No Food Tasting?

I found this really varied between venues - I asked about tastings before booking, and we avoided those that didn't offer one.

Ummm this is odd to me. I would be uncomfortable booking a place where they don't offer a tasting.

Food is one of the biggest things on my budget so I want to know how it will taste and what are the vegetarian or vegan options the have.

Ouch :/ Definitely something that should have been discussed before signing a contract. Time to go into problem-solving mode. Talk with them about what they're able to do to accommodate vegetarians and vegans. Also find some way to have some of their food. It's very odd to just pick from a menu without trying anything, but if you signed a contract that doesn't obligate them to do so, I'm not sure how much you can really do at this point.

My venue does tasting every March, if you booked after the tasting, you get to blind order what you want. Every venue is different!

ETA: clarify- so if you Book in April for a November wedding the same year, you'd miss the tasting!

I think every venue is different. It's odd they wouldn't mention that until now but anyways, what my venue did was they hosted an evening with vendors and invited all their 2016 brides to come for a food tasting on the same date. It was actually really good. Not that your venue would necessarily do that, just saying each is different. At this point, even if you don't get to taste the food would you want to change venues? I'm sure the food will be fine and unless they're willing to offer some compromise, it sounds like you may be stuck with it.

I dont know what standard practice is... but I find it odd they would expect people to fork over a large sum of money wihtout even trying the food! Maybe its because the venue is already booked?! I dont know... I can't think of a good reason!

Hopefully you have luck if you contact the chef!

Ours didn't do tastings. They only cook with ingredients they can get fresh, and in season.

So the herbs they would have used when we made the menu in February would not even be around in May.

But they have an amazing reputation, and i had been to a few of their summer events that they host.

Does your venue offer anything like that? I know we went to like a "cocktails on the lawn" event last summer and tried some things.

Never heard of no tasting

Every venue is different but personally, I would have a very hard time dropping thousands of dollars on food I had never tried. I would try to find a reasonable alternative like an event they do (as PPs have suggested) or maybe just have be chef make you that one plate.

That sounds odd.

Mine doesn't offer tastings, but they do have a couple events we can go to where we can try some of their appetizers. My venue is known for its food and the reviews confirm it. I would scour the internet for reviews from other brides in the event they don't accommodate a tasting for you and see what others are saying about the food. As for vegan options, I've never been to a place that couldn't accommodate that, and I attend a lot of events for my job.

Does the venue have a restaurant or are we talking outside caterers? My venue doesn't offer a tasting of everything, but they give couples a complimentary dinner for two, which includes apps, dinner, dessert, and drinks, so that's technically your tasting. We did ours in February and while what we choose for our wedding menu will be different (we will likely go with two other entrees), everything we had that night was delicious so I have faith the wedding menu will be just as good.

There's a lot that do not do tastings. Be sure when reaching out to venues and vendors that cater, you ask questions about tasting. Some will not tell you and some will.

Wow that is crazy. My venue allowed tastings, but you came into the office just before another couples reception and tasted what they had selected. They also have mass tastings a couple times a year where they prepare almost everything on the menu.

My venue doesn't offer tastings. I just read every review I could find across various sites like here, Yelp, etc. All the reviews I read for my venue were positive and many mentioned the quality of food. Talk to your venue about Vegan options, they may not have any listed but probably can make special accommodations for a few plates.

Unfortunately some wedding venues and caterers I looked at were like that too so I decided a big giant NO to all of them. Food is probably the most important part of the reception to my fiance and I so we needed a tasting to seal the deal.

That sounds really odd. I would not book a venue that includes food if I was not able to taste he food. Maybe they will make an exception. I would read the contract again to make sure there are no more surprises.

We wouldn't even visit venues that wouldn't allow us to taste the food before booking. Try to see if they will allow you to come in before another event to taste their menu. If they accommodate this, go taste the food and leave. Don't ask questions, don't linger or look around. I think this may fly better than asking the chef to make one meal.

Our venue doesn't do tasting but does do a dinner once a month where if you pay you can go

There have been 2 vendors we've contacted that don't do tastings one we understood they also have a restaurant so you can go there and try whatever you want..all the lady in the catering department told us was just ask for samples of whatever we thought we would want for the wedding. However, the other was a package deal (had to use the venues caterer) it was $70+ a plate per person and no tasting or even a menu...that one got marked off real quick! That's one thing we ask up front when contacting a caterer if they offer a tasting...we don't want to spend all this money on food then it be horrible!