I've gotten that a lot from several people when I talk about wedding stuff. A lot of people say things like, "Why are you even thinking about that right now? Your wedding isn't for over a year!" and, "Wow you sure do like to plan things well in advance!" Quite frankly, yes, I am a planner and I feel in this case it works out to my advantage. Our wedding day is going to be one of the most popular days to get married in the area next year {the first Saturday of September}. With that being said, by planning early I can make sure we have a lot of time to figure out what we want, and get it booked before anyone else takes it. My goal is to have the venue, the photographer, the caterer, and my wedding dress purchased/booked by September 7th of this year. And we're already half way there! :)
So back to the catering.
We sat down in Mark's restaurant near the 5th street public market and began to chat about what we can expect from him as our caterer. Mark has had his catering company for 15 years and he mentioned he is completely booked for summer 2012. That to me is a great sign. The kind of food he serves is simple but with elegance, which is pretty much in line with what we're going for. Also he mentioned that all of the food will be cooked on site and served fresh. Very important. He's also catered for events at our venue, Silvan Ridge, so I like that he already has a good idea about what is feasible in that facility.
Some of the really great things about this catering company is that their rates are very competitive. An outside company was going to charge us $500-700 for food rental items {plates, silverware, etc.} and Mark said it would be at most $300 for everything that we need. Definitely a bonus with going through a catering company as opposed to a restaurant that can do catering. The other really great thing is that he doesn't charge an exorbitant fee for a plated course dinner over what would normally be charged for a buffet. Personally, I dislike standing in buffet lines and I'd prefer to have a plated dinner for us and our guests if possible. With this catering company, we could offer our guests appetizers, a choice of three entrees, and have it be brought to their tables and it would fit perfectly into our predetermined budget. Cool.
Mark was also quite kind to give us some goodies to take home with us. He gave us some samples of a Jamaican chicken dish and also some thinly sliced tri tip steak. For being reheated leftovers, the meat was pretty tasty and flavorful. Douglas and I agree though, that we can't make any more decisions about this catering company until we get to taste the food we intend on serving for our wedding. I really want to see what it will look like when it will be brought to the tables, and what it will taste like. I believe if Mark can continue to meet our needs on that front as he did in our meeting yesterday, that we may be in business. :)
So no pictures of food since we didn't do a tasting, but I found some pictures of some things he's done for other catering events.
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| Cheese platter, appetizer |
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| Fruit platter, appetizer |
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| Baked NW salmon with veggie kabobs |
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| Hazelnut crusted chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese |
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| Grilling steaks |
All in all I say this was a very successful first meeting with a caterer. I'm glad that there are professionals who know what they are doing and can handle all the details so I don't have to worry about it. As Mark said, "We'll make sure you are guests at your own wedding. We bring the restaurant to you." We like the sound of that. :)
<3 J
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