Culinary Excellence Catering

Lets start with the good: The staff that ran everything was good. The coordinator we worked with, Sierra, was great. The table settings were good and the cocktail hour food was good. The food at the tasting was very good. The bad: The dinner food served at the tasting did not in any way match the food that was served at the event. I have spoken to many people on both sides of the wedding and everyone has said the food was terrible. The food was embarrassingly bad. I did not want to eat it, we had many very upset family members complain about how bad it was. These same family members went to the tasting and signed off on how the food was prepared. We have contacted them regarding this and they claim the food was of the same quality that was served at the tasting. Something that has been refuted by everyone I’ve spoken to about the food at the wedding. This has been frustrating as we were let down on our wedding day and the caterer refused to even acknowledged this at all.

 Summary:
They bait and switched us regarding the food quality. I do not recommend them as a result.

Finally, after 3.5 long years... Where do we begin? We met the extraordinary team of Jessica and Chris at an open house in the Brazilian Room back in 2019 for an April 2020 wedding. And then the pandemic hit. Little did we know we’d wait THREE and a half long years to finally have the event, and it was so perfect, I don’t think we could have done it without them. I especially developed a close relationship with Jess as she is my sister witch (we are both Potterheads) and I am convinced she has magical powers. Firstly, the food. CE was an excellent partner in making our vision come to life. Food was my number one priority, so it was key to have a vendor that excelled in this. Since we were going to have a daytime wedding, we worked together to create a great brunch menu. Chris knocked it out of the park and made this flavorful, juicy, crunchy, bone-in, non-greasy fried chicken, and delicious waffles with freshly made pumpkin butter–perfect for the fall! We also had a tater tot bar, a mimosa bar, their delicious red banana and papaya salad, and many more. The passed hors d’oeuvres were *outstanding,* too. My guests continue to rave about the food to this day. Second, the decor and coordination. Honestly, if we had the budget, I would have let Jess handle everything from wedding prep. But because we didn’t, we did the day-of ala carte service where Jess would handle our day-of vendor coordination and make sure everything ran on time. I highly recommend getting CE to coordinate for you. If Jess had a magic wand, it would be a maestro’s baton, because she orchestrated everything for us from the ceremony to the very end and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. She is worth her weight in gold. For our prep, Jess provided me with honest feedback on the best ways to do things on a budget, answered all of my questions, and made a comfortable space in which I could provide feedback, too. In the end, everything was set up so beautifully and exceeded my expectations. Despite my one priority being food, the setup and decorations were simply stunning, especially considering our budget. Thirdly, I have to sing (more) praises about Jess. Her years of experience shone and it was fantastic seeing her in her element the day of the wedding. But more than that, she’s become my friend. Not only did she earn our trust during the process, but she went above and beyond in working with us to achieve a perfect day for our family and friends. CE will now be my local go-to for any catering needs or milestone celebrations. Should you (be fortunate enough to) work with them, my advice is to make sure to give them honest feedback as early as possible, ask for *their* feedback and approach it like a collaborative partnership, ask as many questions as you need to, and trust the process. They know what they’re doing.