Last minute catering fee- WWYD?

ThePinkSuperhero

We hired a friend-of-a-friend to cater our dessert reception.  We did a tasting, loved it, signed a contract to pay a certain price per person, paid our deposit.  I was e-mailing her today to confirm the balance due (since our guest total went down slightly from what we had imagined), and she said, yeah, that's it, oh, and there's a cake cutting fee, another dollar per person (almost another $200).  I know that's standard for wedding caterer, but it is not in our contract.  What do we do?  I e-mailed her today and asked why the cake cutting fee wasn't in the contract, and she acknowledged that while it wasn't in the contract, it's normal and blah blah blah.  I suppose we could just swallow it and pay the cake cutting fee, but I'm really not crazy about our vendor just throwing this fee at us after the contract is signed.  What would you do?  Pay the whole thing?  Refuse to pay anything?  Try to negotiate?

ThePinkSuperhero

I'm in NYC, just outside of Manhattan.  Thanks all for your feedback- I was tempted to just eat the cost, but feel better now about going back and explaining how I feel about last minute fees that weren't in the contract.

Shawnee11507

I wouldn't want to pay it, but I would probably negotiate so they don't f something up on the wedding day.

squirrly

I wouldn't pay it, but I probably wouldn't fight with her over it before the wedding.  I'd try to hold off on that till after - say it's not in the contract so you'd like to pay what the contract says you owe, and come back to this issue after the wedding stress when you can think clearly about it.  I'd be afraid they'd do something stupid out of anger if I pushed too hard before the wedding.

agk0125

My venue doesn't charge a cake cutting fee either. Her "it's standard" excuse is crap. If it's not in the contract you shouldn't have to pay it.

tobeDrReed

I wouldn't pay.  How do you know it's "normal" if she didn't write it into the contract?  Ditto Squirrly about waiting until after the wedding to deal with it.  I'd be afraid of retaliation for refusing to pay, but I'm a little paranoid like that.

Goldlie11

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_last-minute-catering-fee-wwyd?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:ad895225-e900-491e-87c9-f010c6e7d221Post:baba0313-7e13-43ef-9a77-523167a9f01a">Re: Last minute catering fee- WWYD?</a>:
[QUOTE]I wouldn't pay it, but I probably wouldn't fight with her over it before the wedding.  I'd try to hold off on that till after - say it's not in the contract so you'd like to pay what the contract says you owe, and come back to this issue after the wedding stress when you can think clearly about it.  I'd be afraid they'd do something stupid out of anger if I pushed too hard before the wedding.
Posted by squirrly[/QUOTE]
This

sucrets4

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_last-minute-catering-fee-wwyd?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:ad895225-e900-491e-87c9-f010c6e7d221Post:dc8331b3-2ec6-4b6a-b98e-e3cbed173a21">Re: Last minute catering fee- WWYD?</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm in NYC, just outside of Manhattan.  Thanks all for your feedback- I was tempted to just eat the cost, but feel better now about going back and explaining how I feel about last minute fees that weren't in the contract.
Posted by ThePinkSuperhero[/QUOTE]

I got married on Long Island.  I don't know about other places, but our venue was owned by a place that owns many other wedding locations, and I don't think they charge for cake cutting.

And seriously, it needs to be in the contract.  You have that on your side.  That's the whole point of a contract!

AlexiaANDRobert

Ditto all PPs, especially waiting, or just trying to put it off until after the wedding.

While I'm not necessarily afraid of confronting someone when they're definitely in the wrong, I can't stand to think of someone being angry and having that much control over the event.

Good luck!

quotequeen

I don't know... the contract probably doesn't say anything at all about her cutting the cake for you, so she could argue she isn't obligated to do that for the price you negotiated.  You might have to get somebody else to cut the cake if you aren't willing to pay your caterer to do it.

alisonz

I wouldn't pay it. If you're in NYC, chances are you're alreay paying a small fortune for catering. If its not in the contract, than you're not responsible for it.

If its a friend-of-a-friend, I think its pretty ballsy to ask for that. If you're not comfortable refusing to pay, then maybe offer to pay 50%. Its not worth having beef with your caterer. No pun intended