Catering was an area that I worried about when we were planning our wedding. My husband has an incredible knowledge / understanding of food so it was important for us to have "good" food at our wedding.
Looking back, one thing has been consis...tent in our chats with all of our guests has been: "the food was awesome!" Well Dunn catering made that happen.
We were fortunate that my maid of honor is a corporate event planner here in DC and when we first started talking about potential caterers, she had recommended Well Dunn to us. We wanted to do something a little different with our food and we wanted to ensure it wasn't the standard "wedding food". From the minute we walked into their show space I was impressed with the creativity both in the food as well as their design.
Yulia Poukalova was our point of contact and she was willing to work with us to create a menu, from passed apps to mains and a plated desert, that was everything we had hoped for. After deciding on a menu she conducted an incredible tasting. From a wine perspective she actually suggested we work with Ace Beverage on our own as it would save us some money and allow us to have full contract of the alcohol which was much appreciated. Yulia has a bright and bubbly personality that is infectious and truly helped my husband get through the times where I was pouring over which glassware and plates to use while he was in a corner staring off into space!
In their show space, they were able to set up a table and I was able to work with multiple colors / textures / plating options. I was extremely pleased with the result (as was my husband when he walked into the reception space...it was perfect). Additionally as we got closer to the reception, Yulia was extremely helpful in providing advice on how / where to set up the bars / tables / etc in the venue. I always felt that she was offering advice or good counsel, vs "telling" us what we needed to do.
On the day itself, Yulia and her team truly enhanced the experience of our reception. They literally had one server whose sole job was to find my husband and I to ensure that we were eating, had a drink, etc. After all the stories of folks who didn't have the chance to eat b/c their reception was such a whirlwind, it was appreciated. Another piece that they really were exceptional at was the pacing of the food. Again, we were always told that most couples end up not eating b/c they're working the room. Yulia made sure that we ate and had time to move about the room while others were being served.
In terms of the food itself, this was our menu:
-Passed Appetizers: goat cheese and carmelized onion tartlets, lobster cake with papaya mayo, pig in a blanket over a shot of beer, fig and prosciuto crostini, duck over a pear chip
- Cup of butternut squash soup with bourbon pistou alongside a pear and gorgonzola salad
- Passed Assortment of Breads
- Braised short ribs over risotto cake served with leek wrapped green beans or fall vegetable baklava
- Pumpkin Creme Brulee
The best compliment I can pay Yulia and the team from Well Dunn is that everything was as delicious when served for 110 guests as it was when we sat down just the 3 of us for the tasting. The fact they were able to deliver on both scales was impressive and I would highly recommend Well Dunn (Yulia in particular) for someone looking not only for a wedding caterer but for any large scale event