Donated Services/Items

BiaPage2

Hi Everyone! I have a little situation which is most certainly a GREAT one to have but I wanted to hear some peoples take on it because I'm really just unsure and I don't want to seem ungrateful.  Let me start this by saying that my venue is a BYOB venue and a friend of a very good friend of mine (lets call him John) has recently sent me a test message totally on his own and unsolicited.  

John owns a well known brewery in the NY/NJ area (I'm going to withhold the name as I don't know if he wants his generosity publicly known) and has offered to supply 3-4 kegs free of charge for our wedding.  The brewery is about an hour from my venue and he said he would bring everything out to the venue, including portable taps and do the full set up!  This was an AMAZINGLY generous offer and I was happy to accept (after asking numerous times of course if I could compensate him in any way and to say that I was really just so grateful for his generosity, etc.)

John insists that he knows how expensive weddings are and would love to do this for my fiance and I and that hes happy to do it.  However, I still feel uncomfortable accepting such a great offer; does anyone have any ideas of a nice way to compensate John and the other owners of the brewery? Or has anyone else been in such a situation? I would really love to show him I appreciate his generosity in some way or another.  

Thanks!

PS - I also posted this under food/cake section but wasn't 100% sure it belonged there.  Hope that's not a no no on forums here 

charlotte989875

BiaPage2 said:

Hi Everyone! I have a little situation which is most certainly a GREAT one to have but I wanted to hear some peoples take on it because I'm really just unsure and I don't want to seem ungrateful.  Let me start this by saying that my venue is a BYOB venue and a friend of a very good friend of mine (lets call him John) has recently sent me a test message totally on his own and unsolicited.  

John owns a well known brewery in the NY/NJ area (I'm going to withhold the name as I don't know if he wants his generosity publicly known) and has offered to supply 3-4 kegs free of charge for our wedding.  The brewery is about an hour from my venue and he said he would bring everything out to the venue, including portable taps and do the full set up!  This was an AMAZINGLY generous offer and I was happy to accept (after asking numerous times of course if I could compensate him in any way and to say that I was really just so grateful for his generosity, etc.)

John insists that he knows how expensive weddings are and would love to do this for my fiance and I and that hes happy to do it.  However, I still feel uncomfortable accepting such a great offer; does anyone have any ideas of a nice way to compensate John and the other owners of the brewery? Or has anyone else been in such a situation? I would really love to show him I appreciate his generosity in some way or another.  

Thanks!

PS - I also posted this under food/cake section but wasn't 100% sure it belonged there.  Hope that's not a no no on forums here 

That's a really generous offer, one you are totally free to accept if you want. Sounds like you're a pretty good friend of John so you would know his likes/dislikes and I think it would be appropriate to give him some kind of gift (a really nice dinner somewhere he likes, high end scotch/wine, a stay at b&b, round of golf, etc.) that shows your appreciation. You could also give him a cash tip if you'd like. 

FTR my friend, who is a phenomenal baker, gifted me our wedding cake. I know how much time and effort she spends on it so I did give her cash-- not what she would have charged, but something just to show how much I appreciated what she did for us. 

climbingsingle

Is it Defiant?? If so - very cool!

My friend gifted me my hair and makeup for the day off and I brought her back a beautiful piece of jewelry I knew she'd love from our HM in Italy. What does John like?

I would send a card and some kind of food to the guys at the brewery. 

STARMOON44

I would tip in cash anyone who comes with John, send John a thank you card, and a significant gift card to something that he'd like. 

SaintPaulGal

Don't wring your hands about this.  Accept the gift and thank the giver.  A heartfelt note and a thoughtful gift in return would be nice, but you wouldn't have to give anything more than your thanks.  It's a generous offer, but it's not like he is offering to pay for your whole wedding or something that would be just too much to accept--he is sharing something that may be costly to purchase but probably costs him very little to produce.

ei34

Definitely a thank you card and ditto PP, a gift based that you know he'd appreciate would be nice too.  I like Climbing's suggestion to send food to the brewery too as an additional thank you- maybe some heroes or trays of ziti, etc. 

Jen4948

In addition to the above suggestions, a testimonial would no doubt be very much appreciated by John and the brewery.

Knottie45131694

I'm sure a tip would be much appreciated but I don't think it's necessary if you can't swing it.  I would however send something to the brewery since it's not his business alone. Definitely a thank you note at the very least, and if you want to do more of a group gift like food as other people are suggesting that would also be nice, or a piece of art or something that they can hang in the brewery. You're obviously on a budget so don't go crazy providing an expensive gift or tip, your friend sounds happy to do this for you and I'm sure will be happy just to see you have a good time!

CMGragain

I have donated my services as organist to a few church weddings (and also funerals) for friends.  I expected no tip.  The music was my gift.

Subwayloves

My husbands cousin is a designer, and did the alterations for my wedding dress. My dress was a bit complicated (multiple layers, lace overlay, needed a decne amount of alterations, needed bustled, etc.), and I know if I would have paid to have this done, it would have been at least a few hundred dollars. She said it was my wedding gift, but I did still get her a $50 gift card (and wrote a heartfelt thank you) to a restaurant I know her and her husband like. I felt like this wasn't so much that I felt like I was "repaying her" for my "gift", but I did want to her to know how much I appreciated all the time and effort she put into my dress.

BiaPage2

Thank you all so much for helping put me at ease with this! I think I was so overwhelmed with their generosity I panicked and wasn't sure how to appropriately say thank you.  A heartfelt thank you card and I'll do some brainstorming for something a pack of been men would really enjoy to send over with it.  Thank you again!  

MesmrEwe

I like the idea of heartfelt thank you and gift card for dinner (enough to cover most if not all of the cost for him/SO) at a nice nearby restaurant that you know they go.  I wouldn't send food to the brewery just because food code can be a royal PITA sometimes. 

kaos16

MesmrEwe said:

I like the idea of heartfelt thank you and gift card for dinner (enough to cover most if not all of the cost for him/SO) at a nice nearby restaurant that you know they go.  I wouldn't send food to the brewery just because food code can be a royal PITA sometimes. 

True, if she was sending food for them to sell or give customers.  I don't think it would matter at all if she was sending food for the owners/employers.  It would be akin to a worker running out and grabbing lunch for himself and his coworkers. . . . perfectly acceptable!

climbingsingle

kaos16 said:

MesmrEwe said:

I like the idea of heartfelt thank you and gift card for dinner (enough to cover most if not all of the cost for him/SO) at a nice nearby restaurant that you know they go.  I wouldn't send food to the brewery just because food code can be a royal PITA sometimes. 

True, if she was sending food for them to sell or give customers.  I don't think it would matter at all if she was sending food for the owners/employers.  It would be akin to a worker running out and grabbing lunch for himself and his coworkers. . . . perfectly acceptable!

I'm sure the brewery has some sort of a lunch room where the guys eat.