I started planning with Emery's about a year and a half before the wedding. We were between booking them and another caterer for our wedding. We decided to go with Emery's for a couple of reasons and overall, they were okay, but we did run into... a number of issues on the day of the wedding that we wish could have been avoided. We understand that with such a big event with so many aspects to it that things are bound to happen, I just feel as though these things could have been avoided.
I must start by saying you will not find better tasting food from a caterer. The food was amazing, and I'm still dreaming about it, however, some of my guests were never able to eat the food because it was taken from their table before they had the chance, so there was a bunch of money wasted.
In the year and a half of planning with Emery's, not once was I notified that the bar was cash only. This made some of my guests leave during cocktail hour to find an ATM, and I later found out some of them chose just not to return - more wasted meals. Had Emery's mentioned even once that the bar was cash only, I would have most likely gone with an open bar, or I would have kept the bar tab that I originally had as part of our wedding package.
We were slightly behind schedule because of photos, but when it came time for everyone to be seated, the caterer was beyond behind schedule. The plan was to have dinner served at 7:30 pm, which with the delays would have made it 8 pm. Many of my guests were not served until 9-9: 30 pm. At this point, I had to pay to have my photographer stay longer, or I wouldn't have my parent dances or bouquet toss photographed. Entire tables were never able to eat, as they were served when we were doing the cake cutting. When they went back to eat, their food was gone. I wish I had known about this at the time, but I was not told about it until afterward.
My biggest problem with the caterer was when I brought this to their attention, they tried to blame all of the problems on my day of coordinator, saying that there are always problems when a day of coordinator gets involved. First of all, I had asked if Emery's could handle what I needed (the venue doesn't allow decorations till 3 pm before the wedding, I couldn't be doing that right before my wedding), they could not, so I hired someone who could. Her sole purpose was for decorations. If Emerys found that we were getting behind schedule, for any reason - even if it was because of the day of coordinator, they should have gone to someone in the wedding party to get it resolved, rather than ignoring the issue. Had someone come to me to notify me that there were problems because of the day of coordinator, I would have sent her home. But I know that was not the case because she was extremely organized, and I did not see anyone from Emerys at all the entire day. We were promised the person we worked with throughout our entire wedding would be there for the wedding, and instead no one was there. They lacked direction and then blamed their inadequacies on my day of coordinator. When I emailed after the wedding, I was only looking for an apology for the lack of communication about the bar tab and for the delays with the timeline, but instead the caterer only placed blame on everyone else, leaving a sour taste in my mouth. So while the food was amazing, I wish we had gone with another caterer.