Kosher, Inexpensive, Pretty, Lots of People UGH!

Sandey

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the group and have just started planning our wedding. This is a second wedding for us both (he's a widower, I'm divorced). We are very blessed with lots of friends and family who are very near and dear. We are, unfortunately, paying for the wedding ourselves and I'm having palpataions at the idea of having a $30K wedding but want something beautiful and memorable for both us and our near and dears. To top things off, he needs a Kosher caterer. Any advice? I've put a call in to Bailey's Arboretum (haven't heard back) and am waiting on recommendations for a few Kosher caterers. Anyone have any venue and/or Kosher caterer suggestions that won't prevent us from meeting our regular expenses for the rest of our lives as we pay off a 5 hour party? Thanks for any help you can provide. Sandey

Caitrus

Prestige Caterers - ask for alan schoenfeld Foremost Simply Divine

slbriz34

Have you eaten food catered by Foremost or Simply Divine?  I have gotten proposals from Main Events and a few others, but still want a few more caterers to get an idea of good value and who I should ultimately choose.  I don't want bland or blah food. Thanks.

gigglygrl8

Sandey, My fiance and I decided to go with Crest Hollow Country Club. They have a Kosher kitchen on premises which keeps costs down. Its not glatt, so if that matters you need to look elsewhere. The other one we looked at was the Sands at Lido beach. Many of the temples do beautiful weddings as well, East Meadow Jewish Center is one. We chose Crest Hollow because of the beautiful grounds outside for the pictures and ceremony, and the price. Good luck and hope this helps! -Amy

Sandey

Thank you, Ladies. I really appreciate your responses. I've been talking to Prestige and Philip Stone Caterers and have a few others that were recommended. One of the problems is we would like an outdoor ceremony, if possible, and I'm really big, in general, about open and airy. A lot of the synogogues seem to have pretty closed in and/or dark ballrooms. I know what you mean about being fearful of bland or blah. I'm insisting on tastings as FH is the one who wants Kosher. What type of quotes are you getting? You can email me privately if you'd like. I'm assuming you guys know how to do that. I'm a newbie so I'm not really sure how this all works. I was involved on the site the first time I got married but that was 8 years ago and things have changed a lot since then.

shirz903

I am using prestige and its $90 for us. I LOVE Alan and the food is really good.

Sandey

I'm talking to Prestige but having problems getting return calls and follow through with Peter Weiss. Not sure if it's because I'm doing a bit of pricing before I'm going to be ready to look at venues but he was supposed to send me a list of places they work with and the first one was only Nassau and the second one has yet to arrive over half a week after it was promised. I know they work at a lot of places out here but I'm afraid that if he's not that responsive when I'm not yet booked, he's going to be really bad once he has my money...

slbriz34

Sandey, I know what you mean about Peter. My FI and I met with him last year when we were thinking of having our affair in Queens. He gave us a great proposal and we were about 90% sure we were going to book at the venue discussed. Then we changed our mind and I asked him for other suggestions and it just too forever for him to get back to me. It's not that he doesn't care but this time of year they are truly, truly busy. And while it sucks for us, if he was working our wedding, we'd want to have his undivided attention. I'm also waiting for a proposal from him for my new place (I already have two and just want a few more options before deciding on a caterer). Since you are just doing pricing, once you get a few, they all are fairly similar; after that point once you pick a venue, then you can be more selective on the caterer you choose. You'll have to be a bit patient with him, which is tough and I feel your pain, but it's how it works. In the meantime, I hope you are getting proposals from other vendors.  I'd also try Main Events, though they work mostly in NJ/NYC, they may have venues for LI (or at least if you find a venue, they can cater).   I'd stay away from Woodbury Jewish Ctr, very pricey.  :-)

Sandey

Thank you. I understand a bit that he needs to be responsive to the clients he has but when he promises to have a list to me by last Saturday and it's now almost Friday and I still haven't gotten the list and I haven't gotten a return call or even a quick email to let me know he's gotten my messages and he's not ignoring me, just busy, it makes me nervous. Are you still getting married in Queens? I'm going to call Main Events tomorrow. I also have a referral for Morrell and am going to call a few others posted earlier. Originally, I was talking to the caterers and they were saying that I should look at a place on-line and let them know and they'll meet me at the place (I think that's what they said) but they said don't talk directly to the place because they'll let me know what the price will be. What I'm finding now that I'm calling the places is that they just tell you to come take a look at the place and then bring in our own caterer. SO CONFUSING!!! It was not this way the first time around. The whole outside vendor thing is so confusing to me... Thanks so much for the advice and comments, everyone (most recently Slbriz). MUCH MUCH APPRECIATED!

slbriz34

:-)   Thanks.Totally feel you on Peter; worse case if you find someone else you like in the interim, then it's his loss.  Nothing personal but it's business for the bride, too. ;)We were going to get married in Queens but then we had to put things off and when we picked a new date, we revamped our entire plan.  We attend shul in Brooklyn and it's too small for a reception, which is why we were looking for a place that could do both.  Now we're content with having the ceremony at our synagogue and then traveling (not too far) to the reception.  Folks will get over it!  :-)While the venue will still tell you to come visit the site anyway, the reason you should go through the caterer is that sometimes they can negotiate a better price on your behalf - since they do so much business with the venue.  If you go on your end and book and then book the caterer, you may miss out on some savings.  Not true of all places, but if that's what a few caterers have told you, I'd follow along.Keep us posted.

Sandey

Exactly. Sorry you had to do the postponement thing but I'm happy you were able to reschedule. Yeah. As far as the venue and the caterer... Now I'm finding when I call the venue, they say they will just let you use whichever caterer you choose and they don't work with specific ones. That's how I was feeling, though, that the caterer could negotiate a bit. Oh well, the really important thing is I'm marrying the most wonderful man in the world and as many people as we can afford to celebrate with will be there. :-) I will definitely keep everyone posted. Thanks for the support!!!!