Let me start by saying this is a very lengthy review, but I do not want any other young couples or potential clientele to go through the painstaking and frankly disgusting process that my wife and I went through dealing with Anna and Lasting Impressions Catering.
If there was an option for 0 out of 5 stars that's what I would rate my experience with this business, and I use the term business loosely. I wouldn't recommend this catering company to my worst enemy and I'll explain why.
When my wife and I inquired about catering options for our wedding Anna and Lasting Impressions Catering seemed like it would be a great fit for what we were looking for. Anna was very responsive and accommodating when we first booked her for our caterer and really until she received our deposit for the event. As our wedding date came closer it became increasingly difficult to reach her and her email responses were taking a minimum of a week to receive.
My wife and I picked an alternative type of menu, one that accommodated both of our tastes. We were quoted for $55/person and we proceeded to sign a contract with Anna to provide our catering services. The contract included chef fees, server fees, gratuities etc. The contract is one of the most vague contracts I have ever seen and lacked many details a contract should have, but we figured this woman is a professional caterer so she must know what she is doing when it comes to this. WRONG- in fact I'd say she is the complete opposite of a professional. We struggled to get a hold of Anna in the weeks prior to our wedding. She failed to show up to our final meeting with our event coordinator, and we did not get a food tasting before the wedding day. We tried numerous times to obtain an invoice, so we could square the bill away prior to our wedding day. Anna failed to provide this for us. Approximately 2 minutes before my wife walked down the aisle to be married (yes two minutes, not an exaggeration, bouquet in hand) Anna accosted my wife in the bridal suite and demanded that the invoice be paid there on the spot. It took multiple people to get her to leave the bridal suite, so we could continue with our wedding day. I'm sure you can imagine the shock in the unprofessionalism of a "business owner" to approach a bride literally moments before walking down the aisle. You can also imagine our surprise when the bill we received was inflated close to $3500.00 more than we were quoted, per our contract
When we reached out to Anna the following day regarding this increase in pricing she stated that this upgrade fee was for linens, flatware, glassware etc. $3500.00 for place settings at an 80-person wedding. She basically doubled the amount we were paying per person based on the inflation and upcharge. When we tried to settle this Anna was difficult to deal with and after a few emails back and forth her reasoning was that the Bride said that the images sent "looked fine" and stated she did not think money was an issue, and that in the initial menu she sent out it says that "upgrades are available." Upgrades were never mentioned to us, no price increase was mentioned. She told us that she had to rent the plates, glasses, flatware etc. from an outside company for our event. What kind of catering company does not have their own glasses/plates etc?!?!? Let me reiterate once again there was no mention of this in the contract that we signed.
Anna tried to rectify the situation by giving us a $1500.00 discount, which we later found out was the same amount as a hidden 12% cost of her company charges the client for providing rented supplies, once again, not in the contract, nor ever mentioned to us. When we stated this was unsatisfactory and that none of this was in our contract (the only legally binding thing between us and her) and therefore we felt this was not our financial responsibility as this should have been brought up before the ceremony, the contract should have been addended and re-signed, all of which did not happen.
Anna ended up filing a small claims court case, which resulted in us having to consult with an attorney to be sure we were handling things correctly, once again another cost out of our pocket due to the lack of organization, professionalism and overall common courtesy of a lack luster catering company and an overall awful person.
In addition to all the unfair and deceptive billing practices (violation of G.L. Chapter 93A) we dealt with, the food was nothing all that special. Looking back on the day we wish we had gone with any other company, though it may have been more expensive, we likely would not have had to deal with all the drama and stress Anna has caused us since our wedding day. The mental image of our wedding day, the most important day of our lives, has been ruined. The food was "meh," the services were subpar, and the overall experience of Anna was repulsive.
Do your research folks, after this whole situation we are not the only ones who have had this same type read more
