Vendor meals (sorry for posting twice!)

dream10

I will be serving the the band (6 people) and my photographers (2 people) meals.

Should I be serving "vendor meals" to all of them?

Or should the photographer and his assistant (who will be with us ALL day) just get a regular guest meal?  And then still give the band a "vendor meal"?  (I'm not even sure what it is...)

Thanks again!!

jenniferandstephen

Our venue allows a $17 discount (essentially the liquor cost) for vendor meals. It's the exact same food for less.

IMO, if you want your vendors at their best it's worth it to keep them fed and happy. I completely understand a tight budget though so I suppose it depends on the type of deal you can get from your venue. I would at least ask them to take off the per hour cost of the bar and see what you get. GL.

morgie44

We gave all our vendors guest meals, but didn't have to pay for alchohol for them.  I don't think that you really need to provide a meal for the band though honestly, in the post below you said they will only be with you for 2.5 hours.  I would say only the vendors that are working more than 4 hours should be fed. 

morgie44

Also wanted to add, it depends on where the photog is sitting.  I asked ours where she preferred to sit, and she said among the guests, so that is where I sat them.  I think it would be sort of rude to sit them among guests and not serve them the same meal, not a big deal if they will be sitting elsewhere for dinner though. 

duckie1905

We served them the same thing as the guests minus the cost of the open bar.  We fed all the vendors that were at the reception during dinner service: DOC, photog, and DJ.

jessNlane52804

Our photographer had a twitter post about this recently, and several Chicago wedding photographers were in on the conversation. The essense was what pp said about if you want them to work hard, you should feed them well. Apparently the vendor meal that banquet halls sell can get pretty crappy.

raeyn

There's a great, though lengthy, discussion about vendor meals here: http://tinyurl.com/ylsbs8y

My venue offers vendor meals for $50 instead of the $140 I'm paying for guests (which includes open bar). They will just get the entree, but I figure they probably wouldn't have time to eat the appetizer, soup, and intermezzo anyway.

lmb5109

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_illinois-chicago_vendor-meals-sorry-posting-twice?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:72Discussion:f9d6e682-d80c-48d3-b013-a56afe80abd3Post:06f949c5-cef5-4c19-b515-58c59d87be6d">Re: Vendor meals (sorry for posting twice!)</a>:
[QUOTE]They will just get the entree, but I figure they probably wouldn't have time to eat the appetizer, soup, and intermezzo anyway.
Posted by raeyn[/QUOTE]

Our vendor meals included everything like this minus the booze, so I asked each vendor and the majority of them wanted something easier to eat (sandwich, salad, or a smaller dinner like meal). At my venue I had to either serve the vendors all the same (either the same as the guest meal or all of a bar menu). Majority wanted something off the bar menu, so they got to choose whatever they wanted (sandwiches, salads, appetizers, dessert).

Also, I didn't sit my vendors with the guests. The venue had a room right outside the hall that was quieter and the vendors could relax in. One vendor said he didn't prefer sitting with guests, he felt like he had no "down" time.

Da0419

We're doing some sort of hot sandwich (I think) as our vendor meal, and our vendors will be sitting with us because I don't want them to miss anything (photographer especially).  I agree with pp who said that the vendor probably wouldn't eat all the courses anyways since they're supposed to be covering the events anyways.

bdklatt

We sat our vendors at their own table but it was in the main hall.  I just wanted them there just incase something needed to be done.....catch a picture of my grandpa at the bar, change up the dinner music, etc.  Our "vendor" meal was salad and the same main entree as our guests (chicken and steak).  So they did not get soup or pasta.  I did see them eatting a few appetizers though

TheDohertys

Yes! useful links. My venue encourages us to do vendor meals but we feel bad feeding the people who will be workign with us all day just a cold sandwich and chips probably since all the food is going to smell so good. I had this bookmarked from weddingbee a few months ago which shows a lot of wedding food. http://whattheyfedme.wordpress.com/

conpao042010

I think they should get a least a decent menu.. probably a soap and a main entree..(not just cold sandwich or something like that) because its very rude not to.. you may not have them seating together with the guests but at least a place where they can relax for a few minutes.. ours will be open bbq/steak and crabs for our photographer and guests..

thealphabride

I am feeding the vendors the same meal as my guests.
I mentioned to my DJ I would feed him and he said "not necessary" I will make the meal available to him.
I am feeding 2 photogs, and DOC. And the DJ if he wants to eat. (dj is music by design)
I am not seating my vendors with my guests however. I will set up a table for them in the room just for them.

lorn

I loved our photographer Dennis Lee. He came all the way to LA for us and he was at the rehearsal. He was like family so like I wanted him and his assistant to get more than a cold sandwich when he was with us for 10 hours. Though my mom said Dennis never stopped to eat, he just kept taking pictures.

I would ask your venue what the vendor meal is. If it's bad and served in another room I would give the vendors who have been with me all day a full meal, whether they choose to eat it or not but at least they have the option and its the polite thing to do.

truthhurts

If they're working all day a cold sandwich seems rude.  Feed them a hot meal.  I wanted my vendors happy and fed them the same as everyone else.  We set up a "vendors" table.  They seemed to enjoy that.  We'd like to think that all vendors would do their best for us because that's what we hire them to do and not base the quality of their work on what we feed them.  But I don't think it hurts to treat them right.  All of my vendors seemed to go beyond the call of duty.  We were thrilled with everything and maybe it had something to do with the fact that we didn't disregard them.  Who knows.  I say feed them hot meals and tip accordingly.