First tasting

I loved my tasting! I only did one and we tried a lot of different plates and we loved it. We are both big on foods so it was important to us that the food tasted good. I asked a lot of questions as is not the same to cook for 2 than for 50. I wanted to make sure food was hot at all times, flavors, spices. So don’t be afraid to ask questions!
Good luck

We have to use the required caterer for our venue, so there wasn't much of a choice on that front. However, we did our first (complimentary) tasting with food we thought we wanted based on their menu (they had use choose 3 mains and sides from their extensive menu) and my FH hated it (to be fair, his family is Mexican so the catering Mexican food wasn't up to par with what he was used to getting at home). Because of this, we were going to schedule (and pay for) a second tasting, but our caterer actually has an Open House twice a year in which they showcase a bunch of appetizers, sides, and mains. We ended up going to that and my picky FH found some items he really enjoyed, so we updated our contract to reflect that.

My caterer came to us and we had a picnic! It was very laid back, not what I was expecting at all. She told us where the food comes from, a lot of it her own garden.
We had chicken marsala, “caprese pasta” which had all those caprese flavors in a yummy bowtie pasta with zucchini, salads and bread. We also chose 3 appetizers. It’s a small wedding so we picked a small menu and everything was so fresh and delicious. We got to take home the leftovers and have them for dinner, lovely experience!

Our tasting went great! We asked to make some minor adjustments and the venue was more than happy to accommodate. One of our main dishes didn't come with a veggie but one did. We asked if they could make more because we know there were going to be those that would like them. We also chose an appetizer but didn't like the sauce too much, we asked if they could use one from another option instead.

We both have been to a wedding at our venue before so we knew before hand what their menu was like — but we have our first tasting there soon to pick out our seletions

Just got back and the tasting was not what we were expecting. We were very underwhelmed and felt a bit disappointed. I am starting to reconsider everything...thinking maybe I want to opt for an all inclusive venue closer to home. We won't get to handpick our caterer but it would be much more affordable and perhaps just easier all around. Any advice? I am feeling a bit discouraged...

Our venue has preferred caterers so we only had 5 or so options. I called all of them to ask if they could do a gluten free and a vegan option and two said no. Out of the other few only two were in our budget. We went of r a tasting at ours and it was great. The workers were all extremely nice and they had a little table for two setup and even asked us what music we wanted played during our tasting. We decided on the spot to book since the food was amazing and under budget! They also showed us linen color choices for napkins, silverware and flatware choices, and cake stand options. We made all those decisions before leaving and they boxed up our leftovers with a personal note of thanks from the chef