Weddings, Money & Promptness

Dan reached out to a well-known caterer in San Francisco to inquire about catering our wedding. The initial email was around Thanksgiving, and they let us know they were busy and it would take a little time to put together a proposal. Their guess was that it would be three weeks.

Six weeks came and went without a word. 

Last night we emailed them to ask them if there was an update. Today, two months later, we got our initial proposal back. The proposal is $7K more than the one we’re considering. 

I understand that weddings are expensive, that food is expensive, that eating local and sustainable is expensive, and that the place we’re looking at is something of a San Francisco name brand.

But if you’re going to charge luxury prices… you should probably back that up with luxury service. That means being prompt with email. That means following up with me, so I don’t need to follow up with you. And it means making me feel like I’m valued as a client, not just some random person you need to deal with when it’s convenient for you. 

In general we’ve been lucky to deal with great vendors who are not only prompt with email, but awesome independent small businesses or non-profits. And if choosing someone else means supporting someone else, a small business, who maybe doesn’t have locally grown endive on the menu, that’s ok with me.