A Catering Crisis

Evening Everyone, 

With the last few weekends either spent relaxing in a spa & dancing the night away or riddled with anxiety that my future husband is out in Birmingham somewhere having lapdance's and who knows what else I was ready to have a more relaxed and laid back approach to wedding planning this weekend. Being a bank holiday in the UK, Mr. Warehouse and I had planned a productive weekend in which we would meet with most if not all of the remaining suppliers and vendors for our big day.

Saturday I treated Mr. Warehouse to breakfast at my favorite place in Bedford, Cibo Deli. Opening earlier this year, Cibo Deli and Kitchen takes a modern and contemporary approach whilst harnessing their passion for food and Italian heritage. Offering a diverse range of freshly made artisan sandwiches and locally sourced produce including quality cheeses, cured meats, dried pasta, and gorgeous wine from the deli, but let's be fair the only reason I'm going it for the Cibo breakfast club on the weekends. Entirely unique to Bedford and offering a range of naughty but nice treats the cinnamon french toast with fresh yogurt and black cherries is my absolute win!

After which we hung out with my future brother and sister-in-law's before heading to see the florist. Again, as before, she made us feel comfortable and at ease with everything, positive that this would be the last and final occasion we would have to postpone. It is always a bitter-sweet feeling when people say that as I feel as though I can't quite believe them as at any point it could and has changed with enforced government lockdowns happening almost on a minute-by-minute basis last year. But she seemed upbeat and was helpful in narrowing down what we wanted and what would be possible within our budget as well as what would be in season.

Sunday was the bar which again made us feel super at ease with their level of professionalism. They came across very well and seemed confident in being able to handle aunties that had too much or uncles that wanted "just another one Jagerbomb". We agreed that Tequila Rose just HAS to be on the menu and that we would come up with some ideas on cocktails and other drinks to include behind the bar. Arrival drinks were decided as well as location and set up requirements. On leaving the meeting at our local Garden Centre yesterday I felt confident and excited about our upcoming nuptials. Nothing was going to get in the way now! Or would it ...?

Waking this morning Mr Warehouse had a lazy morning in bed, playing with the dogs, scrolling through social media and watching telly. Soon enough though we were on the road again to another one of my fave places for brunch, The Cherry Tree at Olney. Overlooking the main high street lined with boutique shops and cute cafes, the stunning Grade II listed building is the heart of the village and directly opposite the famous market square. Named after the Olney Cherry Fair it dating back to the 14th century, a time when the town produced a large, annual, commercial cherry crop from the vast orchards that surrounded the area.

Seating ourselves after following the waiting staff to the table I was excited for my fiance to try this place with me. After placing our food order and awaiting the arrival of our caterers (who should be arriving in less than an hour) Mr. Warehouse asked if the bar had sent through the menu or price list for the drinks since we had requested it yesterday. Pulling up my phone and my emails I began to scroll through to check. To my horror, I found something very unexpected:

Good Morning, I am contacting you regarding your catering for the 16th October 2021. We have this weekend had some devastating news, which will unfortunately not allow us to be able to cater for your event. We are deeply sorry to let you both down, however, one of our team will not be in a well enough position to cater. Her treatment plan has been set out over the coming months and put us in a position we never imagined. We do have your deposit, and we would like to return it to you as soon as possible, if you could kindly send me the details of the account it needs to be made out to, we can arrange for it to be paid. We obviously are heartbroken not to be able to help on your big day, we know you've waited a long time, and got through the pandemic, and had a few date changes. We know it leaves you in a panic, but we can recommend a few caterers that could be available for you, and that will be able to supply the same menu and support. We can understand your disappointment and possible annoyance, but our team's health now becomes my priority, she was up until yesterday adamant she would be well enough to still go ahead, and I have had to overrule her. If you could let me have the details ASAP, I'd be really grateful. Kind regards.

I had barely got to the end of the first sentence before Mr. Warehouse had taken the phone from me and read it for himself. There we were about to meet our caterers and this is what we got. No phone call. No text. No prior warning, considering we were both driving to this place conveniently halfway between the two of us. Nothing. Absolutely sweet Fuck All.

I was pissed. Whilst I could sympathize and emphasize with their situation which must be difficult, if this was the case then plans should not have been made to meet us, which were only set in stone at the beginning of last week. I had been in contact with these people for years and certainly, in recent months, weeks and days, no one had suggested anything other than what we had signed the contract for. Completely unprofessional to not call ahead or speak directly in order to explain the situation and firing off an email less than an hour before we were meant to meet is unacceptable, regardless of the situation.

Fuming I tried to call but, of course, I couldn't get through, more likely than not that they had screened my calls considering I was trying to contact them a mere ten minutes before they were meant to show up. I had no choice but to reply to the cold email:

I have just tried to call you but unfortunately not been able to reach you. Whilst we appreciate the email that has been sent I really don't think this is good enough. We have just arrived and seated ourselves at the table ready for our meeting only to then discover this email. At no point have we had a phone call or anything, despite being in contact with you very regularly over the last few months and weeks. I appreciate your predicament and sympathize with your situation however I really think this is highly professional and I expect a phone call today at some point to discuss this matter further. Regards

Over nine hours later and still no reply either to the email or the voicemail left simply reinforcing their unprofessionalism and inability to unbury their heads in the sand. I may seem like a bitch for being like this and feeling this way but they have not even done the leg work in finding another company to cater for us, just giving us a list of names that are all either unavailable or too pricey. Despite the clear health issues or problems they are facing which I totally understand, I am now left in a position where I have no food, cutlery, plates, evening catering or basic structure for my wedding day. This is not a birthday party or baby shower or some fucking fun day - THIS IS MY WEDDING DAY!!!

Right now I feel completely deflated. I haven't been able to stomach anything since then and even a crisis meeting with my Dad earlier only seemed to make things worse by compounding the fact that with less than seven-FUCKING-weeks to go everywhere is either fully booked and unavailable or are extortionate. What I do now I don't know, but by next week I am sure there will be more tea to spill ...

'Til next time, Love A.Lou x

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