Choosing Caterers for our Daughter's Wedding - Must Be on the Venue's Catering List

[kardut]

So our daughter is getting married, and we’re trying to choose the caterer. We must use one on the venue’s list (unless we want to pay an extra $1k). 

Have received all the proposals, and have it narrowed down to:

Main Event — our favorite menu; most reviews are good, but some of the negative ones have us worried

Purple Onion — again, an interesting menu, but have heard a lot of mixed reviews about quality of food and service

A La Carte — was actually leaning toward them until I got Main Events proposal; major downside is that they require 50% deposit (which makes me question their financials a little bit), and they require final count 45 days prior

Serendipity — until recently used to be Savory Fare (in Warrenton; not to be confused with Savoir Fare in Loudoun), which I had heard great things about. But not sure how much has changed with new ownership, so I’m ignoring all past reviews and remaining a bit hesitant about going with a new company  

Ones we’ve ruled out for one reason or other are Chefs Table, Catering by Uptown, and Pampas Fox. But if I hear glowing reports about any of those, I may be persuaded to reconsider. 

All are close in price to each other. 

Thanks for sharing any experiences— good and bad!

[DonRocks]

On 6/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, kardut said:

So our daughter is getting married, and we’re trying to choose the caterer. We must use one on the venue’s list (unless we want to pay an extra $1k). 

Have received all the proposals, and have it narrowed down to:

Main Event — our favorite menu; most reviews are good, but some of the negative ones have us worried

Purple Onion — again, an interesting menu, but have heard a lot of mixed reviews about quality of food and service

A La Carte — was actually leaning toward them until I got Main Events proposal; major downside is that they require 50% deposit (which makes me question their financials a little bit), and they require final count 45 days prior

Serendipity — until recently used to be Savory Fare (in Warrenton; not to be confused with Savoir Fare in Loudoun), which I had heard great things about. But not sure how much has changed with new ownership, so I’m ignoring all past reviews and remaining a bit hesitant about going with a new company  

Ones we’ve ruled out for one reason or other are Chefs Table, Catering by Uptown, and Pampas Fox. But if I hear glowing reports about any of those, I may be persuaded to reconsider. 

All are close in price to each other. 

Thanks for sharing any experiences— good and bad!

kardut, I apologize for the lack of replies - people don't read this forum much, and Catering isn't an area that this website has any special expertise in. I'll try to bring some attention to your post on Twitter, but I'm not optimistic.

Cheers,
Rocks

[silentbob]

On 6/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, kardut said:

So our daughter is getting married, and we’re trying to choose the caterer. We must use one on the venue’s list (unless we want to pay an extra $1k). 

Have received all the proposals, and have it narrowed down to:

Main Event — our favorite menu; most reviews are good, but some of the negative ones have us worried

Sorry for not seeing this sooner, and congratulations!  This was 8 years ago but we had a great experience with Main Event for our wedding, both in terms of food quality and overall service.  If Michelle is still there, we loved working with her.  She took great care of us, especially on the actual day when we were both quite sick.  Catering and photography were the two areas where we were willing to splurge a bit.  Really glad that we didn't go frugal there.

[squidsdc]

On 6/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, kardut said:

So our daughter is getting married, and we’re trying to choose the caterer. We must use one on the venue’s list (unless we want to pay an extra $1k). 

Have received all the proposals, and have it narrowed down to:

Main Event — our favorite menu; most reviews are good, but some of the negative ones have us worried

Purple Onion — again, an interesting menu, but have heard a lot of mixed reviews about quality of food and service

A La Carte — was actually leaning toward them until I got Main Events proposal; major downside is that they require 50% deposit (which makes me question their financials a little bit), and they require final count 45 days prior

Serendipity — until recently used to be Savory Fare (in Warrenton; not to be confused with Savoir Fare in Loudoun), which I had heard great things about. But not sure how much has changed with new ownership, so I’m ignoring all past reviews and remaining a bit hesitant about going with a new company  

Ones we’ve ruled out for one reason or other are Chefs Table, Catering by Uptown, and Pampas Fox. But if I hear glowing reports about any of those, I may be persuaded to reconsider. 

All are close in price to each other. 

Thanks for sharing any experiences— good and bad!

@kardut just saw your post. I highly recommend Rochelle Myers catering. I know she is not on your list, but worth checking out. My cousin’s daughter was recently married at a NVA winery and I referred her to Rochelle. Without any other input from me she spoke with Rochelle and did a tasting, and said the food was far superior to the other caterers.  And I can vouch from the experience that the food and service was exceptional.

[ktmoomau]

Yeah, I know we have used some of these caterers for Campagna Events, but I can't remember who did which events when, sorry.  

[bookluvingbabe]

I’ve used Main Event recently and had issues with getting food for our vegan guests that was actually vegan.  If you don’t have special needs for the day of it is probably okay. 

[DonRocks]

kardut,

Would you please let us know the venue? I can't Title or Tag this thread properly unless we get a bit more information about your daughter's wedding, and I want to help you (venue, city, catering list, price range, etc. etc. would all be very useful - we all want to help you - I could even delete this thread, if you're worried about privacy, after you get all the responses you need).

Let us know?
Rocks