One and Done

That's how I would describe our search for a caterer... One and Done. The Valentine, where we will be having our ceremony and reception has a list of preferred vendors for catering. It's the only thing they are really particular about. No biggie. I saw it as a good thing. It narrowed down our search from the many caterers in the Richmond area. And if they preferred them... didnt that mean they were good?!?! On the other hand, I saw it as a bad thing. If they preferred them... didnt that mean they were expensive?!?!



Well at first glance the answer would seem to be both. See in the beginning stages of wedding planning I had an "idea" of a budget for our catering. The number came from what I had seen online, but we hadnt even settled on our location so how could I really know what our reception food budget would be. But that little number stuck in my head.



To say I was surprised by the prices per person for caterers would pretty much be an understatement. I was in complete shock. I thought $20 per person was the norm... turns out its more like double that. Ouch. My first instinct was... I'm cutting the guest list in half. Serious. We were still going off of our initial guest list, so there were definitely people that we could cut if needed. When I brought up the topic to Justin, he said he figured it would be that maybe a little more. What?!?! You mean you are ok with the price and we dont need to cut anyone?!?!



Onward search. We looked over the list of caterers, pulled up their websites and selected the one we thought suited us best. In comes... Catering by Jill. I called and scheduled a consultation. Amy, one of the event managers, emailed me more detailed pricing for packages that worked best at our venue and the style we were going for.



The Valentine isnt really an ideal venue for a sit down dinner, plus that's way more formal than we were going for. We wanted something a little less formal that would allow our guests to do whatever they wanted; dance, eat, hangout. From our initial search, we thought we wanted to go with their sit-down buffet.



Flash Forward to Thursday -- our meeting with Jack, the owner of Catering by Jill. The meeting started with Jack running through the entire evening with us; starting with the ceremony and ending with our grand exit. He hit every single little detail I had started stressing about -- wondering who would take care of those little things I was picturing for our reception. Then it was time to talk about the food. We told Jack that we were thinking about the sit down buffet and he immediately steered us toward a lower priced package that he said worked better for what we wanted. It's their Beautiful Beginnings Package in case anyone was curious enough to check it out on their website. He said we would get more for our money and the selections were a little more creative -- he hit the nail on the head. Because we are having an evening wedding, we wanted to feed our guests a meal that felt like dinner, so Jack combined the two packages and made a package that fit perfectly to us and what we wanted. Another plus, Jack was completely honest with us.



Our meeting lasted an hour and at the end of it I was amazed. Peggy, the wedding coordinator at The Valentine, had said the caterer would run the show for our reception. I hadnt really believed her until I met with Jack. His company is basically going to serve as the Day Of Coordinator and Caterer.



Wondering what those little details were that sealed the deal?!?!

Catering by Jill...

*provides meals for our vendors for FREE

*will pack a goodie bag for us with a sampling of everything we have for our reception and put it in our getaway car

*will ice and chill our beer, wine and liquor and bring it to the reception -- if we happen to run out they will use their stock

*provides linens, plates, utensils and glassware

*fully licensed and insured so we dont have to get extra insurance

*makes sure our cake doesnt melt (puts in dry ice if needed) and that bugs dont ruin it (covers with a lacy mesh thing until time to cut)

*we get to keep any leftovers

*will do complete set up and breakdown of the reception -- we can drop off our decorations and they will make sure it is all set up and that they are packaged and given to a designated person at the end of the night

*Jack invited us to come see the setup of a wedding in April/May that will be similar to ours



I'm in love, love, love. Our contract and deposit went out in the mail today. YAY!!! another thing checked off our list.