The Catering Saga Continues

I realized that I had not recently provided an update as to the condition of our catering plans for the reception, so here goes:

We were under the gun. Our reception site (as previously mentioned ) had imposed a 60 day timeline on us to find a new caterer, or suffer the exorbitant costs and inflexible scheduling requirements of the site’s “preferred caterer.” We had one weekend in which we could make the trip to Houston to meet with the alternative caterer.

I emailed the caterer and, feeling like a complete dork, asked her if we could have a conference call to talk about her requirements before we came to Houston. She readily agreed, and so I set about getting super-prepared for the meeting. I emailed (noticing a trend?) the reception site coordinator and asked her what the “approval requirements” were for an outside caterer. I received an email later that afternoon with a three-page list of demands, which seemed extensive and a little over the top. The one that really set off bells was the requirement that the outside caterer place a deposit with the site. I thought that one would do us in, I really did. The call went well, we went over the list, and the caterer thought the deposit was odd, but didn’t make a fuss. We set a time for the tasting for the weekend we were coming into town, and we were left with the task of choosing the menu.

Mistakenly, I assumed that the process of choosing the menu would be somewhat simple. My fiancé and I would review the list of entrees, sides, and appetizers. The MOB weighed in, of course, “Well, I wouldn’t pick out anything too crazy, or else no one will eat it, but maybe you should choose something you two like for an appetizer. I mean, you want to remember what you eat at your own wedding.” What a lovely sentiment (yargh).

We proceeded to choose a beef/seafood entrée and, of course, a chicken (the Chicken Divan Supreme – it sounds cheesy, but delicious). Then I called my dad, to find out that no, he didn’t like peppercorn sauce. Who doesn’t like peppercorns? They’re just pepper. Everyone likes pepper. Then we hit a snag with the appetizers; my mom doesn’t like feta cheese – it tastes funny. A grown woman told me that she didn’t like something because it tasted “funny” (double yargh). We finally whittled down the menu to some choices to give to our caterer for the tasting.

Day of the tasting:

My dad insisted that we play golf in the morning, despite the fact that when we finish we have to hurry to drive into the city for a 2:00 pm tasting. When we get home, I have an email from the caterer asking if we can bump back the meeting, since the church is having a meeting in the room she was planning on using. Church? This was the first time I had realized we were meeting at a church; I had assumed we were meeting at her house. I responded that we could bump the time back, thinking that the last thing we want to happen on our wedding day is for the caterer to bump things back.

We arrived at the church and found the caterer waiting to direct us into the gathering hall, where she had a table set up just for us. She then brought out the appetizers, including the spinach and feta triangles, which I snuck onto the tasting list. My parents loved them! We loved it all; everything we tasted was delicious. At first we were a little wary of the beef tenderloin; it looked a little dry on the outside, but the inside was one of the most tender pieces of meet you would ever taste. Huzzah! We found a caterer! Now all I had to do was submit her information to the reception hall and we are good to go. Or so I thought…

More tomorrow - off to class.