We had our wedding at Eden Gardens, in which CP was the required caterer/rental company. We were really impressed, although had some issues:
THE FOOD
Do NOT skimp on their food choices because it is worth it!! We had the Eden Buffet package and then upgraded some. The number of choices was outstanding. We are STILL hearing people rave about the food at our wedding! There wasn't a single dish I didn't like, so these are just reviews of my favorites:
* DEFINITELY ADD THE GRILLED JUMBO SHRIMP! At only $8 extra or so per person, this was the best decision we could have made. The shrimp are actually prawns - HUGE, fresh, and delicious! We had guests request plates of JUST the prawns and our videographers who have eaten at many weddings said that these prawns were the best shrimp they've ever had in their lives! We had the honey glazed option I think.
* Chicken Roulade - Tender, juicy chicken smothered in a delicious creamy sauce and stuffed with baby asparagus. I couldn't get enough of this, even as leftovers after our wedding.
*Stuffed Mushrooms (I don't remember which) - These were really juicy and delicious. My favorite of all our appetizer options. We also heard lots of compliments on their spring rolls.
*Boneless BBQ Beef Short Ribs - My favorite of their beef options. It is really tender and juicy and has lots of flavor.
* Old Fashioned Mac & Cheese - Mac & cheese might seem a little cheap and cliche, but you should at least give this a shot. It is the best mac & cheese I've ever had and a REALLY great option if you have kids and picky eaters as guests. We heard LOTS of compliments on this.
* Coffee Bar - DON'T miss this! Really cute setup of different coffees/teas and different toppings. Also comes with cookies to dip. Almost like a sundae bar but with coffee!
* We had custom appetizers based on recipes of own foods and they did a really great job with them.
THE RENTALS
Pretty average. For the most part, they have what you need and some fancier options if you want.
THE SERVICE - DAY OF
* Bartender - I don't know if she's part of CP or not, but she was great and I wished we tipped her even more now. Amongst the rush of the wedding, we had forgotten to give her instructions on our mixed drinks, so she just improvised. She ended up figuring out our recipes anyways and even made them better! She definitely fixed a Sangria disaster!
* Wait Staff - They were super nice and always came to us during the wedding asking if we needed anything more. They laid out our food so beautifully and made sure we ate. We still didn't eat much, but it was really nice to have people to take care of us! They were also really nice to our guests and even joked around when people were asking for plates of prawns.
* Chef(s) - They were really accommodating to diet needs of our guests. We had special gluten-free and dairy-free meals and the guests who received them felt like they tasted really delicious just like the rest!
*Set Up - They were behind schedule and not on top of things. There were numerous times in which we had to track them down to set something up so we could get our decorations up and numerous times we had to direct them on what to do even though they should have known. Still, they pulled through and everything was fine.
THE SERVICE - PRIOR TO THE WEDDING
I made sure to give this a different category because this was the ONLY area (apart from setup) where CP lacked. In fact, I was so unhappy with their communication I would have considered taking off 2 stars instead of 1 and I also even considered giving up on our venue. There were numerous times in which my questions never got answered and I had to follow back up. Many times, I had to follow up 2-3 times just to make sure they knew (and I only followed up once a week or once every few weeks!). As our wedding drew nearer, this ended up being extremely stressful. Email proved to be the best communication, as I had never once got a response back from my voicemails, and I never once got a hold of them via phone the first time, either.
Despite that fact, I felt Abby was super nice and she was really accommodating. We got along really well. I had let her know we had a low budget and she was really helpful in working with it and offered some really good advice and opinions.
PRICE
They charge on every single little upgrade, but I suppose that's to be expected. Still, their prices were above average compared to other rental companies I had inquired into when we were considering other venues. Food prices were fairly reasonable for their quality, and I definitely think the prawns upgrade was a REALLY good value.
In the end, despite the poor communication, CP really pulled through. We got everything we wanted for our wedding and more. The night of our wedding we couldn't have asked for better food or better service. Even though I was unhappy at first, I still would have hired CP if I were to do it all over again! read more