...REVIEW IS FOR EXECUTION AND FINAL PRODUCT...
I was under the impression that Linda would act as my "day of coordinator", working with the DJ to make sure the event ran smoothly. I arrived at the venue at noon and she was not there but her assistant was. I ran around and set up for a bit but had to go get my make up done. I return an hour later and her assistant is just standing there, talking on her cell phone. I start to panic and tell her I thought they were going to help me set up and her response was, "No one told me what to do." We had gone trough a walk thru a few weeks prior and herself and Linda made plenty of notes. I gave her a few tasks and run off to my ceremony, off site.
I returned from ceremony a few hours later. I planned on 100 guests at cocktail hour and to my surprise we had almost 200 guests show up right on time. Thankfully Linda made extra, lots of extra appetizers so we were fine. We did an Irish theme cocktail hour with Irish punk and appetizers. They nailed it with the cocktail hour, it was a hit.
-Potato cake...nice and crunchy
-Guinness beef in a puff pastry...pretty good
-Corn beef egg roll (I think)...everyone's favorite.
It started to get really crowded so Linda suggested we open up main hall and start seating guests, again brilliant idea on her part. But that was pretty much the last I saw of her. The rest of the time she was busy in the kitchen making sure that was going ok.
We did the wedding party introductions,introduced the families, the dads give their speeches, we said a prayer and dinner was served.
Except, appetizers were served with no plates on the table. They were on large platter and passed around. Good thing I had a doily as a placemat at each seat, this made it look like I didn't intend to have plates for appetizers? LOL.
-Duck wonton...a hit
-Shrimp skewer...ok but expected more shrimp on each skewer
Next came the soup. I love the soup at Olive Garden so asked them to duplicate it and they did a wonderful job...except it was luke warm.
Then my parents asked Linda to slow down food service, it's supposed to last an hour so I can do my traditional table walk. This caused food service to be completely stopped. We asked for it to be started again but it took quite awhile to get going again.
Then came pear salad, it was a generous portion. I didn't get to eat any so not sure how it tasted.
We ordered our dinner family style. The sides came out and were sitting in giant platters on the table.
-Mashed potatoes...good but got cold while waiting for entree
-Mixed veggies...just veggies, nothing special
Finally, we get to the main entree...filet mignon and smoked salmon. The filet was SOOOO good but a little on the rare side. It's not a restaurant so hard to please all guests. Those who could not eat it, sent it back and Linda had no problem cooking it some more. I've gotten feedback from guests that the mushroom sauce to go with the filet was absolutely delicious. I've heard mixed reviews about the salmon.
-Filet mignon...GREAT but a little too rare for most guests and kids. The portion sizes varied, some guests got giant pieces while others got a small one.
-Smoked salmon...just ok
(Bride/Groom table did not have any sauce so I could not eat my salmon and I was too busy to ask for some)
Then came a great surprise from Linda. I ordered fresh fruit platters but instead she ordered little baskets of edible arrangements and they were super cute.
We probably should have had more servers or maybe just more experience servers. They all looked so young, like teenagers. They did ok but struggled and it was noticeable. The bartenders were great.
Overall, Linda and her staff did a great job with my giant wedding. I emailed her after the event and informed her that there were no asparagus in the veggie dish and that the food that I already paid for, for the people who no showed should have been packed up verses being thrown away. She agreed and gave me a refund for the no shows and asparagus. Very awesome of her. read more