This is going to sound a lot like Jackie's review! From start to finish, Casual Gourmet was a dream to work with. We hired them after having essentially every single other wedding vendor and venue we talked to recommend them, and after meeting with them and seeing how nice they were! The easiest way to review them is probably to talk about each stage of working with them:
General process - smooth and painless. We set up an appointment to talk about our rough ideas for wedding plans. Casual then sent us different buffet and station menus, hors d'oeurves menus, etc. along with a very clear breakdown of prices and services. Any time throughout the process that we made a change (adding linens, changing food, changing numbers) they sent an updated summary. Mary and Sarah, whom we worked with the most (Mary coordinated our actual day) were phenomenal at answering questions, and they were both very patient with us, even when we asked a LOT of questions! Also, we fully intended to spend the bulk of our budget on catering, and we did, but we felt the prices were very fair for the amazing food and the very hands-on service we got. They also let us use our own cake and buy our own alcohol while letting us pay just for bartenders, glasses, ice, etc. That was pretty amazing.
Tasting - we settled on stations, and then we picked the things we wanted to taste. Even though we were going to have stations, which meant some things would be made to order, they were able to make up sample dishes of everything. Casual was also very nice about letting us bring quite a few people with us! The tasting was fun, but didn't drag on, and as a bonus they packed up all the leftovers for us to take home!
Food - amazing. And it was even better at the wedding itself than at the tasting, despite having to make it for more people! We made sure we got time to sit at our table and actually eat, and I am so glad we did. People were raving about the food - our favorites were the tenderloin at the carving station (which was a sweet upgrade from them from the sirloin), the risotto station, and the passed hors d'oeurves: the beef and chive popovers, the lobster with tobiko, the bacon-wrapped scallops...ok, I am going to list everything if I don't stop! Everything tasted fresh and creative without being creative for creativity's sake. They are very willing to mix-and-match stations from different sample menus, which was awesome.
Staff/coordination - Casual also acts as your day-of coordinator to some extent, and Mary was amazing at this. She worked with all of our vendors and us to come up with a detailed day-of timeline, and she kept things moving. She ran through our rehearsal with us, and she made sure all my flowers and decorations got set out where they needed to be (I DIY'ed a lot of stuff, dropped it off at the venue, and it magically appeared in place for the reception). The staff was all great - friendly, kept things moving, and good at getting food to me :) They are great with the little touches, too - like, each server carries a basket for your used spoons/napkins/toothpicks.
I really cannot say enough good things about working with Casual Gourmet. Wedding planning can be a little stressful, but it was never stressful to ask them a question, because they were so good at coming back with solutions, suggestions, and explanations that were very calming. I hope we get to work with them again someday, and I recommend them for any event, but especially for a wedding! read more