Love and Lobster Coastal New England Weddings

We continue following the wedding plans of Maine transplant Jen Pepper.

One thing I have learned while planning our wedding is that there are a lot—I mean a lot— of caterers out there. How am I supposed to sort through them all to find the right one for me? Armed with some reputable recommendations from friends and a few trusted wedding professionals we started the search for one fabulous meal.

We looked at some photos from a few past events and decided to get in contact with two catering companies that were exactly what we were looking for. One of them responded almost immediately, while the second took about a week to get in touch.  After a few quick questions back and forth with both caterers we tried to set up a call with them both.

For reasons unknown the later of the two potential candidates never responded to our request, so we continued on with our front runner. A brief phone call to chat about what we were looking for in our celebration, our dietary requirements (no red meat please) and some general questions about us had Matt and I very excited to see a sample menu and a price estimate.

This took a little longer than I had hoped for but we were comfortable with the price per head, and with a few menu tweaks, were excited about our fabulous food options. Matt and I decided that our list of catering questions was getting rather long, and a face to face meeting would make us feel more comfortable before signing a contract.

When we finally met in person I didn’t get the warm and fuzzies I had hoped for. Most of the questions we had on our list were answered but I still felt like something just didn’t click. We had come to this meeting fully expecting to hand over a deposit and sign a contract but were told there was another hoop to jump trough first—rentals.

Now I know I’m kind of picky, and have my heart set on wood farm tables for our reception, so we had to wait to receive photos of the table and an estimate before we could put down a deposit towards everything. The process seemed to drag on for far longer than I imagined it would, and when we finally received the estimate it was inaccurate in a few areas (including our wedding date). Everything felt off to me and I started to feel very worried.

In a fit of frustration I decided to reach back out to the caterer who fell off the map a while back. I just needed to have something else to compare this experience with. In my mind I started to wonder if this was normal, maybe I was expecting to much, maybe I was even having a bridezilla moment. So I picked up the phone and made an in-person appointment for the next week, this turned out to be the best thing I could have done.

I was greeted so warmly and could sense that this caterer was actually excited about my vision. I didn’t feel invisible for once or that my small wedding reception was somehow less important than one with 200 guests. Everything just seemed to fit. I was a bit worried about seeing that initial price per head, but Matt and I were pleasantly surprised. Once we got the rough estimate with a sample menu there were no barriers to reserving our day. We put a check in the mail to reserve the spot and we both look forward to finalizing our menu in the fall.

So my wedding planning tip is this—don’t be afraid to shop around. Be assertive and if something does feel just right, it just might not be right for you.