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Excuse me???

InkdancerInkdancer member
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edited April 2014 in Snarky Brides
So in January, I got an initial quote from a caterer. It was for $3400, which I could handle. After some delayed meetings, weirdness, etc I finally got the re-issued quote today, with a few changes. The new quote was for $6800.

I just about threw up at that number. That is 2/3 of my wedding budget! Where did that number come from???

This caterer is about to hear it from me, and she is not going to like what she hears.
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Re: Excuse me???

  • raeah219raeah219 member
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    Dang! Thats a gigantic increase. 
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  • Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
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    Whoa, what?  Did they explain why it doubled in price? 

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  • misscoffeepleasemisscoffeeplease member
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    Holy crap. For how many guests and what kind of course meals are you planning to serve? 
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  • InkdancerInkdancer member
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    Maggie0829 said:
    Whoa, what?  Did they explain why it doubled in price? 
    Nope! I am going through line-by-line to see what was added and what changed.


    MrsLynn said:
    Holy crap. For how many guests and what kind of course meals are you planning to serve? 
    It's a buffet for 125 people. Seems a little much to me.
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  • Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
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    Does that by any chance include your bar too?  Because if it does then your food and beverage should be about 60% (if not a bit more) of your overall wedding budget.

    But yeah, unless you changed your food from chicken to lobster and caviar then a double in price is pretty ridiculous.

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  • InkdancerInkdancer member
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    Maggie0829 said:
    Does that by any chance include your bar too?  Because if it does then your food and beverage should be about 60% (if not a bit more) of your overall wedding budget.

    But yeah, unless you changed your food from chicken to lobster and caviar then a double in price is pretty ridiculous.
    We are having a dry wedding. There is no alcohol included in this quote because we are not serving any. This is literally coffee, soda, BBQ buffet, Mac'n'cheese station, biscuit app station.
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  • manateehuggermanateehugger member
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    $6800 sounds very reasonable to me, depending upon what you are serving, but yeah, you need to look for the cause behind the sudden increase.

    Did they suddenly include bar service or wait staff?
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  • Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
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    Inkdancer said:
    Maggie0829 said:
    Does that by any chance include your bar too?  Because if it does then your food and beverage should be about 60% (if not a bit more) of your overall wedding budget.

    But yeah, unless you changed your food from chicken to lobster and caviar then a double in price is pretty ridiculous.
    We are having a dry wedding. There is no alcohol included in this quote because we are not serving any. This is literally coffee, soda, BBQ buffet, Mac'n'cheese station, biscuit app station.
    Um, yeah, then that price is crazy ridiculous!

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  • theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownas member
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    That's $54 per person... for BBQ and mac and cheese! No. Did she accidentally add your initial $3400 to your new $3400 or something?? That's crazy.
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  • shaylagirlshaylagirl member
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    ...I can't even...WHAT?!!!  My stomach would have fallen in to my feet, then crashed through the floor.

    Our reception for up to 75 people (which included booze and wait staff) was only $3500, and that was a 4 course seated meal that was plated for our guests.

    Your caterer is CRAY-CRAY!!!  I would LOVE to know how they came up with the new number. 


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  • HisGirlFriday13HisGirlFriday13 member
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    A 100% price increase and no booze?? What in the ever-loving hell is your venue co-ordinator smoking??
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    I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'
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  • ElcaBElcaB member
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    She must have thought your estimate was for your wedding and your PPD ;)
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  • thisismynickname2thisismynickname2 member
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    Inkdancer said:
    Maggie0829 said:
    Does that by any chance include your bar too?  Because if it does then your food and beverage should be about 60% (if not a bit more) of your overall wedding budget.

    But yeah, unless you changed your food from chicken to lobster and caviar then a double in price is pretty ridiculous.
    We are having a dry wedding. There is no alcohol included in this quote because we are not serving any. This is literally coffee, soda, BBQ buffet, Mac'n'cheese station, biscuit app station.
    Yum. Can I come to your wedding?

    ;-)  
    ________________________________


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  • climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
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    Um, that is bananas. 
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  • Emmy1493Emmy1493 member
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    That's crazy. I would for sure call her up and ask why the double in price-if your only having what you described! If she was really serious about that, I would find something better. I could see if you were having alcohol, but your not, and that price for just food, some other options, etc is redic!
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  • InkdancerInkdancer member
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    Thanks all! I'm glad to know I'm not losing my mind because that seemed like way too much money to me!
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  • bananasplit472001bananasplit472001 member
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    Does that price include tax and service charges?  I find it unlikely that there is that much added on to your budget but I would ask if maybe it did.  Also I find that catering price to be normal.  My catering cost alone before tax and service charge is just over $9,000 for 80 guests.  But I live in a high cost area so maybe thats the reason.
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  • Cookie PusherCookie Pusher member
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    Not gonna lie, but I *wish* my caterer was only going to cost $6800 (including alcohol for 100ish, we're double that). However, I agree that it's kind of WTF for the quote to be doubled out of the blue.
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  • grumbledoregrumbledore member
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    Inkdancer said:


    Maggie0829 said:

    Whoa, what?  Did they explain why it doubled in price? 

    Nope! I am going through line-by-line to see what was added and what changed.

    MrsLynn said:

    Holy crap. For how many guests and what kind of course meals are you planning to serve? 

    It's a buffet for 125 people. Seems a little much to me.


    Idk, but $6800 for 125 people sounds really reasonable. I am concerned that it doubled though!


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  • grumbledoregrumbledore member
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    Ok read the rest of the the thread - for what you're getting, I agree that's high.

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  • raeah219raeah219 member
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    So did you ever find out what the increase was about?
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  • InkdancerInkdancer member
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    raeah219 said:
    So did you ever find out what the increase was about?
    Yep! Turns out the employee who wrote the original quote was about to get fired, so she half-assed my quote and left a bunch of stuff off! We were doing all our rentals through them and she left off things like glasses so people could have drinks, and lots of other really basic stuff.

    It looks like we will probably still do catering through them but not do rentals from them.
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  • Ven&RadioVen&Radio member
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    Inkdancer said:
    raeah219 said:
    So did you ever find out what the increase was about?
    Yep! Turns out the employee who wrote the original quote was about to get fired, so she half-assed my quote and left a bunch of stuff off! We were doing all our rentals through them and she left off things like glasses so people could have drinks, and lots of other really basic stuff.

    It looks like we will probably still do catering through them but not do rentals from them.
    Did you sign anything based on the original quote?  If so, I would make the caterer honor it.  Their employee did a poor job, they need to suck it up and deal with it.  Sticking the customer with twice the bill is poor customer relations.
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  • InkdancerInkdancer member
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    Ven&Radio said:
    Inkdancer said:
    raeah219 said:
    So did you ever find out what the increase was about?
    Yep! Turns out the employee who wrote the original quote was about to get fired, so she half-assed my quote and left a bunch of stuff off! We were doing all our rentals through them and she left off things like glasses so people could have drinks, and lots of other really basic stuff.

    It looks like we will probably still do catering through them but not do rentals from them.
    Did you sign anything based on the original quote?  If so, I would make the caterer honor it.  Their employee did a poor job, they need to suck it up and deal with it.  Sticking the customer with twice the bill is poor customer relations.
    Unfortunately no, so we're stuck with a price increase :C
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  • Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
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    Inkdancer said:
    raeah219 said:
    So did you ever find out what the increase was about?
    Yep! Turns out the employee who wrote the original quote was about to get fired, so she half-assed my quote and left a bunch of stuff off! We were doing all our rentals through them and she left off things like glasses so people could have drinks, and lots of other really basic stuff.

    It looks like we will probably still do catering through them but not do rentals from them.
    A good vendor would realize that this was their own fault, and would stick to your originally quoted amount.  it's not YOUR fault that they had a bad employee on their hands.  I'd probably drop them entirely and demand my down payment back as a result of this.
    This. Or they would at least offer steep discounts for their rentals.

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  • MrsMarendeMrsMarende member
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    I think if you offer to be reasonable by accepting some increase you can negotiate a large discount off the rentals. They should offer you something for the inconvenience and poor customer service.
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  • hellohkbhellohkb mod
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    I agree with the others- This is absolutely not your fault. I would inquire about a discount. 


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