A word to caterers and venues

Before I finally recognise that we’ve settled full circle on having our reception at Geoff’s family’s property, I’d like to have a word (rant) to the caterers and venue hire places of the world.

Caterers

  • If you bother listing yourself online anywhere you NEED to have a website and a website that works not just a phone number and a page that shows your contact details yet again.
  • Menus need to be actually present and comprehensive beyond just saying that you do desserts, duh, I want to know what.
  • Prices, prices, prices. I don’t care if you food costs a lot or a little but I won’t go chasing anything unless I see prices or there is something else really convincing.
  • Pictures are nice of your food, but I’d rather you left them off if the resolution is so bad you can’t see anything. And please… for the sake of keeping your company viable – put a tiny bit of effort into presentation!
  • Hidden costs are mean

Venues

  • You usually get the ‘where’ said, but how many guests can you fit seated/standing?
  • Menus please
  • Prices please
  • Time restrictions please
  • Photos that show something about the venue, I know what rose bush looks like
  • Real Wedding photos at the venue
  • Hidden costs are mean
  • Dates online where you are ‘booked out’ so I can see without doing all the chasing only to find it’s useless.

4 Comments

  1. said:

    Amen Bec-star!
    Once you’ve got the Venue sorted though, thats half the battle done…
    We were really lucky in getting the place we did. They look after all the catering, waitressing, clean-up and they have a fantastic Manager, Mary Anne who was nothing less than fantastic with menus, pricing and previous experience. It makes such a huge difference to your stress levels when you have people on your team, who are really on the ball.
    I’ve sworn that I will only ever have great things to say about the Wharf Bar and Grill, Forster, N.S.W.

    I’ll keep praying that everything will come together for you guys without too much more unwanted stress.
    Love
    Jess xoxo

    July 16, 2007
    Reply
  2. said:

    LOL!! I heartily agree!!

    Can I add something?
    If I don’t return your multiple phone calls which followed you emailing me your price list, it’s because I fell of my chair laughing at your prices and. I. am. not. interested!!!

    Having it at home made our wedding so much more special…plus it meant I could work some really cool references to space, place, community and all that into the liturgy. 🙂

    July 17, 2007
    Reply
  3. said:

    “some really cool references to space, place, community and all that into the liturgy”

    yeh? can you explain bec.

    July 17, 2007
    Reply
  4. said:

    We wanted our entire wedding to reflect what we believe in – the “reception” as well as the “ceremony” (we actually had the drinking and eating start before the ceremony!). We wanted to emphasise our independence on and interconnectedness with not only each other, but with the earth and our community (or communities). Having the wedding at the place where I’d grown up (and near where my dad grew up), under gum trees and with glimpses of my parent’s extensive vegie patch, helped us do this in the ceremony (for food etc we had local caterers, lots of involvement from our extended community, yadda yadda).

    I can send you a copy of the liturgy if you like. Ours was quite a mish-mash, held together by those core values. I drew inspiration from Marcus Curnow (who writes great liturgies – there’s lots on his blog), discussions on indiebride, and everything from Quaker to Anglican marriage ceremonies (depending on the theological aspects we were drawn to).

    July 17, 2007
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