Rehearsal Dinner Caterer Cancelled

Do you have a contract with them? If so, what does it say re: cancellations?

Sorry you're dealing with this. I assume you'll be getting whatever you paid back since the caterer cancelled. Are you doing the dinner at a particular venue and paid fees for the venue? If you have a venue, perhaps you can try calling around to local restaurants that can do some drop off catering. Or, if it's possible to change venue, look around for a restaurant with a private room available in your area.

Oh no! I'm so sorry! Are you getting a refund??? What does it say in your contract?

As for the food, it may not be as fancy, but you can always just order pizzas for something super quick, cheap, and easy!

I assume you're getting the deposit back? I'd look into local restaurant catering, some even deliver and probably won't be as busy. Another option is a food truck, it's more unique but it's super fun!

That is absurd! Being it' s graduation season caterers are probably very busy, but italian restaraunts will often cater with only a few days notice or less!

I'm so sorry that happened! Are they giving you a refund? What does your contract say?

I don't think that booking a caterer for a rehearsal dinner two months out is too late at all. We book caterers (who do anything from casual to formal) at work on a week or two notice all the time for 30+ people. I can't imagine your rehearsal dinner is for a HUGE crowd.

I would start calling around to local catering companies or restaurants and you should at least be able to find drop off catering if not full service. Best of luck!!

I would agree with a PP that if she cancelled, your money should be returned. If the caterer thought it was too late to book to begin with, she should have never accepted the job.

I would read your contract very carefully. She should be required to refund you, and possible provide and alternate vendor depending on the wording.

She better be returning all of your money!

Do you and your FS have a favorite place to eat? You could reach out and see if they can cater.

I'm really sorry that this happened to you. It is a stressor that you dont need at this time. I do hope you get your money back since this is no fault of your own. I agree with the previous posters, that Italian restaurants can cater last minute, or have pizza. We are just having pizza, pasta and salad for ours as it is cheaper and easy enough (if FH had his way we would be having pizza for the wedding! Lol)

Oh no, Breanne! I am so sorry to hear this! Were you ever able to get this resolved? I would love to know!

Yes we were. I had paid through pay-pal so it took about 2 weeks to get my deposit refunded and felt confident that I always had them to help if I was having trouble getting my money refunded. The owner called me while I was on my honeymoon to give a further explanation, which didn't up any new information.

My husband really stepped up and set up the catering with local farmer's market. They had relatively the same offerings, so picking the menu was a breeze. We did have to actually go pick it up, which delayed the actual dinner a bit, but we were running a consistent 20 minutes behind schedule all day (actually all weekend!!).

The biggest thing I learned through this process is that the vendors really pile on the urgency to book them, which gave me a lot of anxiety. That was my least favorite part of planning, because vendors would just employ that tactic to get you to sign a contract, when a lot of the time there wasn't that much urgency in the first place. I tried to look for vendors that would give us a heads up if other people were looking that day, but didn't pressure us to book them immediately.