - some of our guests went for second helpings and still there was plenty left over.

Beyond Catering was AMAZING and a great choice for a caterer! They were separately recommended from both our venue and our wedding coordinator. From the first communication, they were very responsive and easy to work with. (Courtenay was awesome!) We were on a tight schedule and they were able to make a menu that suited all our needs for our big celebration. And my fiance was very happy with their ability to make small substitutions on a few items to accommodate food allergies and preferences. The service was great and the food was YUMMY! Our guests are still talking about the food- especially the mashed potatoes. ;) We could not be happier with how the food came out and I highly recommend them!

We were so happy to have chosen Beyond Events for our wedding! They were more than just a caterer; Courtenay was so helpful in the months leading up to the big day, and she eased the stress of planning a wedding with her prompt communication and great advice. She was very organized and made sure the entire night went smooth. All the food was delicious, the presentation was unique and fun, and the servers were all great! We received so many compliments throughout the night, from the hors d'oeuvres to the late night menu. The whole team contributed to our perfect night, they went above and BEYOND!

We used Beyond Events catering for our wedding and they were incredible. Jill and her team were incredibly professional and provided us with a wonderful experience from start to finish. The food was absolutely delicious and Jill came up with so many personalized touches to our menu to make for a very unique and thoughtful evening. I highly recommend Beyond Events catering service and can’t thank them enough for making our wedding so memorable.

Beyond Events was an absolute delight to work with for our wedding. Courtenay was AMAZING and was so accommodating and flexible with all of our needs. Not to mention - the food was delicious! The staff was all extremely friendly, too.

We chose Beyond Events to cater our wedding at the International Museum of Surgical Science and we could not have been happier! Courtenay always responded promptly to emails and phone calls and was a pleasure to work with. While our wedding was in Chicago, we live overseas, and Courtenay was great at handling the long distance communication issues. We changed the number of guests and various menu items multiple times, and she was so gracious each and every time I emailed or called to ask for another change. The day of the wedding, the staff and servers were great - they had catered events at our venue before and knew the Museum's ins and outs. Everyone of them was kind and professional. And the food was amazing! It was the complete opposite of the lukewarm, bland food I've had at so many other weddings. The wonton appetizers had a great kick, the truffle mash potatoes were delicious, and the chicken was moist. The squash ravioli had filling that was plentiful and tasty. Instead of a wedding cake, we had Beyond Events provide cupcakes for desert and I am so glad we did! The chocolate fudge and red velvet were particularly good. We got so many compliments on the food from guests that night, and I was still hearing from people about the food days later. I cannot recommend Beyond Events highly enough!

Fantastic! From the moment of the tasting, we knew they were the best choice to cater our wedding! The tasting was fun and delicious (and full of SO much good food!) and beyond events paid lots of attention to our specific requests. Courtenay and Melissa were both great to work with, super organized, very professional, but also so friendly, fun, and supportive! The food at our wedding was a highlight. Would highly recommend Beyond Events for your wedding!

Beyond Events was fantastic!! They did full service catering for our wedding and everything went off without a hitch. Courtenay was easy to work with, very communicative, and guided us through the entire process. The food was great and many guests said it was the best steak they've ever had.

Beyond events did an amazing job and made sure that our venue was set up beautifully and stress-free. Everyone who attended the wedding raved about the decor and the delicious food during and after the night. The most amazing person to work with is Courtenay Lipka. She was so extremely helpful and responsive. She went above and beyond to make sure everything ran smoothly during the event. Without her, the night would not have been as spectacular as I remember it. Definitely recommend!

Jill is amazing! So easy to work with. All of our wedding guests complimented on how wonderful the food was. The food options to choose from are like no other. They have dietary restriction/allergy options as well. You won’t be disappointed. We highly recommend Beyond Catering & Events! Thank you for everything. You helped to make our wedding even more enjoyable!!

Beyond Catering was an absolutely joy to work with. Courtenay was our point person, and she was organized, prompt to respond, and generally a delightful person. She helped us create the menu we wanted, and the food turned out delicious! We loved working with them, and will recommend to any friends or family looking for a wedding caterer.

Jessiey was great to work with and really helped customize our menu to our liking! They did an awesome job!

Beyond events catered our wedding and I cannot say enough good things about this company. First of all, the main Sales Executive Courtenay Lipka is one of nicest and most helpful vendors I could have ever asked for during this stressful wedding planning time. She was very attentative to my emails, she helps with so much of the planning and makes sure that everything runs smoothly for your event. I would recommend her to everyone. As for the food, it was phenominal! Beyond events is associated with Buona beef company and everything was just SO GOOD. My guests raved about how unique and delicious the appetizers were, and how dinner was one of the best that they've had in terms of wedding food when preparing for 200+ people! They were very flexible in working with us, and we were able to choose a menu that fit our budget. I highly recommend them for all your catering needs! They are awesome!

Beyond Events catered our wedding last month and they were great! We had a long engagement and after we had already decided on a menu, they reached out to let us know they added additional options and let us come in for another tasting. Originally Donna was our contact, who had been in the industry for a long time and knew her stuff, so when she retired we were a little nervous about who would be our new contact. Thankfully we got to work with Courtenay and she was absolutely amazing!! She hopped on a call to introduce herself right away and helped answer any questions/concerns I still had. From that moment on, Courtenay continued to be quick to respond and even helped me when I needed another opinion on non-food related wedding details. She was there on the day of to help ensure everything went smoothly and even checked in on me a few times that night to see if I needed anything. Our guests all raved about how delicious the food was and we are extremely glad we went with Beyond Events as they (especially Courtenay) knocked it out of the park :)

I am making a point to write a review because I could not have been more impressed with Donna and her team. From the moment of our first tasting to closing out the night of the wedding, Beyond Events was beyond courteous, professional, helpful, and amazing. Donna was so helpful and accommodating with every last detail. The food was DELICIOUS and all my guests raved about their dinners. Donna gave me so many helpful tips and pointers along the way. The late night snacks were also the best and so tasty! Aside from all of that, when I walked into my wedding, there Donna was helping light the candles on the table and making sure everything was perfect. I could not have asked for a better team and am so happy I found them!! Thank you Beyond Events!!!

Seconds after we tried our first hors d'oeuvre at the tasting, we knew that we would be choosing Beyond Events to cater our wedding. We had our wedding on a boat on Lake Michigan, and Donna was quick to help clear it of its previous guests to get everything set up for the evening. She took charge and made sure everything was perfect. The guests all raved about how great the food was (especially the bacon wrapped dates and mini gyro sandwiches). The vegetarian option, wild mushroom ravioli, was so good that it made a few of the meat eaters in the crowd jealous! The other main course we went with was the braised short rib, which was also delicious. The 5 star review is well deserved! Thank you to Donna and all of the Beyond Events staff for the amazing dinner!

So wonderful to work with!

We used Beyond Events for our wedding in Milwaukee on September 3. The food was wonderful and the service was carried out on time mostly without a hitch. We were initially apprehensive about using Beyond Events because we booked a different caterer that lost their operating space and they ensured Beyond Events would carry out our contract with them. The transition process was mostly smooth, although we didn’t have an opportunity to taste the food because we were planning from out of state. Jamie was very respective of our concerns in going with a caterer we had never tried, and overall she was very accommodating of special requests, dietary restrictions, etc.. A few things got lost in the transition when we talked about things over the phone and then saw incorrect versions of that information reflected in the contract. It was a quick fix, but on the day of the wedding, one thing we had discussed in detail wasn’t executed properly. We had ordered a tiered cake and sheet cakes from a bakery and arranged with Jamie for Beyond Events to take the tiered cake to the kitchens after we cut it in front of our guests, and serve it alongside the sheet cakes that were cut out of sight. Instead, Beyond Events left our cake out all night, didn’t cut it, and brought the sheet cakes out to cut in front of all our guests. Ultimately we spent a lot of money on a cake that was essentially wasted and it didn’t look great having sheet cakes cut in front of everyone while the beautiful one we designed sat by untouched. Plus, no one from Beyond Events checked in with us or introduced themselves to us all night, so we didn’t know who to ask to take care of it. Jamie hasn’t touched base with us either to ask how things went. Overall, the food was excellent and the family style service was a hit. I just wish they would have taken a little more care in executing everything we discussed and at the very least checking in with us—either the night of the wedding, or in the aftermath.

The food was great, we recieved numerous compliments from our guests. Also the service during our event was fantastic, though I believe we can contribute that to the large number of servers they had on staff. Now for the missing two stars. Beyond events is actually the parent company for our originally booked caterer, Joey Buona's. Joey's actually closed (their building was bought and they were forced to leave) about 4 months before our wedding. The communication leading up to their closing was shoddy at best (we had to call and question them when we read about the closing online), and at certain points left my bride and I extremely stressed. Luckily once Beyond Events took over, the planning started to go a bit smoother, though we did have to travel down to Chicago (from Milwaukee) for a second tasting. They did honor our original pricing and didn't add in any additional charges for transporting the food an hour and a half north. This was great. Also, the food offerings they had were broader and the quality was a bit better in our honest opinion. The final issue and main reason for the 2 star deduction was due to some issues on the day of our wedding. While my groomsmen and I were getting ready I recieved a very odd phone call from a gentleman claiming that he had the dishware for my event. I was of course extremely confused and after about 3 ten minute phone conversations was able to instruct him to walk into our venue to find the catering manager. Apparently the wrong numbers (our cell phone numbers) had been given to the local dishware company (Arena) on accident. This never should have happened. To those who have already been married, I bet you can see how stressful this was for me (and my bride, who this gentleman called before calling me). The final issue was that the caterer apparently messed up when ordering the linens and when the groomsmen and I arrived to set up the centerpieces the tables were still not set. Keep in mind that this was a bit over an hour before the ceremony. This caused additional stress, especially when the catering manager failed to acknowledge us entering the venue (she purposefully walked away on her phone when I tried to talk with her, to be fair, I could tell she was yelling at people and was also under a bit of stress). I can give Jaime and her crew a bit of slack, especially since I know these events were literally dumped on her and her staff a couple months before they were taking place. Also they did have to travel, probably farther than they are used to. I can tell they overstaffed simply because they wanted to provide the very best experience. I would recommend them, but it's hard to ignore the unneeded stress that they added onto our day (and trust me, s*** will go wrong on your wedding day, just roll with it). As i said, the food was great. Service was beyond fantastic, but communication could have been better.

Poor communication, people & food item paid for were not present. Very disappointing !

We hired Beyond Events to be our caterer for our wedding in Chicago this past July. Donna is amazing to work with. She is extremely organized, responds to emails quickly, and goes out of her way to make your vision a reality. We have received so many compliments from our guests about how delicious the food was, and we were blown away by how friendly the staff was. You will not be disappointed in hiring Beyond Events for your wedding day!

I absolutely love a great steak and I have chosen this place to cater my wedding. I love their food and they are extremely professional!