- Joined
- May 3, 2006
- Location
- Ventura, CA
The weekend before last, I had another wedding at "The Ranch." This was a special wedding in that the bride fired 3 wedding coordinators prior to her special day, and some other vendors as well:shock:
We went back and forth up and too the last minute adding and subtracting based on their budget. This wedding was contracted out at 115, but it appears to have had 130 in attendance. :evil:
The Menu:
Starters
Grilled mini- cheese sandwiches
Chicken Skewers
Entree
Grilled chicken
BBs
Tri-tip
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Baked Beans
Grilled Veggies (Scallions, asparagus and assorted sweer peppers in oyster sauce)
First mistake, letting the client reduce my staff from 8-6 for budget considerations (I should have known better).
Second, agreeing to the given Timeline (We could not serve dinner until 8p, lightning was wretched and I had to carve farking tri-tip in the dark)
Third, not reviewing the adjusted timeline prior to two days before the event (she pulled some fast ones on me).
This was a high maintenace wedding with hollywood B list actor types. We worked our collective arses off and it showed as we received high praise!
This was my fist gig where I found myself saying 'just make it to the end of the gig.'
What I fond helpful for this type of gig. You must have a drill sargeant, someone to keep the troops on task other than me. It frees me up to keep calm and trouble shoot.
Jaime serves as my drill sargeant - she is in charge of making sure the crew gets the tables set, tablescapes, buffet area, etc. I found it easy to have her in charge of this area because its usually other women handling these task (no sweet talking me, this is business, lol). I saw her several times light the fire under her crew to make things happen.
Jaime and I now have pre-meetings to plot the event days in advance.
Yes, she gets paid more than the other servers, but she is worth her weight in gold!
I am in charge of the grill, bartenders (sorry no pics this time) and communicating with the coordinators.
Bride threw me a couple of curves that cost me some dough. I was going to send her a bill post the wedding for tonic water, water and other bar supplies that I incurred the day of the wedding at the last minute. However, I decided to eat the cost, because I was fearful I would lose my professionalism, if she tripped about the bill. I incurred about $300 in cost due to the listed last minute things that I was not contractually responsible.
I still made some nice dough as did my staff and sometimes you need to decide, if it is worth it, which I decided it was not to send a post bill (usually not a problem, but this may have been). Potentially losing my professionalism is not worth $300. Losing it would haunt me!
Here are the only pics taken and I missed the food shots as it was dark as hell by the time dinner was served:shock:
Jaime has on the cap
We went back and forth up and too the last minute adding and subtracting based on their budget. This wedding was contracted out at 115, but it appears to have had 130 in attendance. :evil:
The Menu:
Starters
Grilled mini- cheese sandwiches
Chicken Skewers
Entree
Grilled chicken
BBs
Tri-tip
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Baked Beans
Grilled Veggies (Scallions, asparagus and assorted sweer peppers in oyster sauce)
First mistake, letting the client reduce my staff from 8-6 for budget considerations (I should have known better).
Second, agreeing to the given Timeline (We could not serve dinner until 8p, lightning was wretched and I had to carve farking tri-tip in the dark)
Third, not reviewing the adjusted timeline prior to two days before the event (she pulled some fast ones on me).
This was a high maintenace wedding with hollywood B list actor types. We worked our collective arses off and it showed as we received high praise!
This was my fist gig where I found myself saying 'just make it to the end of the gig.'
What I fond helpful for this type of gig. You must have a drill sargeant, someone to keep the troops on task other than me. It frees me up to keep calm and trouble shoot.
Jaime serves as my drill sargeant - she is in charge of making sure the crew gets the tables set, tablescapes, buffet area, etc. I found it easy to have her in charge of this area because its usually other women handling these task (no sweet talking me, this is business, lol). I saw her several times light the fire under her crew to make things happen.
Jaime and I now have pre-meetings to plot the event days in advance.
Yes, she gets paid more than the other servers, but she is worth her weight in gold!
I am in charge of the grill, bartenders (sorry no pics this time) and communicating with the coordinators.
Bride threw me a couple of curves that cost me some dough. I was going to send her a bill post the wedding for tonic water, water and other bar supplies that I incurred the day of the wedding at the last minute. However, I decided to eat the cost, because I was fearful I would lose my professionalism, if she tripped about the bill. I incurred about $300 in cost due to the listed last minute things that I was not contractually responsible.
I still made some nice dough as did my staff and sometimes you need to decide, if it is worth it, which I decided it was not to send a post bill (usually not a problem, but this may have been). Potentially losing my professionalism is not worth $300. Losing it would haunt me!
Here are the only pics taken and I missed the food shots as it was dark as hell by the time dinner was served:shock:
Jaime has on the cap
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