Hey...
Not sure if this has already been talked about or not, but not sure what to do.
I booked my wedding venue back in April, for our upcoming wedding on June 17, 2017, and when we booked the venue owner/coordinator said that we would be able to have free choice of any caterer that we would like. Of course, on the contract it states that they will have the right of refusal for any caterer, and, in unusual circumstances, the menu.
So shortly after booking the venue I then booked my caterer, and put down a $1,000 deposit for this, also in April.
Recently, maybe two weeks ago, I received word from my venue saying that starting next year (May 2017) they will only be using this other caterer and I can no longer use the company that I already booked. This was due to him having many bad experiences with other caterers. However, he said that if I really wanted to use the one I booked that I could do so if I allow his caterer to do everything else (including using their servers, bar, etc., pretty much everything but the food).
I don't want to pay two caterers for this, and the one I already booked said they would not give me my deposit back and they were extremely hesitant to work with the other company as he says this will likely lead to issues as they have never worked together before, and he wants everything to run perfectly.
I then gave the contact information for the venue to my caterer to discuss the problem, which lead to the venue giving him the contact information of the other caterer he wants me to use. Now I am supposed to wait for the two caterers to figure out what I want?
I don't want to use the other guys, its just not the feel I'm going for... I purposely booked a southern bbq place, to be a low key bbq party type wedding. We booked a barn, we just wanted it to be relaxed and party with our loved ones. The other caterer seems too... white glove servicey; like an expensive reception hall, which we aren't in to. I'm not sure what to do anymore.
Has anyone else experienced this?