Here we are - a new year, a new wedding season!
The time will not be long before we are loading our steel, starting our fires and cooking our hearts out for our lovely brides and grooms.
Whether you are looking at securing a venue, planning a wedding for this year or next; Here are a few pieces of information that have been coming up a lot lately.
TRUST
Now, I am not going to lecture you on having trust with your chosen partner. However, I will be talking about trust with your chosen team (the industry term one would use here is “vendors” but honestly, how sterile is that!?).
Getting married just about takes a village - As you either know, or will soon learn while researching and experiencing all of the steps to get from the surprise of engagement to kissing and hugging your guests as they depart from the most beautiful day of your lives.
The mere fact that you would email or pick up the phone to call Heirloom Fire to cook for that special day is so flattering to me. We take this honor very seriously and treat our clients with the utmost care. This is the reason that we do not take more than 1 event per day because our clients absolutely deserve 100% of our undivided attention.
A topic that has came up this season is vendors being open and straightforward with their clients. In short, we initially start our conversation about Heirloom Fire catering your wedding, with a phone call. Following the call, we generate a proposal for you to view based on our services. We do not include alcohol or rentals (i.e. tables, chairs, glassware, flatware, etc.) because how can we quote you without knowing the style that you want? Seems reasonable, right?
Herein lies the problem. When you are researching the caterer that best fits your needs, there can be a bidding game on the caterers end. People need to pay the bills, but what can end of happening is caterers can lose sight of the importance of your wedding and focus on their wallet. Which means when bidding a wedding, they will choose to include rentals in their price at what seems to be an incredible deal with the added bonus of “one stop shopping”
Awesome, right?
What tends to happen is caterers will quote the client on the cheapest rentals available in an effort to be most “affordable”. Believe it or not, some couples are just so tired of the searching game that they opt to settle and not look further into what they singed on for before its too late. When the couple goes to look at the rental order down the road, they see the choices that were selected for them and will inevitably want to alter the order - which will mean a significantly larger add on bill. Whats worse is if you put off looking at your order until a few months before your wedding, the options you want to switch to may no longer be available or cost even more from a rental company that is further away.
This is a sly little game that other caterers like to play to pack their weekends with multiple events by underbidding and then hiding little markups down the road to recoup their losses. other examples…
Cake Cutting Fee
Extra Service Charge (to set up and break down tables and chairs)
Sneaking the cost of a kitchen on to rentals (cook tent, ovens, propane, tables, linens)
Bartender fee.
Ive never understood these. Why not make it as easy as you can on a client? I view going into a contract with a couple like starting a friendship. Trust is a significant factor in this. During our calls I try to be as up front as possible and explain what is included and what is not included - as it should be. For all that, I am proud to say that most of my clients become real friends after the dust settles and the last embers fall. We stay in touch through email, Facebook, instagram or text. Being a part of the process, as quick as it is, is so special. You get to come into peoples lives when they are going to plunge into a huge change, plan their vision with them, prepare an amazing meal, and see them fall in love with each other all over again while surrounded by the most important people in their lives. How could you ever take that for granted? Be good to each other and fill the world with love.
