So, thankfully the school year caught me up in its typical whirlwind and I haven't been able to post to the blog for awhile. Why do I say "thankfully"? I say "thankfully" for your own sake, dear reader, because it means that the rest of the vendor posts will be coming to you through the hazy fog of memory. Again, why is this good? It's good because there won't be 5,000 words about all the rest of the vendors... I don't think any of us had that in us, anyway ;)
I can't remember, for instance, what vendors we were really interviewing at what part of the process, so I'll go now to talking about the caterers. We had originally contacted about 5 caterers, but only ended up interviewing two of them. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but one of them was eliminated pre-meeting for an email sent in all caps. Another was eliminated pre-meeting because they sent us a proposal that was clearly from another couple's event with only a few details changed. Most of the information on the proposal was completely wrong. I know it may seem ruthless to cut vendors so little slack - God knows I've needed much more in my own professional life - but... these are really important first impressions, and fair or not, I'm judging their ability to make a really big day actually somehow come together from these emails, so... lots of pressure and judgment ensue.
Our first caterer meeting was with V's. We went back to the bridal district for this meeting and by this time, I really thought I knew the area... apparently I was wrong. Thankfully, this company seriously owns an entire block in the bridal district, so we eventually found them. Our photographer had told us that tastings were the most fun part of the process because you got treated like royalty, and she was definitely right. The caterer had a room with a table set up just for us with lovely place-settings, water, and a cool slide show of events that they've done. We had set up with the caterer ahead of time what dishes we wanted to taste, so we knew what to expect. What impressed me the most was that the owner of the company made the time to meet with us and go over everything with us. He was VERY knowledgeable about everything from options for plates, napkins, etc. to what size tables our specific venue has. Having a caterer who knew our location was a huge bonus. He also did a really good job of combining their standard offerings with the specific items that we wanted to see. He wasn't afraid to share his opinion, but ultimately he respected the choices we made. He got back to us with a proposal less than a week after the tasting.
The second caterer we met with was ATC. We had heard good reviews about this caterer and she seemed very professional in her emails. On the way to her office, J and I realized that we'd seriously underestimated the amount of time that it would take us to get all the way out to Hamilton, so we were like 40 minutes late (the downpour and ensuing ridiculous traffic didn't help!) Despite our lateness, we clicked with this caterer very well. In her way of doing things, you have a meeting to discuss options first, then a proposal, and then start doing tastings. This seemed fine to me and we really enjoyed our meeting with her. It was like sitting down and chatting with a friend. She is from Florida and we shared our mutual desire to live near water again... but you can't choose your wedding vendors based on the things you have in common with someone! We waited and waited for her proposal. When we emailed her about it, she said she'd have it in two days (she was already over 4 days late from what she'd told us at the meeting) and then we waited another four days to get the proposal. Getting questions answered about the proposal was difficult, and by that point, we decided to cut and run. One of my biggest fears* about choosing vendors was that we'd end up with people who would be terrible communicators. Honestly, if V's hadn't been such an utter home run, we probably would've given ATC more of a chance, but it was excuse after excuse with them and we felt MUCH more comfortable with V's.
When it came down to it, our choice was made on 1-Cost. When you're throwing a big event with lots of elements, this seems to always come first. For instance, we're having plastic plates at the reception. When V's first suggested it, I was very adamantly against it. But... when they showed me what the plastic plates looked like and then told me how (very) much it would cost to do china, I changed my mind**. We are getting married in a barn, afterall!! The compromise we made here is that I wanted to pair the plasticware with real silverware and real napkins. It added a little cost, but I think it will still look nice. 2-Good food! Since the wedding is in the fall, I really want to select a caterer who can do some traditional wedding food with a fall sort of flair. We decided to go with a white meat and a red meat to try to keep everyone's tastebuds happy. We also decided on just beer and wine for alcohol at the reception. In addition to keeping costs under control, this allowed us to ensure that no one (hopefully!) will get too tipsy at the reception. I know that some people may perceive it as cheap, but hopefully the good, local beer J picked out will make those people happy anyway***. The cool thing is that the budget for the event includes a bunch of beer and wine, but whatever isn't opened doesn't end up on our final bill! 3- Professionalism. This ended up being a lot more important that I would've thought it would be for EVERY vendor, but the big difference between the two companies here really put this into sharp relief. I think that how easy the company is to work with now will hopefully be a predictor of their future professionalism.
We still have some final details to work out with the caterer about how many servers and when they'll set up, but we've got our deposit down and we think we made a really good choice on this one! I feel like the company we chose is so professional that they will take care of everything!
*Honestly, this fear comes from watching a lot of those house flipping/renovating shows where the poor homeowners are always working with shady contractors who never get the job done and leave holes in the walls and then racoons move in... you get the idea.
**And as J noted, lighter plates at the buffet line means you can comfortably hold more food on each plate - haha!
***I am learning that you can't even come close to making everyone happy when you're wedding planning, so I've sort of given up on trying!!
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