Truly Yours Catering - Wedding Advice!
Hello everyone!
This is Roxy Adlesh one of the owners of Truly Yours Catering! We are one of LA's top caterers averaging about 350 weddings a year! I already write a blog for my bride's and they have all found it helpful! Now I want to share it with all of you!
If you think this blog is just about catering - you are very wrong. After doing so many weddings a year- (times that by 18 years) we have seen a lot of what works and a lot of what doesn't! I thought now in this technical age it makes sharing our expertise that much easier. We have advice on everything from food to decor to love poems for your ceremony.
We’ve designed this to help all of our brides. You all have some very good questions that you send me and I thought it might be a good idea to share them with everyone. I will be updating this often- so look as often as you like! Please let me know if you find this of value. The questions will be changed out weekly- so feel free to print out and archive anything you might feel applies to you. If you wish to discuss anything further- please feel free to contact Roxy Adlesh (818) 753-9100. You can also e-mail any of your questions to weddings@trulyyourscatering.com
Also- check out our main website at www.trulyyourscatering.com
Questions & Answers
Question: “Is a wedding coordinator necessary?”
Answer:I wish this one was an easy yes or no answer- but it isn’t. Rule of thumb- what do you have time to do and what don’t you? A full wedding coordinator is necessary if you just don’t have the time to do the running around required- and if you want an objective opinion on things. The coordinator will help you book things, attend all the meetings with you- DJ, Florist, Caterer etc... They may pick up the stationary for you, or go and get your wedding dress, they help do the rehearsals etc.... Now a Day of Coordinator won’t help with all the planning, but the day of the event they will be there to help set everything up, make sure everything is organized and everyone keeps to the timeline. This is a much larger job than you think! They are a wonderful asset- you don’t have to impose on family and friends and they just get to enjoy the day. My suggestion- check the referrals! There are some amazing coordinators- but some terrible ones too! Interview at least 3 of them- and trust your gut feeling!
Question:“What is a Fire Permit?” “Will I need one for my wedding?”
Answer:A Fire Permit is a necessary item for many locations. Check with your location if you are going to have candles, or if you are planning on having a station party (which requires cooking in front of guests). Some locations have VERY strict fire codes and absolutely require a fire permit. Usually the location will tell you exactly what fire station to go to. Sometimes there is a minimal charge- and sometimes there is no charge.
When getting the permit- Call the fire station before you go- they have limited hours and only do the fire permits a couple of days a week. Also please make sure to take an example of candles- and the containers they are in. They will want to see everything. DO NOT USE VOTIVE CANDLES- use tea lights! The normal votives in the short cylinders DO NOT PASS the fire test- and they will reject them. Illuminations- has 5 hour tealights- and it’s about $6.50 for a bag of 50- they work the best in the short clear cylinders- and will last your event.
Question:“Should I rent runners- or make them myself?”
Answer:Runners for the tables are a nice decor touch- and you can really play with materials and colors. You can rent them- but they are expensive. If you know someone who can sew- that would be the best. They should be 6ft” by 2 ft’ for a 60” round table. This also allows you to play with color without it overpowering your table. They can be a nice compliment to your flowers. So my suggestion- make the rectangles if you can- they are easy to sew and you can make them for a 1/4 of the price or less than what you would pay to rent them. Also- you get to pick the exact material you want!
Question:“Why can’t I have French Fries at my wedding?”
Answer:The outdoor kitchen (which is for most of our venues) present a difficult problem when it comes to frying any kind of food. Think of it this way - at McDonald’s if there is a line of cars 10 deep you might get annoyed at the waiting. What you may not realize that it is the frying that takes time. Now imagine you have a wedding of 80 people and two small fryers- you would be waiting for the fries for at least 30-40 minutes before everyone got the fries. And the fries, as everyone knows, are terrible when they are cold. We are also presented with the problem of how do we dispose of the oil? And the Fryers themselves are dangerous tools and can splatter grease- and if we are outdoors and the kitchen is in a driveway or on grass anything around the fryer could be burned or stained with oil. This is why we do not fry foods.
Question:“Why don’t station parties work at many venues?”
Answer:Station Parties are fun - however there are some drawbacks. Many times if it is a smaller venue- there just isn’t the space. The point of a station party is to have your guest get up and go to one station- get food- mingle then sit. When they are finished - they would get back up and go to the next - mingle - and then sit. This extends the meal to a two to three hour meal. Think of it like a cocktail party where the guests are constantly moving around and talking. It’s great if you do not have a dance crowd! But if the space is small- it just looks like one long buffet and it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. The point is to bring the guests to different areas so they will mingle with more people.
Question:“Why is a station party more costly than a buffet?”
Answer:A station party requires much more staffing. Each station has it’s own Chef and you need a backup chef to replace food items for each one. The maintenance is more- and more servers are required - because there is more clean-up. Because you are using many more dishes (depending on the site if it has a kitchen or not) you might also need more dishwashers too! There is also a LOT more food - since each station is a mini buffet. More choices means more staffing, more product, which means the higher the price.
Question:“Why don’t you recommend we hire our own bartender?”
Answer:With Truly Yours you are allowed to bring in your own alcohol- we do not encourage you to bring in your own bartender for a few reasons. A few weekends ago I had a bride bring in her own- and the site approved it. We begrudgingly allowed it. The day of her wedding- we find that she did not hire a service but a bartender from Craig’s list. He was a good bartender- but did not come fully prepared. He did not bring glassware, a table, linens, nor ice- the clients supplied the alcohol but the bartender did not even bring a bar kit. The bride was in tears, she expected us to take care of everything for her- but we did state that by providing your own bartender it means providing everything associated with the bar. Also- if the bartender is a bad bartender and slow- or pours incorrectly, or worse yet is drinking (which does happen on occasion) we have no control and no way to correct the situation since that person is not employed by us. Our bartenders undergo a reference check, and two exams, one on mixology and the other on California’s drinking laws. They must pass both exams to be hired. We know that many people do not do this. Alcohol is always a touchy subject- and we want the guests to have fun- but we want everyone to get home safe. This is why we do not allow shots at any wedding where we have our own bartenders. We want the guests, and the property, as well as our staff to remain safe.
Question:“How many servers are sent out per event?”
Answer:This varies greatly. It depends on location and the type of meal service. We always tell our clients that it is not something they need to worry about. We do not decide as to how many until a month ahead of time when we know closer to what your exact menu is going to be and the style of service is finalized. Certain venues you can expect will require more staff because of the difficulty of the venue. An example would be Greystone. Greystone has many levels- and many different areas. The Ceremony in one area, the cocktail party might be on the balcony- many steps below, and the dinning area in the courtyard- the kitchen is in the back. This means the servers have a LOT of stairs to be climbing all night- and moving of chairs tables- etc... A venue like this will require many more servers than a place like Malibou Lake where everything is right in one main area- and the tables and chairs are housed on site. Most venue’s we have to unload a truck containing a restaurant full of equipment and then load it again at the end of the night. So- there is no real guideline as to the amount of servers- it could be as few as 8- and as many as 20! We hope that since we do about 300 weddings a year and have for many years that you trust us in our judgement. Please always remember that it is our reputation on the line with every event- and we strive to make it the most efficient and pleasant event possible.
Enjoy everyone! Happy wedding planning!
