Last Vendors Standing

My last caterer post is probably still fresh in your minds because of how ridiculous his shenanigans were. A recent meeting with another caterer, helped to show us the extent of how ridiculous Mr. S was.

As you may recall, Douglas is in Blacksburg, VA, for a paid internship with Modea. Since he's up in the Roanoke area, he's able to meet with vendors that we would otherwise have trouble meeting with. He's already met with one potential DJ and more recently met with a caterer that we've been dancing with since day 1. The most recent part of the dance was in a recent post.

Blue Ridge Catering

Douglas called them the morning after our less than mediocre meal from Szechuan. We were so excited to learn that Blue Ridge still had our date open and anxiously waited to set up a meeting! Douglas was able to take that meeting earlier this week. Without having met any of these folks yet, but having heard them talk and heard how they interact and perform - I cannot stop talking so highly of them!

Blue Ridge was one of the first caterers we bookmarked while doing web searches. They had a nice array of sample menus on their website and those gave us the sense that they'd be able to pull off the types of food that Douglas and I eat (nothing fancy or spicy). Since we first contacted them through their website, Mark, the owner, was quick to get on the horn with us and hear about what we were trying to achieve with our event and what types of foods we liked. Positive #1 - interested about the event and inquired about our food interests. Positive #2 - On the phone, Mark sounded genuinely intrigued by our ideas.

The first time we said "thanks, but no thanks" to Blue Ridge was because of me. Having just started to look at the cost of wedding stuff, I couldn't get over the sticker shock. After spending a few more months in Wedding Budgeting Land, we realized that Blue Ridge was actually really close to what we were budgeting anyway - this brought about our third and latest revisit. The second time we said "thanks, but no thanks", we had made the decision to go with Szechuan after weighing the two, our favorite two, food options. You've already read about how well our family tasting of Szechuan went, so that brings us to this week and our third revisit, but first meeting.

Sadly, Douglas was not able to meet with Mark due to a sudden death in the family. Mark offered to either reschedule or keep the meeting and have Douglas meet with a member of Mark's staff. Positive #3 - Making sure we're taken care of even in the face of a family emergency, but also prioritizing your own family. Major points. So Douglas shows up to Blue Ridge and is greeted with a plate of desserts! Positive #4 - the first caterer/food option to provide any food-item whatsoever. Positive #5 - Douglas said they were reaaaaaaaaaaally tasty. The meeting didn't take long, but sounded like it went really well. We all already had three versions of menus that we had emailed back and forth throughout our revisits, so no time needed to be spent on putting a menu together. They discussed tweaks and what-if-we-swapped-this-item-for-that-service. They were easy going, eager to listen, made suggestions and adjustments on the fly, and came across as genuinely wanting to ensure that we had a great time at our event - NOT that they showed off at our event.

So here we sit (though in different states), waiting for two more versions of the menu to pop into our inboxes. We already know they come highly recommended and have a great reputation. They provide their own staff. They want to get you the food you want, make sure you'll enjoy it, and present it in a proper way. As has been the case with our other vendors, we knew when it was right. I do feel a little stupid that we've been circling this vendor the ENTIRE time we've been planning, but this is why I took my time - to learn from my mistakes and be able to correct them. I feel 100% better dumping a buttload of money into Blue Ridge, knowing that we'll all enjoy the food, than throwing it to Mr. S and knowing no one would enjoy the food.

What's on the menu, you seem to be asking. I'm going to keep that one under my belt for now. I can share one thing that this caterer was totally awesome in providing as an option, but will definitely not be making an appearance (due to cost, sadly).

A clothespin s'mores bar (not a photo of Blue Ridge offering)

Clothespin Smores Station
A Chef Tended Station. Graham Crackers & Bittersweet Chocolate w/ Mini Clothespins, dipped in Marshmallow and torched to order.

Alas, there will be no s'mores at the reception. In light of this reality, here is how I see myself spending my time between wedding-to-do-stuff the week before:

Stop 1: Fork in the Alley or Fork in the City for fresh s'mores

Stop 2: Polished for mani/pedi