Maryland

Uptown Catering/Celebrations

Has anyone met with Celebrations at the Bay or with Uptown Catering in general? I've seen very good reviews of actual day of wedding coordinating and how great it was but I was SO put off by our snotty little coordinator that we met with. After talking with a friend, she met with a person from The Villa who had the same attitude. It was along the lines of "we don't care if you book with us because we will get booked either way". The view and venue is very pretty, but not if that's the type of crap i have to deal with when someone is taking care of my wedding.

Re: Uptown Catering/Celebrations

  • edited December 2011
    I did, it's where I'm getting married.  I was a bit put off by the owner, who I met with first and seemed big into impressing us with how awesome he is and cared more about the couple at the next table.

    However, I've had really good experiences with everyone else I've worked with, including the owner's son, my DOC, and the guy in charge at the Villa.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • edited December 2011
    I should add:

    I just realized that lately they have been a bit unresponsive.  In the beginning they told me to send all my questions to my DOC, Heather, who was awesome, but one day they told me to instead send them to a general e-mail.  Since then, replies take a bit longer, and the guy who responds often ignores parts of my e-mail and I have to e-mail him again for a straight answer.  I sort of wonder if Heather is even still there/still my DOC.

    At first I chalked it up to the fact that other people don't obsessively check e-mail like I do, or may not work every day of the week, but just recently it got sort of ridiculous and I'm actually a little ticked now that I realize it.  I tend to forget I'm waiting on information once the e-mail is sent out because I'm so used to getting prompt responses, but it has taken them two weeks to get back to me about my three-month planning meeting, which is supposed to be in two weeks, and it really bugs me that they wait until my wedding is closer, and I have something IMPORTANT to talk to them about, to flake out.

    Sorry for the novel.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • edited December 2011
    we checked that place out and although i loved the location/view/etc, it seemed a little wedding factory-ish.  the fact that they have 2 weddings going on at once kinda bugged me, so did the guy we met with.  their sales-yness was a little annoying too and the fact that they tried to get us to sign on the spot.  although it would have been nice to have them take care of almost everything for us, when we looked at our overall budget it seemed very pricey to not even include the photographer, florist, etc.

    lauraT - that would bug me too especially since your wedding is coming up soon.  when that happened to me i would email people a second time if i didn't hear back soon enough.  do you have their direct phone number?  sometimes that is best because you can get an immediate response instead of waiting on email.  hope this helps!!!
    Visit The Knot!
  • gelly bellygelly belly member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    that was the first venue we looked at. it was nice, but the two wedding next door to each other didn't sit well with me. then it was extremely sunny at both ceremony sites. the tent's air condition was obnoxiously loud, but they said when the dj gets going you won't notice :(  then the nail in the coffin for us was the $122.50 per person on top of the rental fee. yes it includes linens and so forth but that was just not in the budget. we went to herrington on the bay and was everything celebrations at the bay was not. we went with them and haven't had any communication problems or anything. they have been absolutely wonderful!
  • edited December 2011
    I did e-mail him again, and he got back to me immediately and said it's his policy to respond to e-mails within 48 hours so that if I don't hear back I should call, and that he never saw the other one.  I'm not sure I believe him, but I do have e-mail issues pretty regularly.

    If we were having a larger wedding, we wouldn't have gone with Celebrations because I didn't want the tent.  As of now there's no wedding scheduled in the tent on our date, but of course that could change.  We wanted the very inclusive aspect and for the most part got very good service, plus we just fell in love with the venue.  There was definitely not any pressure for us to sign on the spot - they wanted us to do a tasting before making any decisions, and I didn't feel pressured there, either.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • edited December 2011
    We're getting married at the Anchor Inn. We had a few issues with Catering By Uptown, but resolved them quickly.

    Heather isn't there anymore. I suggest getting one specific person to be your contact. For example, Ray is ours and he has been very helpful.

    I haven't met anyone too snobby. I thought the people were much nicer than other venus we toured.

    Good luck!
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maryland_uptown-cateringcelebrations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:627Discussion:502c2a01-bf83-4ea4-8b41-b0a46c8cb6c5Post:98006a3f-4bb2-4168-89e9-bb0f5cf12c91">Re: Uptown Catering/Celebrations</a>:
    [QUOTE]We're getting married at the Anchor Inn. We had a few issues with Catering By Uptown, but resolved them quickly. <strong>Heather isn't there anymore. </strong>I suggest getting one specific person to be your contact. For example, Ray is ours and he has been very helpful. I haven't met anyone too snobby. I thought the people were much nicer than other venus we toured. Good luck!
    Posted by benla1[/QUOTE]


    That's what I suspected when they all of the sudden re-directed me to the general e-mail and told me to wait until it was closer to e-mail her directly.  That's a bit slimy.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • edited December 2011
    That is really strange.

    If you can, I would try giving Rob a call. Emailing that general email doesn't seem to work. You can even try emailed any particular person (in my experience it gets you a better response).

    We had a couple issues with the email (we were told the same thing). But after a week, everything was sorted out and I feel a whole lot better.

    I feel sorry that you've had so much trouble!
  • mjconnolly2mjconnolly2 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Ours was the first wedding at Anchor Inn -- last weekend.  They only do one wedding there, and it's close to Celebrations, so you may want to check it.

    I'd bet money the guy you described as unresponsive was Jeff.  We couldn't stand him.  If so, contact Rob (one of the owners) and tell him you want to be switched.  I recommend Eileen (who will be doing most of the Anchor Inn events) or Lana K. -- they're both great.
  • edited December 2011
    Yours was the first wedding?

    My FI and I were there on sunday and saw a bit of how it was decorate. Very nice. Ray told us how well the wedding went. Congrats!
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maryland_uptown-cateringcelebrations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:627Discussion:502c2a01-bf83-4ea4-8b41-b0a46c8cb6c5Post:e61a5734-3ebd-415b-85b8-f7a04f097a5e">Re: Uptown Catering/Celebrations</a>:
    [QUOTE]Ours was the first wedding at Anchor Inn -- last weekend.  They only do one wedding there, and it's close to Celebrations, so you may want to check it. I'd bet money the guy you described as unresponsive was Jeff.  We couldn't stand him.  If so, contact Rob (one of the owners) and tell him you want to be switched.  I recommend Eileen (who will be doing most of the Anchor Inn events) or Lana K. -- they're both great.
    Posted by mjconnolly2[/QUOTE]

    Yes, it was Jeff. I talked to Rob (who has been amazing and we love) and I think we've sorted things out.  The thing I don't get is that Rob said Jeff is usually really great, even though we've had terrible service from him and apparently so have you.  And even when we first met him at our tasting, he kind of gave me the creeps, he seemed very fake.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • edited December 2011
    FYI... Ashley at Uptown is VERY SWEET and NICE! I didnt like the 2 wedding thing either, and the VILLA has no curb appeal. My fiancee and I cant afford Celebrations... so we are still looking!
  • heidilynn43heidilynn43 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Has anyone used Uptown just for catering, but at your own venue (private farm)? I am compiling a list of caterers to check out :)
  • edited December 2011

    I had to chime in...We extensively researched Catering By Uptown/ celebreations/ Villa and we ultimately choose them as our caterer but we decided to have it at The Newtone White Mansion. I really liked their " one stop shopping" for me because my schedule is so hectic. But my Fiance is so upset that we chose them because in a matter of one month they increased their pricing to 150 per/ person. They also have been somewhat hard to contact  in the previous months. You really have to read everything in there contract line by line. The I like our DOC and Ray they have been the most repsonsive.. We have alot of events in our families... but my fiance is determined that we will never use them again.

  • edited December 2011

    I know you asked about this venue, but check out the Sunset  Room at the National Harbor, Newton White Mansion in Mitchellville, Mount Airy Mansion in Rosaryville Md which is north east of Clinton.   Everyone my daughter and I talked to there were very nice.   Mount Airy Mansion talk to Marsha,  one event /day and you have it for 7 or 8 hours.  

    We talked to lady at Celebrations who was very nice, however, others came over and we felt that were a little pushy.

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards