“We Kind Of Ruined A Wedding”: Restaurant Is Unaware They Were Supposed To Serve 150 People
Interview With Author
If we break it down, being a wedding guest is basically just attending a large party with a somewhat strange guestlist. And no day-long party is complete without at least some food and drink to keep oneself going. Dancing, socializing, and who knows what else all require some degree of energy, after all.
One man was working at a restaurant on a pretty normal day when they got a somewhat concerning call. At some point, months ago, a wedding planner had booked them to cater a wedding and the information ended up being lost somewhere at corporate. We got in touch with OP, Agitated_Honeydew, to learn more.
Feeding a group of people is rarely easy, so most folks turn to caterers
Image credits: Dolores Preciado (not the actual photo)
But one server shared his experience with a catering order never being passed to the restaurant, with disastrous results
Image credits: Jonathan Borba (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Gabriella Clare Marino (not the actual photo)
Later, OP shared some further thoughts
Image credits: Klara Kulikova (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Agitated_Honeydew
Even though corporate messed up, OP and the other staff got the blame
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda got in touch with the wonderfully named Agitated_Honeydew who shared his experience and he was kind enough to answer some of our questions. Firstly, we were curious to know how this slip-up had happened in the first place.
“Like I said in the story, I had never heard of the lady at corporate who was supposed to handle the order, since, ya know, she works somewhere doing stuff that doesn’t usually concern me. Our catering orders were usually EZ cater type of stuff, and my involvement in those was usually restricted to bagging up orders. So no real reason to think about her, and I try to avoid the rumor mill stuff. So I didn’t do a follow-up,” he shared with Bored Panda.
OP believed that there was no way for his team to fix the issue
Given that the team still did receive a pretty short amount of warning, we wanted to know if OP thought that somehow the order could have been made.
“Realistically, we probably couldn’t have finished that order in a reasonable time frame. We didn’t even have enough food prepped to just make the salads needed for the order. Our manager was having to call other branches to see what they could spare.”
“Maybe, if three of the branches closed for an hour and a half, and did nothing but focus on the order, we could put it together, but that wasn’t really an option. We could have maybe called in some people to come in on Saturday night, but most would have either been working side gigs or just enjoying their weekend.”
OP wanted to clear up a few misconceptions that some readers might have developed when going through the story. “Also, I’ve noticed a number of people assuming the manager was a guy when the manager was a woman. (She/her last I checked). She was very calm under pressure when a lot of people (myself included) would have been freaking out.”
Catering is a big part of any wedding
Image credits: Naim Benjelloun (not the actual photo)
While the size (and cost) of a wedding will greatly differ, there is no denying that if someone wants a large’ish wedding with all the bells and whistles, it is going to cost them. According to the Knot, in 2022, the average cost, per head, just for catering, was $75. This cost went down slightly for weddings that had around a hundred guests, as at some point, economies of scale do start to kick in.
However, huge weddings are often beyond the normal catering abilities of “regular” restaurants and will require specialty providers. This is why the actual, total cost can vary so greatly, with some weddings being catered for around $4000, while others end up hitting as much as $20,000. But the truth is, nothing will kill the vibe at a wedding as quickly as hungry and irritated guests, so perhaps it’s money well spent.
Readers were quite understanding and shared similar experiences
The “Wedding Coordinator “ was probably just a friend or relative of the bride. A professional wedding coordinator would check on the catering order two months, two weeks, and then two days before the event.
They are also assuming the wedding planner didn't reconfirm. There is every chance they did and that reconfirmation went missing too if the corporate person is as bad as they sound. edit: Though I must admit I'd be ringing the restaurant direct way earlier than an hour late.
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It's a good story and illustrates that if you organise something which requires outside help, you need to check, re-check and double-check. That's not a personal thing, it's not because you don't trust the other person not to make mistakes, it's just good practice and most people will understand.
I had the opposite problem once while planning my wedding. We wanted something small and simple, just champagne and pastries, for about 30-40 guests. Called a couple of bakeries and got price quotes for what we had in mind. A few weeks later my fiancé and I called off the wedding and split up. Thankfully we hadn’t gotten to the stage of planning to put down deposits. 10 months later on a chilly November night I get a call from one of the bakeries asking where everyone is and that our order is ready. They were furious with me but I pointed out that I had never confirmed an order, signed a contract, or even an order form. No one called to confirm or get a deposit or payment at all. Always call to confirm things.
The “Wedding Coordinator “ was probably just a friend or relative of the bride. A professional wedding coordinator would check on the catering order two months, two weeks, and then two days before the event.
They are also assuming the wedding planner didn't reconfirm. There is every chance they did and that reconfirmation went missing too if the corporate person is as bad as they sound. edit: Though I must admit I'd be ringing the restaurant direct way earlier than an hour late.
Load More Replies... It's a good story and illustrates that if you organise something which requires outside help, you need to check, re-check and double-check. That's not a personal thing, it's not because you don't trust the other person not to make mistakes, it's just good practice and most people will understand.
I had the opposite problem once while planning my wedding. We wanted something small and simple, just champagne and pastries, for about 30-40 guests. Called a couple of bakeries and got price quotes for what we had in mind. A few weeks later my fiancé and I called off the wedding and split up. Thankfully we hadn’t gotten to the stage of planning to put down deposits. 10 months later on a chilly November night I get a call from one of the bakeries asking where everyone is and that our order is ready. They were furious with me but I pointed out that I had never confirmed an order, signed a contract, or even an order form. No one called to confirm or get a deposit or payment at all. Always call to confirm things.
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