Oysters XO

about getting basic logistics squared away with our vendors early. We reached out with questions about how oyster service would work, what their team would need from our caterer, and whether a few specific service requests could be accommodated. What should have been a very simple conversation quickly became unnecessarily hostile. At one point, after we attempted to clarify conflicting information about what their team needed from us, we received an email from the company owner, Rifko, saying “I honestly don’t want to spend any more time on this anymore.” We were then instructed not to contact anyone on their team again until 15 days before our wedding. This was especially surprising because their own invoice tells clients to contact Oysters XO with “any questions, comments, and inquiries,” and Rifko even had “Always Available” in his email signature. At that point, we no longer felt comfortable entrusting part of our wedding to a vendor who seemed actively frustrated by us asking questions. We spoke by phone and ultimately reached a mutual agreement to cancel the booking and refund our deposit. During that conversation, we also shared that our family is currently going through an extremely difficult time because my brother has cancer. This was shared as personal context during an emotional conversation, not as an attempt to manipulate anyone into refunding us. After agreeing to the cancellation and refund, we received a final email that said: “Using cancer as an excuse for a refund is the lowest of the lowest form of trying to get out of a commitment I have ever experienced.” The email went on to say he had “never been happier with refunding a cancelation” and asked us to “Promise me to never contact us again. Not even when you win the jackpot and you want to donate me the money.” I genuinely cannot imagine speaking to a client this way. To their credit, they did agree to refund our deposit, and we appreciate that. But the issue wasn't really ever about the money. It was about how we were treated while we were still paying clients simply trying to understand the logistics of the service we had booked. Weddings are stressful enough, and we want vendors we can trust to communicate respectfully when questions inevitably come up. That being said, Rifko is unprofessional, rude, and seems actively disinterested in working with his clients. This situation ended up being a blessing in disguise, as we quickly learned that this is not a company we'd want to support or have at our wedding.

job working the crowd, and made sure to seek out the bride and groom to make sure we got to enjoy the oysters too! We did have some trouble with someone in their office, who was very rude and unprofessional toward our wedding planner over the phone, causing me (the bride) to have to step in. However, overall we loved the experience and server and would recommend!