This weekend we’re meeting with a potential caterer. I have high hopes this time around because this caterer is also behind one of our favorite downtown restaurants.
I also had high hopes for the last guy. His office walls were plastered with awards of all kinds – awards from well-known wedding websites, awards voted on by the people – there were at least a dozen.
Awards aren’t everything.
I’m not one to blast people on the internet because I disagree with the way they run a business. I’m willing to bet this company has done great work for some clients. For that reason, it will remain nameless.
Everybody’s customer style is different. I operate under the theory that a company vying for thousands of my (admittedly, my parents’) dollars should want to impress me. I’m really not even hard to impress.
I’ll recommend a company if they’re nice, they don’t even have to be the best at whatever service they offer.
Just last week I got my hair colored and trimmed at a salon. It wasn’t life-changing, but I was happy with it so I wrote positive reviews on three (3!) different websites. Sometimes I get all caught up on the idea of pushing more positivity out into the internet world, because it’s so darn angry all the time.
So here’s the thing, all this guy had to do was be friendly and offer to make a menu that is somewhere in the realm of what we have in mind.
He did neither of those things.
picture: peach bridesmaid dressesHe spent the first half of the meeting telling my mom, who accompanied me in Russ’s absence, how everything we already have planned for my wedding is wrong – right down to the tables my parents have been using for large parties for years.
He was blasting decisions that had absolutely nothing to do with the food. It was mind-boggling.
I don’t know if you’ve been following along, but my bridal playbook is made up of a two-step process: make a decision, and be done with it.
Second-guessing any decision that is already settled is not the way to my heart or my money.
This guy managed to bruise my ego and momentarily quell my excitement – all before he even pulled out any menu ideas.
I went to the meeting with pulled pork barbecue on my mind. It’s a southern staple, and a huge deal in my home state of North Carolina. I wanted barbecue. Russ wanted barbecue. It was one of the first things we decided.
I left that catering appointment with a menu made up of ham, chicken, and shrimp & grits.
I don’t know how it happened. I know I said I like shrimp and grits, but it was after I’d said I wanted barbecue.
I remember saying ham is my least favorite meat, and Russ’s as well.
I do remember saying chicken is a good second option to barbecue because some people don’t like pulled pork (I love them anyway).
I don’t remember anything else about how that menu was planned, probably because I was still reeling over the verbal dismemberment of everything wedding-related I’d accomplished up to that point.
This weekend we’re heading to one of our favorite barbecue joints – we’re zeroing in on barbecue from the start. I have all ideas these folks will be helpful and the service will be as good as it is when we dine in their restaurant.
This time around I don’t even want to see any awards.
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