Rovers2000 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Catering was an area that I worried about when we were planning our wedding. Thanks to this website, many of my friends / family think I have a better knowledge / understanding of food than I actually do , but it was important to me to have at least "good" food at my wedding. Looking back, we are now just about 2 weeks away from our wedding and one thing has been consistent in our chats with all of our guests has been: "the food was awesome!". Well Dunn catering made that happen. We were fortunate that Jen's maid of honor is a corporate event planner here in DC and when we first started talking about potential caterers, she had recommended Well Dunn to us. We wanted to do something a little different with our food and we wanted to ensure it wasn't the standard "wedding food". From the minute we walked into their show space (right near Eastern Market) I was impressed with the creativity both in the food as well as their design (although to be frank, I cared way more about the food than the linens / plates...my now wife on the other hand developed an unhealthy obsession when it came to the type of chairs, plates, etc). Yulia Poukalova was our point of contact and she was willing to work with us to create a menu, from passed apps to mains and a plated desert, that was everything we had hoped for. After deciding on a menu she conducted an incredible tasting. From a wine perspective she actually pushed us to work with Ace Beverage on our own as it would save us some money and allow us to have full contract of the wines / booze / beers which was much appreciated. Yulia has a bright and bubbly personality that is infectious and truly helped me get through the times where my wife was pouring over which glassware and plates to use while I was in a corner staring off into space In their show space (its basically an open townhouse) they were able to set up a table and my wife was able to work with multiple colors / textures / plating options. She was extremely pleased with the result (as was I when I walked into the reception space...it was perfect). Additionally as we got closer to the reception, Yulia was extremely helpful in providing advice on how / where to set up the bars / tables / etc in the venue. I always felt that she was offering advice or good counsel, vs "telling" us what we needed to do. On the day itself, Yulia and her team truly enhanced the experience of our reception. They literally had one server whose sole job was to find my wife and I and ensure that we were eating, had a drink, etc. After all the stories of folks who didn't have the chance to eat b/c their reception was such a whirlwind, it was appreciated. Another piece that they really were exceptional at was the pacing of the food. Again, we were always told that most couples end up not eating b/c they're working the room. Yulia made sure that we ate and had time to move about the room while others were being served. I even had people come up to me and say how nicely paced the meal was. In terms of the food itself, this was our menu: -Passed Appetizers (cocktail hour): goat cheese and carmelized onion tartlets, lobster cake with papaya mayo, pig in a blanket over a shot of beer, fig and prosciuto crostini, duck over a pear chip - Cup of butternut squash soup with bourbon pistou alongside a pear and gorgonzola salad - Passed Assortment of Breads - Braised short ribs over risotto cake served with leek wrapped green beans or fall vegetable baklava over lemon scented orzo - Pumpkin Creme Brulee The best compliment I can pay Yulia and the team from Well Dunn is that everything was as delicious when served for 110 guests as it was when we sat down just the 3 of us for the tasting. The fact they were able to deliver on both scales was impressive and I would highly recommend Well Dunn (Yulia in particular) for someone looking not only for a wedding caterer but for any large scale event. http://www.welldunn.com/ Dave Hofman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveO Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 That is a tremendous detailed review. Congrats on the wedding and such a successful event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 That is a tremendous detailed review. Congrats on the wedding and such a successful event. [This was originally in the Professionals and Businesses forum, where all the reviews are tremendous and detailed, but since it was about a caterer, I thought it made good sense to move it to the Catering and Special Events forum. But yes, it's a wonderful review, and I hope it gets Well Dunn Catering some well-deserved business. As long as I have your attention: If you have a brother, sister, father, mother, cousin, son, daughter, or friend who is great at what they do, well, then why not tell the world about how great they are, in explosive, flowery detail, in our Professionals and Businesses forum? Because of the stringent requirements for posting: 1) 100-words minimum for a first review 2) 50-words minimum for follow-up reviews 3) Positive reviews only 4) Real Names required on each post you can be sure that people that post there really, REALLY want to post something positive about a business or individual. That's why there aren't many posts in that forum, but the ones that are there are outstanding. Because of this forum, I have a new auto mechanic, and a new pharmacy - it is my favorite forum on this website, and an absolute pleasure to moderate and organize. A write-up in that forum is about the closest guarantee of quality that you can find on the entire internet. And because there is one topic per business, it is an incredibly powerful search tool in terms of Google - Google Peggy Newhall Piano Teacher, for example. Why don't you think of someone you care about and let us, as well as the rest of the world, know about them? ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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