I had pleasure of working with so many great vendors throughout our wedding-planning process, but none stand out more to me than The Gourmet Cowboy (TGC). My husband and I both work in the food industry and are self-proclaimed foodies who love entertaining and good food, so our choice of caterer was really important to us.
I got married at the Donovan Pavilion in Vail, and upon asking around about caterers, TGC continued to come up on everyone's list. I made arrangements to do tastings at three different caterers and the first place I visited with my fiancé and our moms was TGC.
Being our first tasting, I did not know what to expect, but I was very surprised that both Sarah and Chef Tom from TGC joined us for the tasting. (I later found out through my best friend who used to work for a well-known caterer in Boulder that it is uncommon for the chef to join tastings and that this was a really great sign of TGC's quality of service.) We were completely blown away by the amazing food, and both Sarah and Tom were attentive to everything we mentioned throughout the tasting. My fiancé and I at one point mentioned that sourcing local ingredients is important to us so Sarah was sure to include Colorado meat and produce on our menu. My mother-in-law also made a passing comment that she doesn't care for vinegar-based salad dressing, so special accommodations were made for her. After just an hour working with Sarah and Tom, I knew that I had to have them cater our wedding. Their attention to detail and genuine passion for helping us create the best day of our lives was so apparent upon our first meeting that we quickly decided to hire them.
Throughout my wedding planning process, Sarah became one of my most important assets. After we finalized the menu, appetizers, cocktails, etc., she was quick to offer help with things like rentals and venue layout. I ran countless questions by Sarah in the months before our wedding and she was always quick and thorough to respond. One decision that I regret in planning my wedding is that I hired a weekend-of coordinator right of way and did not spend a lot of time interviewing a lot of different people. In hindsight, if I had met Sarah before I met my other coordinator, I would have hired her in a heartbeat (TGC also offers coordination services). Not only is she professional, communicative and organized, but she knows Vail venues better than any outside coordinator you could bring in and I would strongly encourage other brides to vet all of their options and choose a coordinator who knows the venue well and already has a great relationship with your other vendors.
Going into our wedding weekend, I was completely confident in the team at TGC and they did not disappoint. The service and staff was wonderful and our food was enjoyed by all. Sarah made sure that my husband and I got a chance to try all of the appetizers at cocktail hour and we were served our full meal right when everyone sat down for dinner to ensure we could spend time talking to all of our guests while they ate. Sarah and her team made sure that our families were also well taken care of, and my mom remarked to me after the wedding that she never had to worry about anything because Sarah was always right there to help. Our food was just as wonderful as we expected it to be and we received a lot of positive feedback about our menu and how great everything tasted.
I would absolutely work with TGC again and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a caterer. read more