On my wedding day, you can only imagine how I felt to even look at these people. They had made the 3 days leading up to our most important day a living nightmare. We paid for 5 hours of open bar, they ran out of EVERYTHING 45 minutes before the reception was over- no beer, no wine, no liquor, no mixers, no ice. It was clear that they were totally unprepared and grossly under-supplied. We had also agreed to two types of beer on tap, which we purchased beer glasses for and they brought bottles of beer (and the glasses mysteriously disappeared). We agreed to middle-grade liquor, they had bottom shelf. It is clear that their only concern was profit margin. My whole wedding party was also accused of stealing alcohol which is why they “ran out”.
We have a laundry list of negatives, but I will sum it up quickly. I had a year and a half to plan my wedding- caterer being one our first tasks. Chef Mark was nothing but friendly, agreeable and helpful in the time leading up our initial deposit, during our planning, at our 60-day deposit and final payment- but, when it came time to deliver, all we received were bad attitudes (from all staff members) and a lot less then what we paid for. About 30 days prior to our wedding date, we were contacted by Tammy Basten, who we later found out was hired to coordinate the events- there was never a proper introduction and it soon became clear to me that Chef Mark had not been organized with the planning on their end for our event. Meanwhile, it had been over a year since we signed a contract. I met with Tammy 3 days before the event to drop off items and go over final details. After leaving I received an email with another invoice for $2,500 because Chef Mark failed to realize that our wedding hours exceeded the reception package, which was to cover the extra 2 hours of bar- of course we did not realize, we were counting on their “expertise” to properly plan our event. So, 2 days before the wedding there were multiple phone calls with Chef Mark, his wife (we don’t even know her name) and Tammy who all became completely unwilling to negotiate, extremely unfriendly, hostile and argumentative. My maid-of-honor had a one-on-one conversation with Tammy who disclosed to her Chef Mark’s stubbornness and bad temper, and that she realized they made an error on their end but he was unwilling to negotiate and help fix the situation.
I would not recommend Harvest Real Food Catering to anyone. To this day, all I have are regrets for choosing them as my wedding caterer. Fortunately, it was not visible to my guests that we had been struggling with these people for the 3 days leading up to our event. That’s a positive.
Never in my life have I had to deal with such poor service while paying so much. At the initial tasting, Kim and Mark promised us our hearts desires, only to leave us ignored and confused. We made it clear that we had certain dietary needs and they were more than happy to tell us they could accommodate this. After securing the wedding date, we heard nothing. Nothing until our deposit was due. After the date had come and gone, I received calls and emails, asking where the deposit was. Although I had already sent in the check for the deposit, it seemed Amy or Kim had no idea that the check had already been cashed. They admitted to this mistake, so I am unsure of why they don't recall it. I should have cut my losses there and gone with a different company, as this was only a sign of things to come. I had also received calls to choose the linens, chairs etc. Instead of taking me to a warehouse or having an in person meeting so I could choose, I had to make these decisions over the phone. I know it is usually customary to do this in person, and for the amount of money we were paying, it should have been. I ended up guessing what I wanted without being able to see linen colors or what chairs etc. looked like. This was another instance that I felt they were disorganized and possibly not worth dealing with. My husband and I both have food intolerances, that I thought were addressed: the way that they addressed this problem, although providing gluten-free and dairy free options at the tasting, was to tell us not to eat the food I had chosen. My husband could eat two of the hors d'oeuvres and I could eat ONE. At our own wedding. This is what the catering staff told us, that he couldn't eat two and I couldn't eat three off the tray they had made "special" for us. If I would have known this I would have chosen other options. Some guests complained the food was taken away before they were finished and the temperature of the food was lukewarm. There were further miscommunications and problems that seem almost petty to get into, but I know that my wedding day and the days leading up to it should have been hassle- free and they were not. Funnily enough, immediately after writing a poor review elsewhere my review was disputed by Harvest, just a few minutes after it was posted. This seems strange to me, considering one of the main problems we had with them was communication and promptness of responses. Maybe they were too busy checking online reviews to get back to us. They also responded to said review once it was published and certainly remember this "exceptional" wedding, although initially flagging it as fake. In regards to my daughter that she has chosen to bring into this via her(Kim's) passive-aggressive response, she was born three months before a wedding that we had been planning for over a year, so she certainly had nothing to do with my ability to write an email, take a phone call or mail a check for the 15 months prior and three months after her birth. I know it's a complex concept to understand that a woman could be pregnant or have a child and still be able to carry on with her life and complete multiple tasks at once. I notified them that my mom would be helping me and we have an email exchange about this, requesting my mother be cc'ed on all future emails, seven months prior to the wedding. I am also unsure of how anyone at all was able to come up to her and tell her how "great" everything was, as she was not present the day of the wedding (thankfully). I had ZERO problems with any other vendor and they more than made up for the unpleasantness I had to deal with from these people. Overall, the food the day of was (mostly) enjoyed by guests, but if I could go back and change my wedding day, the ONE thing I would make different would be my choice of caterer.
To say the least, beware. Everything they have to offer you may sound like a fairy-tale, but you do not want the wrath of their storm on your wedding day, trust me.
Harvest Real Food Catering Events is a US Food place based in Stone Ridge, New York. Harvest Real Food Catering Events is located at 4496 State Route 209, Stone Ridge, NY 12484, USA.
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