HELP - Lake Mary Event Center Caterers?

Pattash

Hello,

I am considering the LMEC for my wedding next year and they have a list of 8 preferred caterers: Arthur’s Creative Events & Catering, Big City Catering, Classic Creations Catering, Cuisiniers Catered Cuisine & Events, John Michael Weddings & Special Events, Levan’s Catering, Puff’n Stuff Events Catering, River City Catering. I really don't want to have to meet with all 8 and I am looking for some advice on narrowing down this list to maybe 3. Is that a good number to start with or should I meet with all and compare?

I would be looking for the caterer to provide: food, beverage, alcohol, linens (maybe), dinnerware, glassware, etc) for the reception. I have a 75 guest estimate. Minus the LMEC $2800 site fee, my remaining budget for catering/rentals is about $3650 which would be about $48pp total including tax, service charges and gratuity. I know thats probably not much - weddings are so expensive and this budget stuff is so frustrating - ok that was my little vent for now. I might be able to stretch that budget up a bit to $4000-$4500 but if I can stay under $4000 that would be ideal.

I know many of you on here have used these caterers before and I have read some of the posts on some of them. I am wondering if you could please provide some advice on narrowing down the list based on your experience with them - best value for my budget. I'm not a real fancy person so I just need good food and service to be happy with the caterer. Hopefully you guys can help.

Thanks

Theresa626

I have not personally used any of those caterers but the ones I have heard good things about are Puff n Stuff, Levan's and Arthur's.  

brit21489

Make a menu that includes everything you need/want (food, linens, china, drinks, maybe appetizers,chair covers/rentals,  and all that) then maybe you can compare prices. That's actually what I did. I called a bunch of the places and some people were really sweet. If they had good prices or wanted to bring down their prices then I considered them. One person did not even write me back so I automatically crossed them off of the list. I also got another bad review about one of the caterers so I crossed them off, too. I just kept narrowing them down from there. I narrowed it down to 3 and then met with those and made my decision from there. GL figuring it out! (Also, $48pp is plenty for some of the caterers. Make sure you tell them you want the service costs and everythign added into the total so you can see the real number).

therockisblinding05

I'm using the LMEC and I didn't interview all 8. We interviewed John Michaels, Puff n Stuff, and Levan's and decided on Levans. Jennifer over there was able to give us the best caterers to look at based on our price point and made narrowing it down a lot easier. And some of the comparison I did online by having multiple pages open at once. Like I could see one caterer's $30/person package did not offer as much as another's , etc. Good luck!

AlexiaANDRobert

I LOVE Big City Catering.  Shannon is seriously amazing.  A friend of mine is using them for her Fall wedding because she loved her at my wedding so much.

With your specific requirements and budget, I don't know exactly what they can offer, but it's worth the phone call.

Also, you don't have to meet with all of them, you can just email/call and ask for a quote and then meet with the ones that you think will work.

One more thing, if you do a brunch, or lunch reception, you can probably get more bang for your buck!

ericak926

Our venue (Casa Feliz) exclusively uses Arthur's so we didn't have a choice in a caterer. FI and I are food snobs so as far as catered food goes, Arthur's is amazing!
Good Luck!

Britt1406

You should be able to get all that for the price you are looking at. Keep in mind that one way to lower costs would be to bring your own alcohol. When we were discussing this with Big City Catering it was an option (although we ended up choosing someone else) and I remember reading somewhere that Arthur's catering also let someone do this. It might be an idea just incase you would like some wiggle room to use the money on something else.

Megs30

We are using Arthur's.  Their food and their service is amazing!

Pattash

Thank you ladies for the great advice!
This is really helpful.

mlharbis

My vote is for Puff n Stuff. They are awesome and I am working with Heidi Brice and she got us a GREAT deal and met out budget (which was also small). The food is amazing!!!! I highly recommend meeting with them!

x3Harmony534

LEVANS! We looked at just about all of them, and found Levans to be the most affordable, had the BEST food, and the best customer service. Our initial quote was higher than we'd hoped but after a budget meething they not only DROPPED the price, but added TONS of extras to our package. Tanya & Duane will bend over backwards for you. I can't say enough good things about Levans!

x3Harmony534

Ohh also I would nix Cuisiniers now, we had an appt and the woman (Connie I believe was her name) didn't show up at all! Even though we had confirmed with her the day prior. Her receptionist took our info & promised she would contact us ASAP with a proposal based on what we told the receptionist. Did we ever get an apology? No. did we ever even get contact back? No. No damage control, no quote, no business. Shame on them! I understand things happen, but a phone call to apologize would have sufficed.

Pattash

Wow, sorry to hear that Harmony. I know how you feel. A few of the venues I have contacted have yet to return my phone calls or emails and it's been well over a month so NEXT.

nhshorty

I would echo the comments about Cuisiniers.  We met with Connie this week and had the feeling that she wasn't interested in our business.  Our "tasting" consisted of one sample appetizer.  Not good.
Shannon at Big City was wonderful and worked with us to get a nice package that we can afford.  Puf n Stuff came in second.  Their price was comparable and Heidi was pleasant - but I wanted a smaller company where I would get more personal attention since we are planning from quite a distance (NH).  We only met with the 3 mentioned here - that was plenty! 

Good luck!