A Catering Near-Catastrophe

The wedding coordination was going smoothly...a bit too smoothly if you ask me. So I was not at all surprised when General Ryan let me know that our main contact at the catering company had resigned and would no longer be coordinating our wedding. She broke it to me in a kind, calm email, yet no level of calm would prevent the initial panic that one feels when realizing that one of the main components of the planning was suddenly up in the air again.

Typically one would not think that swapping catering coordinators would be a big deal because we have already chosen our menu and tabletop arrangements. But the catering company that we are using is helping us coordinate our rentals and the entire layout of the event. This contact knew the types of tables we wanted to use in various areas within the dining room, and knew exactly where to put them. She had been working in CAD for hours to create multiple scenarios depending on the number of guests that RSVP. She knew what the set design was supposed to look like, and had even helped us concept the overall look and feel of the dance room during our initial walk-thru in September.

After my initial response of panic, I decided to keep reading Ryan's email only to learn that the owner of the company herself had stepped in to take over our coordination. She has setup a special appointment with me at the Chicago Illuminating Company in April so that we can go through all of the ideas and layout to help ensure a seamless transition. And she has promised that she will do whatever it takes to provide us with the evening we had originally planned with our previous contact, even if it required more time or staff.

What could have been a disaster (wrong glasses and plates, wrong chairs and linens, swapping in the incorrect sides) has actually worked out well since our little wedding is getting high profile attention!

On that note, we have made many additional design-related decisions since our initial walk-thru at CIC in September. We have now selected the exact tables and linens for the dance room, as well as other top-secret decorative items, and having a final run-thru will actually help bring it all together for me. I dare say that it will make it "real." From a near-catastrophe, came a lucky break! Now hopefully there are no other big surprises down the road because I fear that we may have just used up all of our luck...