My husband and I got married in July of 2015 and chose Delightful Desserts & Culinary Creations as…read moreour caterer - a decision we deeply regret. I have waited almost a year to post this review because I know that weddings are stressful and emotional - I told myself that if a year later I still felt so upset by the situation I should share my experience. What you're about to read is long but if you're a bride considering Delightful Desserts & Culinary Creations as your caterer this is worth a read: My wedding day was forecasted to be what every bride dreads - 60% chance of rain! An even bigger nightmare considering that I was getting married in a small B&B and my wedding was mostly outdoors. The morning of my wedding I woke up to misty rain, I braced myself for the worst but by the afternoon the clouds gave way to a crisp, blue, cloudless sky. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking the weather was one less thing to stress over ... boy was I wrong! While I was getting ready, my maid of honor approached me with a sense of urgency, she reported that per Merrill the weather was changing, that it WAS going to rain, that I needed to give permission for the tables to be set up indoors. It still looked bright outside but for all I knew the sky was truly turning gray - I agreed to have the tables set up indoors. When I stepped outside for the "first look" I was again met by clear blue skies, I instructed my maid of honor to speak to Merrill about moving the tables to the patio once the ceremony was over so we could proceed with my outdoor wedding as planned. Next thing I know, multiple members of my bridal party and my husband approached me with the same story - Merrill was adamant that it was going to rain despite multiple people showing her the new forecast on their phones - Merrill wasn't moving the tables outdoors! Finally, she came out to talk to me and I very politely asked her to move the tables to the patio, I pointed out the clear blue skies, I pointed out the multiple weather apps that were no longer calling for rain but she kept insisting that it WAS going to rain, that it was going to take so much time to move the already-set tables outside and finally, in an I-told-you-so tone said something along the lines of "well it's going to rain on your guests as soon as they sit down for dinner" and walked away from me. I still didn't know if she was going to move the tables outdoors after the ceremony. I walked down the aisle stressed out, anticipating an argument with my caterer after the ceremony, thinking of of how I may have to ask guests to move the tables unto the patio if my caterer refused to do it. She ultimately moved the tables outside but the damage was done - I was beyond stressed and guess what?! It never rained! I wish I could say my issues with Delightful Desserts ended there but they didn't. Merrill's anxiety and negative attitude trickled into all aspects of the wedding. My husband and I, various members of our bridal party, some vendors and guests had negative experiences as well. I kept getting reports of Merrill raising her voice or talking down to people, she even gave the florist a hard time because the flowers she brought to adorn the cake with were "NOT what she (Merrill) had in mind". Merrill generally appeared unhappy, the way she talked to my husband and I made us feel pressed and rushed and like everything was going wrong. While I don't have specifics from other guests and bridal party members I did get multiple reports such as: "caterer is not nice", "caterer is unpleasant", "caterer has an attitude", "caterer raised her voice at me/talked to me like I was an idiot", etc etc etc. I don't know if Merrill's feelings rubbed off on the servers but I also received reports that the servers appeared "disgruntled" while serving or when guests talked to them. I experienced this as well. The food quality was also inconsistent and we would know - my husband's family ran a restaurant for over 15 years! Overall, our experiences with Merrill added unnecessary stress to our wedding day. I find it incredibly ridiculous that a bride was tormented about the potential for rain on a perfectly beautiful sunny day! I find it sad that my wedding's laid back attitude was tainted by someone who was not relaxed, who made others feel like they couldn't relax either. My husband and I are most upset that these experiences were not just limited to us, our friends, our guests felt this too and this was not at all what we wanted nor expected. Merrill always came across as efficient and we appreciated that, never in a million years did we think that the level of efficiency we so admired in her would translate into the behavior we got. The last thing my husband and I wanted on our wedding day was to be arguing with our caterer about outside seating on a bright sunny day and to have so many people approach us with complaints - it truly left a negative stain on what would have otherwise been a perfect wedding day.

This is a long read, but gives a detailed account of what it's like to work with this business from…read morethe client-to-business owner point of view. We hired them for a private party in December 2015. If you're experiencing them as a guest, it's a very positive experience. The serving staff are efficient and pleasant, the food beautifully presented, and the butlered hors d'oeuvres both above par and plentiful; as one previous reviewer mentioned, they were "delicious and plentiful." The desserts were bite sized, diverse, and plentiful; but received mixed reviews from guests and were largely uneaten. As host, I was not pleased with the actual execution of the event. The caterer (and owner, Merrill) was clearly of the mind that our event was her event from the moment she arrived. She told us to go about our business and relax; "we'll handle everything." That wasn't exactly how it unfolded. She issued orders at her staff in a way that made us (and them) uncomfortable. When a vendor, who was to have brought the ice sculpture/drink luge an hour earlier (aka, he was an hour late!), called her to say he was lost, she handed me the phone and told me to "tell this guy how to get here" and turned away. No "please," no "would you mind," just barked an order at me. She removed some of our holiday decorations to give herself more room (even though we'd discussed at the site visit and I honored needs), added tables that all but blocked off access to parts of the house I'd spent the summer and fall renovating in anticipation of the event (area's I specifically said we wanted guests to have access to during the event when she made her site visit prior to the party). When challenged about the changes she dismissed my concerns out-of-hand, turned, and walked away. I appreciate the need to be a "driver" in order to pull off an event, but it quickly crossed the line to unprofessional and rude. It was also embarrassing to have guests tell us how they were treated when trying to pay a compliment or pass through the kitchen to other parts of the house/property. My mother was told "You don't belong in here" when she poked her head into the kitchen to see the improvements I'd made. Inexcusable. The host supplies the booze and they have a great event discount with Frank's Wine Shop in Wilmington, DE. Frank's offers her customers 20% off everything and regularly maintains a section of wines reduced 50%. We drove the hour to get there; however, upon arrival were told we needed an appointment; which the caterer failed to mention. Fortunately, it was a slow night or, as the saleswoman told us, we would've been turned away. It happened to work out, but the saleswoman was annoyed which made for an uncomfortable start. But in the end, they were incredibly helpful and she was more annoyed with the caterer's lack of expectation setting than with us. When the ice luge did arrive, it hadn't been drilled as a luge. I was asked to supply a 20" drill bit (luckily I renovate houses and happened to have a 15" bit which is an unusually large bit and not something most people would have to hand). Had I not had the proper tools, our ice luge would've been no more than an ice sculpture. When that was fixed, I then had to scrounge up a funnel as the bartender couldn't pour liquid through the hole given its location and the angle at which it was drilled. Not a word of apology from Merrill for the last minute issues and stress. I poked my head into the kitchen during clean-up and was shocked by how much water was being slopped around my new laminate floor (laminate floors and water don't mix) but it was too late and I would just have to wait and see. They did a good job at clean-up, but even with all the mopping the kitchen floor was left a filmy, sticky mess. I had to re-wash the floor first thing that next morning before my house-guests awoke. In response to an email to the owner with both praise and frustrations I received a dismissive text message. My favorite quote, "sorry the cleanup of kitchen floor was not up to your standards." Gives a person pause that a caterer, who cooks food for a living, would view a filmy, sticky kitchen floor as an acceptable standard. And given it was spotless before they arrived, would've been nice to have it in the same condition after their departure. Fast forward a month and all of the edges of the newly laid floor were curling from the saturation of the mop job. People make mistakes. Things go awry. But it's all in how you handle them in the moment and how you respond to feedback from a customer after the fact. On points like that, they failed miserably and I would never hire them again. Merrill made the event stressful and disappointing for the ones paying the bill; never a good business model. I've waited nine months to post this review hoping either my point of view would soften or that Merrill would come back with some sort of apology, but seeing as how neither occurred - this is my review.