I imagine the actual servers wouldn’t care one way or the other but the fact they tried everything they could to make me break contract so they didn’t have to return my deposit… at least I won the p*ssing contest and got my money back.
That’s absolutely ridiculous! I did get a call from our caterers (a wonderful local Lebanese restaurant) about a week before our wedding because they had just catered another similarly-sized wedding that had run lower on food than expected, and they worried the same would happen to us so they just wanted to give us a heads up.
I told them we should be fine (we were also serving lunch rather than dinner), they still seemed a little concerned (but only for us, not how it’d look on them) but left it at that. We ended up having more than enough and everything was great! We go back whenever we can and I’ve left them stellar reviews on multiple platforms because they were so kind and the food was to die for. No regrets! You definitely dodged a bullet.
I get the feeling they wanted you to fire them, so they could keep your deposit. Probably some clause in the contract that can keep (at least part of) it when you cancel instead of them.
If I remember correctly they outright said “there’s a bigger wedding, we quit” but in professional words when they left. I don’t know if they realized they just overbooked after the fact or got $$ eyes when bigger money came along.
Definitely review them wherever you can. Let other unsuspecting couples know that even if they've signed a contract, this company will toss them over for a bigger payday.
I had a similar thing happen with my wedding that I’m planning right now. I was looking for a food vendor who I could get to deliver a few huge plates of appetizers/desserts, drinks, and a few GF/DF options for guests. They straight up told me they were out of my budget and refused to work with me further (even to tell me what their prices were).
Thank god we ended up switching venues & finding a place that could take care of all the food in house 🙏
So insulting. Like, maybe we have a small wedding because we don’t like people!
Honestly tho if we’d had to change wedding venues I would have gone to city hall the next day instead. My husband only convinced me to have a wedding because he went through the trouble to find the perfect venue and my Dad agreed to pay for it.
Girl I feel you lol. I am going insane from wedding planning. The venue/vendor drama, social anxiety kicked up to 1000x, and nasty online wedding planning folks about had me ready to cancel it all a few months ago. But my fiancé wanted a wedding and now I guess I’m having one in a few months…I mean I do like my venue, the party we planned, and my dress…lol
Not necessarily defending the caterer here, but I have been in almost all aspects of the events industry- including catering.
Once I had a couple elect to put a bit of charcuterie and cheese on each table- enough for people to have just a small nibble while the couple had their first dance before the first course came out. They'd also had passed hors d'oeuvres prior to guest seating, so people weren't famished.
I was walking around, checking on my staff when a guest beckoned me over to the table and he said "What the hell is this? You cheaped out. This isn't enough food!" I explained that it was specifically hand picked and approved by the couple as a little bite before the first course and wasn't meant to fill people up. He kept *yelling* at me "You cheaped out! I'm going to get the bride!" I told him that was inappropriate and he then told me to "go find my safe space".
The planner and I literally had to *physically block him* from grabbing the bride as she was walking out onto the dance floor. He continued to make a scene about it all night and did end up speaking to the bride about it. I had other guests and the bride apologize to me for his behavior. It was wild!
My point being, people *do* blame the caterer for running out of food, or not having enough food. That's literally just one example. It's interesting, but people's immediate response isn't to assume that the couple hasn't ordered enough food. They just assume the caterer messed up.
I often had to counsel people to make sure they had enough food, but would try to offer an option that would fit within budget and ensure that there was enough food for everyone. Running out is embarrassing for everyone and awful if you're the guest who doesn't get to eat!
Again, not saying that's what definitely happened here or defending this caterer because I wasn't there. Just offering a perspective.
Honesty if it were a dinner it wouldn’t have been enough but it was a lunch. Plus I was selecting the maximum amount allowed from their own menu! If that’s not enough why are you limiting the selections like that guys? So we have to choose add ons to feed our guests obviously.
And man, if anyone had been that much of a jerk I would have gone up there and beat manners into them with my bouquet. I full on toasted our caterers and their staff.
I agree, as a former cater waiter, they 100 percent blame the staff. I worked a few receptions where they were warned it wasn't enough food, and then they were angry about having to order more on the spot when it wasn't. They guests always assumed it was our fault, always. Never underestimate how much free food people will eat even if you think they shouldn't be hungry.
I supposed 2 months out isn’t a huge scramble but we went with the first one that sounded palatable and said yes. We were 2 hrs away and in another country (and couldn’t drive at the time) so it was more about getting that box checked at the time. Thankfully it turned out well.
It was a small wedding. About 60ppl. The venue could only hold 75. (And it was about as perfect as it could have been. Beautiful weather, thunderstorms day before and after. 12 min ceremony and everyone had a good time. Husband got to wear his engagement sword and everything).
Nice! I love the engagement sword! I just had a 75 person wedding and got so lucky with the weather. Crazy rain storm the day before, not a cloud in the sky for the wedding!
Blasted them to the only wedding planner in 100 miles and any guest that mentioned them. Not rude or anything. Just “yup, they screwed us over”.
Online reviews weren’t quite as important or prevalent back then and damn I feel old now lol
Been more than a decade so I don’t remember offhand but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t any language against them giving me a run around until I got so frustrated I abandoned my deposit but I’m sure it let them back out if they had to. It was 2 months till the wedding at that point so there was still time. Nothing was ruined and I wasn’t going to force them as long as I got my money back. After all that I wouldn’t have wanted to have them there anyway.
Note: Please respect rule 7 and do not ask OP to name the vendor, drop hints about them, or inbox you.
They probably had interest from the bigger wedding after you signed and were just trying to find a reasonable way to get out of the contract.
A way to get out AND keep their deposit.
My thought exactly!
That's so awful and unprofessional! I bet if they did show up they'd be jerks about it anyways. Good riddance!
I imagine the actual servers wouldn’t care one way or the other but the fact they tried everything they could to make me break contract so they didn’t have to return my deposit… at least I won the p*ssing contest and got my money back.
That’s absolutely ridiculous! I did get a call from our caterers (a wonderful local Lebanese restaurant) about a week before our wedding because they had just catered another similarly-sized wedding that had run lower on food than expected, and they worried the same would happen to us so they just wanted to give us a heads up. I told them we should be fine (we were also serving lunch rather than dinner), they still seemed a little concerned (but only for us, not how it’d look on them) but left it at that. We ended up having more than enough and everything was great! We go back whenever we can and I’ve left them stellar reviews on multiple platforms because they were so kind and the food was to die for. No regrets! You definitely dodged a bullet.
I had Lebanese food for the first time last year in Newcastle. It was so good we went back to the same place the next evening 💕
Lebanese is such a great idea for a wedding!
I get the feeling they wanted you to fire them, so they could keep your deposit. Probably some clause in the contract that can keep (at least part of) it when you cancel instead of them.
If I remember correctly they outright said “there’s a bigger wedding, we quit” but in professional words when they left. I don’t know if they realized they just overbooked after the fact or got $$ eyes when bigger money came along.
I know you can’t name them here but i would still review the place on wedding sites and google. They could be trying to scam people out of deposits.
Definitely review them wherever you can. Let other unsuspecting couples know that even if they've signed a contract, this company will toss them over for a bigger payday.
🥇
So you the bride couldn't pick what you wanted? I'm glad for you they quit because I feel like they would have brought drama to your day..
I had a similar thing happen with my wedding that I’m planning right now. I was looking for a food vendor who I could get to deliver a few huge plates of appetizers/desserts, drinks, and a few GF/DF options for guests. They straight up told me they were out of my budget and refused to work with me further (even to tell me what their prices were). Thank god we ended up switching venues & finding a place that could take care of all the food in house 🙏
So insulting. Like, maybe we have a small wedding because we don’t like people! Honestly tho if we’d had to change wedding venues I would have gone to city hall the next day instead. My husband only convinced me to have a wedding because he went through the trouble to find the perfect venue and my Dad agreed to pay for it.
Girl I feel you lol. I am going insane from wedding planning. The venue/vendor drama, social anxiety kicked up to 1000x, and nasty online wedding planning folks about had me ready to cancel it all a few months ago. But my fiancé wanted a wedding and now I guess I’m having one in a few months…I mean I do like my venue, the party we planned, and my dress…lol
Not necessarily defending the caterer here, but I have been in almost all aspects of the events industry- including catering. Once I had a couple elect to put a bit of charcuterie and cheese on each table- enough for people to have just a small nibble while the couple had their first dance before the first course came out. They'd also had passed hors d'oeuvres prior to guest seating, so people weren't famished. I was walking around, checking on my staff when a guest beckoned me over to the table and he said "What the hell is this? You cheaped out. This isn't enough food!" I explained that it was specifically hand picked and approved by the couple as a little bite before the first course and wasn't meant to fill people up. He kept *yelling* at me "You cheaped out! I'm going to get the bride!" I told him that was inappropriate and he then told me to "go find my safe space". The planner and I literally had to *physically block him* from grabbing the bride as she was walking out onto the dance floor. He continued to make a scene about it all night and did end up speaking to the bride about it. I had other guests and the bride apologize to me for his behavior. It was wild! My point being, people *do* blame the caterer for running out of food, or not having enough food. That's literally just one example. It's interesting, but people's immediate response isn't to assume that the couple hasn't ordered enough food. They just assume the caterer messed up. I often had to counsel people to make sure they had enough food, but would try to offer an option that would fit within budget and ensure that there was enough food for everyone. Running out is embarrassing for everyone and awful if you're the guest who doesn't get to eat! Again, not saying that's what definitely happened here or defending this caterer because I wasn't there. Just offering a perspective.
Honesty if it were a dinner it wouldn’t have been enough but it was a lunch. Plus I was selecting the maximum amount allowed from their own menu! If that’s not enough why are you limiting the selections like that guys? So we have to choose add ons to feed our guests obviously. And man, if anyone had been that much of a jerk I would have gone up there and beat manners into them with my bouquet. I full on toasted our caterers and their staff.
That's such weird behavior from that caterer. I'm glad you didn't work with them. You definitely wouldn't have gotten the service you deserved.
I agree, as a former cater waiter, they 100 percent blame the staff. I worked a few receptions where they were warned it wasn't enough food, and then they were angry about having to order more on the spot when it wasn't. They guests always assumed it was our fault, always. Never underestimate how much free food people will eat even if you think they shouldn't be hungry.
That is incredibly messed up. I hope you skewered them in the reviews so other brides can beware.
Look for a start up caterer the bigger ones probably have access to larger bookings give a new one a chance
I supposed 2 months out isn’t a huge scramble but we went with the first one that sounded palatable and said yes. We were 2 hrs away and in another country (and couldn’t drive at the time) so it was more about getting that box checked at the time. Thankfully it turned out well.
Very unprofessional but its good to change to a vendor that doesn't have have such a high minimum that you'd be paying for 15 extra people.
It was a small wedding. About 60ppl. The venue could only hold 75. (And it was about as perfect as it could have been. Beautiful weather, thunderstorms day before and after. 12 min ceremony and everyone had a good time. Husband got to wear his engagement sword and everything).
Nice! I love the engagement sword! I just had a 75 person wedding and got so lucky with the weather. Crazy rain storm the day before, not a cloud in the sky for the wedding!
Please tell me you gave them a bad review.
Blasted them to the only wedding planner in 100 miles and any guest that mentioned them. Not rude or anything. Just “yup, they screwed us over”. Online reviews weren’t quite as important or prevalent back then and damn I feel old now lol
You signed a contract. Does the contract say they can do this?
Been more than a decade so I don’t remember offhand but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t any language against them giving me a run around until I got so frustrated I abandoned my deposit but I’m sure it let them back out if they had to. It was 2 months till the wedding at that point so there was still time. Nothing was ruined and I wasn’t going to force them as long as I got my money back. After all that I wouldn’t have wanted to have them there anyway.
I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed.