Food Art Catered Affairs

We had to use Food Art because they were contracted by the city of Manchester for our venue, Sharon Mills. Here's the nice thing I will say about them: As CATERERS-they deliver. The food was delicious. We were a little disappointed that they did not give us the option of taking home any of our leftover food (we were told by others there was quite a bit), but whatever, that was honestly the least of our disappointments with them. Where to start? As an event staff they really, really let us down. They were our liaisons for everything that had to do with our venue. We did not deal with rentals at all, including the tent, which was part of the venue space. Our wedding was on a cold day in October. Not only did they inadequately make preparations with the tent supplier to heat the space (which was never really heated b/c the propane tank was tiny compared to the space and there was only 1 blower for essentially a huge room). They gave us b.s. excuses about only the city being able to heat the building where appetizers were served and the areas in which my family and I got ready. If that's the case, work it out with the city beforehand don't leave us hanging and miserably cold. What's more, they left a flap in the tent COMPLETELY open the entire night, only partially closing it when the wedding was just about over--citing fire codes. I understand fire codes, but they couldn't close the flap just a little bit? My poor grandparents were freezing. I was, too. The ENTIRE wedding. They charged us for heat (we were not told heat would be an added charge when my fiance and I looked at the space the year before), AND they did not ensure that the tent suppliers would set up the tent properly, which they did not. The tent did not have secure sides. My wonderful friends had to go around the sides of the tent and secure it with cement because I was close to shivering at my table and the sides were flapping in the wind. Event staff did not care at all, those same friends asked them about what could be done and they said, "nothing." Communication was good leading up, but on the day-of the woman I had exchanged emails with for close to a year was off-site and left in charge 2 girls who it was very clear were not really prepped on our wedding. They came up to me A LOT asking questions that were either already decided on, or questions that should have been asked to either my mother or our lovely band emcee who took a great deal of time and energy to plan out our wedding details with our venue/caterer coordinator beforehand--details that were completely lost the day of. It was very stressful. If you're using Food Art as JUST your caterer, go for it, but if they have to take on the role of event staff too- BEWARE. My wedding felt so cheap and disorganized. My memories of that day are kind of painful and no, it was NOT because of the weather, it was their inability to provide comfort and ease on a day that wasn't the "perfect" day to get married. And they were not very nice about it, either.