Catering Reserved

staff was very attentive and accommodating. The food at the happy hour was great, the stations and passed around plates were delicious.” “My husband and I personally thought, as well as a few other guests that I asked, that the food was good.” in emails received from you following the event (which I have saved). Salads were pre-set while the guests were supposed to be at cocktail hour outside of the reception space. Because you did not have a wedding coordinator and the weather was warm, guests started coming inside when they were not instructed to and were not supposed to. Pre-set salads were planned (and noted on the contract) with the wedding couple during their tasting which you did not attend, and they were placed at the proper time to be prepared for the planned guest entry into the space. As discussed, food cannot be prepared on site at the selected wedding venue as is the case at most venues that off-premise caterers work at, but it is prepared FRESH on the day of the wedding and kept at a safe temperature for serving. The venue provides an excellent warming unit on site where all of the food is kept at a low temperature in order to provide both safe and QUALITY/NOT OVERCOOKED food to your guests. Every single plate that left the kitchen during service came from the same oven at the exact same temperature, with only one table being pulled and served at a time. Food temperature can be somewhat subjective - what one guest perceives as hot may be “luke-warm” to another. The same applies to seasoning or spiciness of food - people have differing opinions that can vary greatly when serving a large group. Also, guests (especially the wedding couple) do tend to leave their tables frequently at weddings to socialize or get drinks from the bar. You did express to the event captain on site that the groom’s food was not hot but that yours was fine and she did verify that the food was leaving the kitchen at the proper temperature during service - no adjustments were needed or made, but somehow the rest of the meals were perceived as being hotter? From your other comments, it seems as if you were searching for a reason to be unhappy, even checking to see how much food was consumed on dinner plates and forming your own conclusions as to why guests did not finish their plate after a substantial cocktail hour and generous food portions. The amount of food each person consumes can definitely vary and the staff noted very positive feedback from your guests during clearing. The comments made in both your follow up email with regards to your meal in particular as well as what you told the event captain on site are in direct contradiction your review above. Regarding the DJs not receiving their meal, the Event Captain and team were very focused on serving the guests and you, the client, and the Event Captain did not realize that the DJ did not ask one of the catering staff for their meal. Every other vendor received their meal, as it is common for vendors to check with the catering staff directly OR this is something that is managed by the wedding coordinator. Despite having prepared the food for the DJ, you were offered a refund for this, but it is clear that you wanted much more. There were 4 guests that did not attend and the team packed 2 meals to go for the bride and groom, while the other 2 meals were requested and consumed by one of the guests when the staff arrived with the meals at the table. The week prior to the wedding (not the week leading up), even though I was on a cruise vacation, I responded to every email from the couple within 48 hours and the one email that you sent to me was answered within 30 minutes. Despite the fact that I was on my family vacation, I continued to finalize the event details with my team and there were no "balls dropped" with regards to planning. I am not sure how this could not have met your expectations and feel that I went above and beyond for you during the planning. Your catering contract included a catering captain and all needed staff to service the event who were all on site. The event captain and I have worked together for 23 years and she executed the event as planned and per the catering guidelines AND the staff even handled set up of items that should have been managed by a wedding coordinator. I am not a member of the catering staff at events nor am I a chef, but I try to attend as many events as I can, prioritizing events that may have less experienced staff. Even after my conversations with both you and the event team, there is nothing that would have been handled differently if I was on site AND the bride was informed in advance that I would not be there and provided the Event Captain information. This is very common as I am unable to be at every event and still be available to provide and revise contracts and meet with clients for tastings, walk throughs and rental showroom visits, which I do full time during the week. After reviewing all of the details, speaking with both you and the staff as well as reviewing the temperature logs, I do feel the event was executed as planned and can only apologize that it did not meet your expectations. I hope that you can look back at all of the positives that you expressed from the day and wish you all the very best in the future!