Early Katering Co. Inc.

Not worth it.

From booking to the wedding day, Early Katering was a frustrating and disappointing vendor to work with. We chose them because of their awesome menu and affordable pricing, but communication was awful from the start. We booked about 9 months before our wedding date. During the first six months, we had trouble scheduling meetings with our rep to ask questions, but overall felt like we were all on the same page. During the few weeks before our wedding, however, everything went haywire. Despite having done everything in our power to communicate months in advance, we were given conflicting information and made to feel like our event was causing the company problems. For example, despite the fact that Early Katering knew where our venue was at the time we contracted with them, they constantly reminded us how much of an issue it was that our venue was a two hour drive from their kitchens. We kept thinking, if this is such a problem, why did you agree to contract with us?! We had to have the same conversations over and over; there was clearly a lack of internal communication between the staff planning our event. I submitted our final headcount over a month before the wedding--two weeks ahead of the caterer's deadline. Then, two days before the wedding, the coordinators told us they would not be able to serve our guests using a single buffet, despite having done so at previous weddings at our venue. When we questioned them about this, they went behind our backs to talk to our venue owner, explaining that my husband and I had "last-minute significantly increased the number of guests." When we booked Early Katering, we gave an estimated headcount of 140-160, and our final headcount was 155. The finance person also told us they "might have to change costs" two days before the wedding as they tried to force us to use a second buffet, and our venue coordinator had to painstakingly explain multiple times that the venue lacked physical capacity to do that. I couldn't believe that the week of my wedding, Early Katering's event coordinators made me feel like I, the bride, was stressing THEM out. We were really hoping the food and day-of service would blow us away and make it all worth it. On the day of the event, everything went smoothly (with a single buffet), but the food was just so-so. We were really disappointed, despite having very moderate expectations. I never expected everything to be perfect on my wedding day and was prepared for reasonable amounts of stress in the planning process, but I wouldn't wish this unnecessary chaos on anyone. I've heard that the company is changing ownership and sincerely hope future couples have a better experience.