TL;DR - Service matters. It is the most visible part of you day. You want your day to be amazing. We do too!
When you go to an event or visit a restaurant, what usually makes or breaks the experience? For most, it is the service.
For weddings that's almost always the case. The service staff is the most important team members of your day. They make sure everyone is taken care of and that the venue feels and looks amazing throughout the night.
But, the challenge is, nearly any caterer you contact will say "we do weddings", which to them might mean:
- we drop food at a wedding
- we serve food at a wedding, and focus only on that.
but what you want them to say is:
- we take care of you from before your guests arrive until after they leave, and we love doing it.
We have learned over time that caterers will say "yes" to large orders. The caterer thinks "food", but you want them to think about your entire wedding experience. Any caterer that leaves before the end of the night, or does not arrive at least 1-2 hours prior to your dinner start is going to disappoint.
We have a other FAQs about what a great caterer does. You can check those out if you choose to go "off list" for a caterer. The easiest question to understand if they are a food caterer vs. wedding caterer is: "When do you arrive and when do you typically leave?"
Bottom line: we want to protect you and your guests from having a poor experience. It's not an exclusive list. There are other caterers that we have seen, that may do a good job. Our list is short, as we focus on the fair priced caterers that consistently do a great job at a fair price.
(FYI - If you find a different caterer, and they turn out to do a great job, they might be on our list one day. We are always looking to expand the list. Similarly, check out the info on serving teams as another option.)