Caterer adding expenses at the last minute

The contract doesn't say anything about a service charge on rentals. It also doesn't say anything about the possibility of adding more labor to the invoice.

That service fee doesn't make any sense.. who is setting the tables up?

As far as the servers go, did anything about your order change? Like food served or number of guests?

Nothing changed about our order. We've made no changes to the venue or menu, and the final guest count is actually 5 less than what was quoted.

We are setting up the whole venue ourselves. The rental company is delivering/picking up, the wedding party/family is setting up all of the rentals. The caterers are doing breakdown, but this is already a line item in the invoice (and a service charge for that line item). Other than that, they have nothing to do with the rentals. We weren't required to name them with the rental company, so I don't understand why they think they can charge a service fee for rentals and didn't tell us that they would charge it if we told the rental company who our caterer was. It raised our rental cost by 18% for no reason that I can see.

For the staff, I would ask what your venue said that indicates more people being needed. If they don't have a logical answer (the lines will be horrible with only one bartender, the dinner will take 2 hours versus 1 without the extra staff) then ask them to remove the charge. And ask what the service charge is on the rentals, because you have no rentals with them.

I've reached out to the rental company to remove the caterers from any involvement with the rental company - I wasn't aware there was one beyond the caterer seeing our rental list and we have no problem paying for each separately. Hope this won't be problem to do!

And no, nothing has changed - our guest list has actually gotten smaller since the original invoice. It sounded like the venue owner was concerned with having 2 servers and 1 bartender and told the caterer she would highly suggest doubling each. Originally I'd only heard about the bartender concern and reluctantly agreed to add one more. When I heard about needing 2 more servers, I put the brakes on. It's a buffet and we're supplying our own appetizers. There shouldn't be anything different that the caterer would have to do for us that they wouldn't have to do for a buffet of the same size with 2 servers. So there shouldn't be a need for more than what was quoted. I'm waiting to hear back from them on this.

2 servers and 1 bar tender is fine for 50-u5 guests more and it seems like they under quoted you. I would be mad but I also wouldn't want long lines at the bar. Are you doing mixed drinks or just beer and wine

74 guests. Buffet. Beer and wine. I caved in for a second bartender, but additional servers is where I started to question why this is just now coming up. This is comparable to other similar guest size weddings with two servers they've done, and the menu and servers duties are actually less maintenance then most, which is why I don't think this should fall on our shoulders-- if they under-quoted, that should fall on them. We signed an agreement, paid a deposit, and have made zero changes since then. So it doesn't feel right raising the cost 15% with less than three weeks to go (we signed with them a year ago with multiple check-ins between).

You say the wedding party and family are setting up the rentals? Is there any way you could change that, because honestly you shouldn't be putting your friends and family to work. I know it's tempting but it's not really a great idea.

I don't have your contract in front of me, so I can't speak to that. You have the option of following your original plan -- but two buffet servers and one bartender for 74 people sounds light. That's my opinion.

I also agree with Jacks. Nobody who is invited to the wedding should be asked to assume the roles of vendors. Who's doing the cleanup and breakdown? If it's family members, friends, or honor attendants, I urge you to hire someone (actually, I urge you hire someone to do the set up as well). You'll probably have everyone show up for set-up duty, but breakdown and clean-up? You'll probably be shocked by how many of your friends/family members slip out before doing the job. Believe me, it's nothing you want to be stuck doing.

I'm not asking about who should setup. This has been the plan and what we all decided since we got engaged. It's really only setting up 8 dinner tables. The florist is doing the center pieces. No real setup other than that and we're doing anything else the day before. Caterer is doing breakdown - which is a separate charge we've paid. Pretty judgmental, but I get it. Like I said, I'm having 2 bartenders, I was just asking if it was normal for a caterer to add labor with a few weeks to go, on our dime, when it wasn't in the contract and we've made no changes. Thanks all for your feedback.