Unhappy with Wedding Caterer/food

I wouldn’t go with a caterer whose food was garbage during a tasting.

This is when you’re selling me on your business and this is how you showcase your work?

No thank you.

I would send them an email to their manager or whoever is in charge and explain how sad you are about how much you paid and how the food turned out. I'd explain that 75% of the food wasn't eaten and quite a few of your guests didn't like the food at all. Hopefully they refund you and work with you. If not, leave reviews everywhere you can so other brides avoid them.

We didn't even get a tasting. I tried to arrange one and she said she could handle it and it wasn't necessary. Reviews of her business were nothing but amazing: she's known for yummy comfort food and totally dropped the ball.

View Quoted Comment Wow that’s so unacceptable. Could you request to speak the manager to discuss things further?

That's awful...so sorry that you had to experience that. you should definitely let her know to see if she can remedy the situation and leave reviews as well.

I am so sorry! You should definitely raise your concerns with the caterer. Let her know that the food was cold and that guests didn't enjoy it at all. I would still leave honest reviews so that other couples can see what your experience was after you speak with the catering company.

Did you have a tasting ahead of time and they were just off for the wedding or did you not have a tasting? I would reach out to your contact there and let them know, perhaps they can comp you back some of your money. The money doesn't really help since you were not able to enjoy the food at your wedding, but what else can you do? So sorry.

Just saw your response where you did not have a tasting. No, no, and NO! You definitely need to speak with someone and if they won't do it, you should leave a review for them online to warn other couples.

Hell no. Food is a big part of the budget. If they didnt deliver or the food was unsatisfactory, speak up and tell them. Write reviews so future brides dont end up in the same situation

I would be so petty and send a really mean email and would probably leave a bad review .. I also couldn’t imagine serving good without a tasting, that’s terrible business on her end to not provide you with one so if you write a review make sure to add in that she advised you against it and it was a nightmare so that future people know to get one

I would definitely leave a bad review after reaching out to them. Nothing about this was acceptable, especially her telling you no tasting!

So I think immediately going to a bad review as some PP have mentioned is in really poor taste. (Ha, bad pun) It just reminds me of my students who immediately run to the principal without talking to me about an issue first. (Seriously though, a B+ is a good grade and doesn't need one-on-one counseling with a higher up for me to tell them that if they had actually done the homework, they might have an A....)

The first and foremost step is to talk to the person at the company. See what they say. They may be absolutely mortified that this happened and immediately try to rectify the situation - as they should. Maybe it was a new persons first solo day and they screwed it up even after training. Maybe there was a last second disaster that they were trying to hide from you. You can't know until you reach out and it is even possible that the person in charge may have no idea of how the food was presented - especially if the onsite person screwed up and didn't want to admit it. If the company responds immediately and works with you to find a solution you are both happy with, I see no problem in leaving a decent review - state what was good, what happened, but also that they have great customer service that immediately addressed your issue and fixed it right away. Even the best caterer in the world will have bad nights (It absolutely sucks if it was your wedding on the bad night) but I judge a company based on how they handle their bad nights just as much. I'd be more likely to hire a caterer that has 100 good reviews and 2 reviews about bad nights that were perfectly handled after the fact than a caterer that has 150 great reviews with no indication of how they handle off nights/moments.

Jumping immediately to writing a review without first trying to contact the company isn't fair to the company and it is a part of social media that I wish would die a horrible death. Now, if they don't respond or if they blow you off then you can go and write the scathing review - but I would recommend doing the adult thing first and contacting them.

(Maybe it is because most of my friends and I all did more all inclusive venues, but I only know 1 person who actually did a tasting.... so not having a tasting doesn't seem that weird to me)

You can try meeting with them but i think it would be hard to get a refund after the fact. I think usually that's handled day of. And of course your busy that day. Congrats btw.

I'd see what they can do. What you should have done. But id still write a review to let people know what to do better. How many people before you had cold food and didn't leave a review? Then you're left with a ton of all positives that don't reflect what you experienced.

Wow.. sorry this happened to you. But I would let her know first how upset you were with the food. If nothing is done, then maybe you can go public and leave her a review.

View Quoted Comment

This, 100%.

You also want to wait to see what they say before you write your review, because the outcome may be better for you if you don't slam them on social media first...

I wouldn't write a review just yet. If you express your dissatisfaction and concerns and they still do nothing about it when SHE said it would be handled then write a bad review. You put your trust in her word and now she made you regret that since you didn't push for a tasting. Completely unacceptable behavior and service on their end. I pray they do something about it! If they do, I would still write a semi bad review stating what had happened and how they fixed it, just to warn other brides to be more careful!

I completely disagree with the PP who says to not immediately jump to a review— no matter how they rectify the situation, I think you owe it to other couples to shar your honest feedback and experience.

But, definitely also reach out to the caterer directly, and give honest feedback of how they dropped the ball and how disappointing it was. They need to hear this, and it should be fine just to email. Honestly, my caterers (with whom I had a fantastic experience) rescued out to me the next day asking for feedback— as much as possible, good bad and the ugly , as all of it helps them improve. I took that to heart; even though they were phenomenal and I would hire them in a heartbeat and the food was awesome, I still sent them a thorough write up of everything, and described even the tiniest of details that weren’t quite what we imagined per discussion, just so it gives them something to work with.

So, absolutely reach out to them. I would do this first also so you can speak to their reaction in a review. But either way please DO review your experience honestly (the bad and the good!) so that future couples are aware.

I would call and try to talk to them first. Maybe they will refund you some of your money. They might be jerks so just be prepared for that. I would wait to write your review to see how they handle the situation.

I browsed through most of the comments so excuse me if I missed this already but I am curious to know if you had a contract for this? Also if you did have a contract was a tasting included in it? I find it absurd that they'd insist a tasting was not needed. My venue is all inclusive and our tasting was out of this world. because it is our biggest expense I'd be furious if they didn't deliver the same way on my wedding day that they have during our tasting, brunch visits, dinner visits and even on one of their expo days for weddings. I'd def look into your contract if you have one, set up meeting and go in and talk to them. Best of luck.

There was actually a stipulation in my catering contract that I had to make an attempt to address/rectify any displeasure with service with the caterer before writing a negative review. I don't now how enforceable that is, but you might want to check your contract. In this case, I would most certainly talk to the caterer. They might offer you a partial refund or otherwise try to remedy the situation. And you'll also have however they tried to remedy the situation (or not) to put in your review. As a potential customer, I would appreciate that.