CATERING ST LOUIS

We were very pleased with the work Catering St. Louis performed for our daughter's wedding. After our initial phone call, we were given an appointment to tour the 2 venues owned by Catering St. Louis. We chose to look at Oliva on the Hill and City Cottage because we would be having a small, casual style wedding and these were the venues that met those needs. We were shown the 2 venues on a Saturday morning by the owner. We were impressed with his professionalism, friendliness and respected his opinions. Both venues are incredibly and tastefully decorated. We were so impressed! We liked the 2 venues equally but chose Oliva on the Hill because of the historical reference to and quot;The Hilland quot; and Oliva has a bride's room for the wedding party to wait in before the ceremony. We gave a down payment and Catering St Louis assigned us a wedding coordinator. She made an appointment with us for our tasting and we made all the decisions with her as far as how we wanted the tables to look and which appetizers and the meal we wanted. We were assigned a different coordinator a few weeks later, and this was an easy transition. We enjoyed working with Alaynne and trusted her expertise. We met again with Alaynne a couple of weeks before the wedding and worked out all the details. The owner even stopped in to greet us and we thought that was a nice touch. We were contacted by Alaynne through email anytime she had any questions up to the day of the wedding. She handled placing all the decorations which we took to her a couple of days beforehand. The wedding ceremony was handled by a different person and Anna was great with the rehearsal and the ceremony. There was also an event captain at Oliva the night of the wedding and she coordinated everything. Catering St. Louis also handles all the packing up of all items that need to be taken from the reception including flowers and center pieces. My sister, owner of Les Bouquets , the florist we used, said that is unusual for them to pack up all the flowers and containers. It was a huge plus for us! I also need to say something about the food. We couldn't have been more pleased with the meal. I was told that the food at the tasting usually tastes better than the night of the event. That was NOT the case here. I almost think the food was better than when we had our tasting. Finally, I would like to add a comment written on Facebook by one of the guests the next morning:and quot; Back from a wonderful wedding in St. Louis. The venue and quot;Oliva on The Hilland quot; looked like a Hollywood set, and the bride was as beautiful as a movie star.and quot;

We booked the event 12 months before the date of the wedding. Six months before the wedding we were assiged a wedding planner, Cathy. She contacted us and had a food tasting for the Bride and Groom and my husband and I. We were able to pick the appitizers and main courses that we were considering offering to guests. All of the food was flavorful and beautifully presented. We were able to meet and talk to the chef also about any food allergies or vegetarian options. We were pretty much in weekly contact with Cathy after that. She helped us through all aspects of the wedding ceremony and reception. She found ways to say yes to whatever ideas we had. She had many creative ideas she shared with us to make things easier and in the end, saved us a lot of money. She was always very pleasent to work with. She even met with me near my home when I became very busy with my work schedule. Several weeks before the wedding we were also assigned a ceremony coordinator, Susan. She communicated with us by phone and was at the rehearsal and before, during and after the wedding ceremony. She made everything easy so we could just enjoy the wedding. It was beautiful in the Gladney Rose Garden! After the wedding, we had cocktail and apptizer reception outside of Monsanto Hall. The appetizers and drinks were plentiful and delicious. Their was plenty of tables and seating for guests. A nice touch was that the tables all had lovely tableclothes on them. The reception was in Monsanto Hall. It was beautifully decorated by Catering St. Louis. The Bridal Party table was in the center of the room with guest tables scattered around it. The food and service was top notch. The food was as delicious as the food at the tasting six months earlier. It was presented well on the plate and was hot. The staff was contantly asking guests if they needed anything. Stephanie, was the banquet coordinator that night, and made sure everything was timed perfectly. They coordinated with our other vendors to make sure the wedding and reception went off perfectly. It was well worth our money to use Catering St. Louis and I would reccomend their services to everyone!

The wedding planner, Colleen, that CSL assigned to me was so rude, hostile, and unfriendly that I cried before I walked down the aisle because of how carelessly she handled my event. The artist's guild was not clean. She did not remove the display cases in the Guild like she said she would; her rudeness upset my bridesmaids; she was 20 minutes late to the dress rehearsal and did not coordinate the ushers or groomsmen as I asked. She did not call the guests to dinner, so there was utter confusion when it was time to eat. Worst, she RUSHED me through wedding photos and mistimed the preparation of the food, so that our $65/plate meals were rubbery, overcooked, and very dry. It was an embarrassment. Even more, her supervisor, Carleen, was at the event and did NOTHING to assist in the coordination. Many of my guests commented about the poor quality of food and the rudeness of Colleen. It was an embarrassment that could have been avoided by not using Catering St. Louis. Do not use CSL.