Chosen venue, tasting was really disappointing.

I would talk to your coordinator about your concerns.

My fiancé and I adore our venue too; the food was good, but nothing extraordinary. (Which we expected, same as you). A turn off I experienced was my fiancé getting a piece of bone in his salmon filet, which is totally unavoidable considering I buy/cook salmon all the time and don't have that issue. Obviously we don't want guests having to reach into their mouths or spit anything out; we expressed this to our coordinator and she said she'd talk to the chef. I intend to bring it up again as a reminder closer to.

Considering you put down a deposit, your venue should be able to (and willing to) cater to dietary needs and preferences! If they are not, perhaps it may be better to look for anything venue before you commit by putting down more toward your payment.

This is very true!

I wouldn't worry too much but make sure that you express your concern with your DOC - I'm sure that as much as it may be a bit to the ego for the chef that they both want to provide the best that they can and won't know there needs to be a change unless there are people letting them know!

Hi Rachel!

I went to the open house for my wedding venue last February 2018 and did my separate tasting 2 months before the wedding in June, and I do have to note that for both tastings, the food tastes different from the actual wedding. As for the cold dishes, I had asked our coordinator about it and they said that for the actual wedding the food will be kept warm in the buffet racks. However, for open houses, they usually have a lot of foot traffic and can't put the tasting hor d'oeurvres in the large buffet racks.

When you signed your contract, it should come with a list of the types of dishes they will serve so that you lock in the prices before they go up the following year. During my separate tasting, I was able to let our on-site coordinator know if I preferred something with more seasoning or have them change something about the dish. Maybe you can ask your coordinator about how to you can create a menu to your liking?

One thing to keep in mind for open house tastings are that some places prep everything in advance (like a full day ahead or something) and then serve it but for the weddings they prep the food the morning of so it's more fresh. Also some places are rushed and on a tighter budget when cooking for open houses especially ones that are open to the public but can take their time and put more money into the ingredients for a wedding.

We were told all of this when we were sampling from different caterers. For sure talk to your venue about it though because the last thing you want is to feel that way on your wedding day as well, or for people to remember that part of the wedding. Like Amanda said food can make or break a wedding sometimes

I would say something for sure. Food can make or break a wedding.

Are you allowed to have outside catering at this venue?

I think I was at the same tasting and have to say I agree a little bit. I thought the meats were mostly good, although the roast beef was dry without gravy. But the veggies were underwhelming. I would have liked the beans if they weren't so crunchy but the mixed veggies were kind of an unwelcome surprise - they seem so easy for the price of the packages.

We're not concerned enough to consider switching venues but we'll definitely make note for next year's tasting and discuss specifications with the coordinator at the eventual consultation.

I would definitely review your concerns. Maybe something happened that caused the issues that is out of the norm for them.

We booked our venue too and haven't tasted any food there before either. I suppose we should get in sooner rather than later in case we run into similar issues