Faery Godmother needed!!!!

O.K., I admit it. Every once in awhile someone just gets me. I had a bride call today. Wedding for 150 at 2:00pm. Date is only a month away. (Hmmmmm???) And basically no budget. By some strange reason, we're not booked that day. But I know most caterers in town are - especially the cheap ones. She basically told me that under all the circumstances she was thinking of doing it herself and getting meat trays from Albertson's. (Lord help us!) She sounded about 16 years old on the phone. I got the feeling she'd forget the napkins. I'd love to help her, but I refuse to do the carrot & ranch dressing thingie. (Never have - never will.) I thought of a ice creme sundae buffet. You know, all kinds of ingredients, and you make your own. Could really be pretty in silver. But I'm afraid that may be too "creative" for her. Anybody have any suggestions? I figure the only way for me to do this & not compromise
my business is to do something slightly off-the-wall with great presentation.
The Saucy Cajun
ps I just realized why I want to help her. I think it reminded me of one of the most memorable weddings I ever did. The girl had gotten pg at 14 and refused to give the baby up for adoption. When she was 20 she married the father of the child. The little girl was the flower girl. When it came time for the father/daughter dance they played "Butterfly Kisses" and the bride danced with her father while the groom danced with his daughter.There wasn't a dry eye in the house! That was over 5 years ago & they're still going strong.

 

I'm sorry! I didn't make myself plain enough. When I said "no budget" I meant no $$$. She didn't give a $ amount, but you could tell just the way she said she had thought about doing it herself but she thought she'd just call and find out how much a caterer cost. I donna'. I turn down jobs all the time because what they want is just not what I do. She just sounded so wistful. And part of the problem is that she read somewhere (don't you just HATE that) that afternoon is the cheapest time of day to get married (she said this) because you can serve finger food. Hey, we're in Louisiana! Jambalaya, red beans & rice, muffalettos, a great pasta dish - all these are less expensive than "finger food"!!! ( I think we should write a petition to the bridal mags to get then to quit writing this @#$%!) What I think she's aimimg at is a "tea", although she wouldn't call it that. Lots of nibbleies. Which is great on the food cost, but awful on the labor. Plus I have an event for 200+ a week later with my all-time best client. (She's from here, but lives in L.A. now with her Academy Award winning husband. She always uses me when she give a party here and I love her to death, but she's VERY time consuming and she usually comes in at least a week or 2 before the event when she'll start to think about the menu! And I always cook everything for her myself. However, she tips extremely well!!! Not to mention the fact that every guest at her parties is a potential client.) So whatever I do for this has to be low budget - low labor. I forget who wrote this on the forum recently, but they basically said either high cost ingredient simply prepared, or vice versa. I agree. That I can do. But both? However I LOVED the fondue idea. I'm just afraid that even that would be too much $ for her. But I think maybe I'll just send her the ice cream menu (extremely low$)& the fondue (very low$) and see. I guess in a perfect world we could just go around making everything taste good and look good and never have to worry about what it cost the client or what's in our bank account. Chef's heaven!
The Saucy Cajun

 

Yea, I know I shouldn't get "worked up". At least 99% of the time I don't. It's just every once in a while someone just hits me right. Plus, being creative AND hardheaded, I feel a little thing like money shouldn't stop me from getting something done! And it bothers me not to have anything to offer LOW budget clients in general. That creativity & hardheadedness says that there is a solution that while being extremely low end in both food & labor, becomes, at least somewhat, high end due to creativity & presentation. I guess it's rather like Thomas Keller's fondness for cooking offal. His point is that anyone can cook good food, but to take "garbage" and turn it into haute cuisine - that's COOKING! I'm curious though Chef David. Why don't you think the ice creme's a good idea? If the melting's the problem I think I've got that one figured out. Pack it into chafer liners, store in a sub-zero, and fill chaffers with ice for service. Please let me know your thinking? And Danielle, you've got the right idea. I have menus for +$, +$$, and +$$$, just none for -$!!! I guess that's really what I'm working on. Yes Henry, thanks to bridal mags, movies, etc., cake & punch weddings are a thing of the past. Joan, I've sent them to "Sam's", but like I said , I get the feeling this child would forget the napkins! Shroomgirl!!! I live in Broadmoor!!! And yes, Hickory Ridge is right in the middle of the burbs now - it goes all the way to Jones Creek. And you just gave me a great idea!! I get my extra help from Caila (Culinary Arts Institute of Louisiana) so I know some students already. Some of them are real gungho. ANYTHING to pad that resume. Maybe I need to start an staging/intern program for these rare "special" cases! (I already have an "events" intern from LSU.) Boy, what a "welcome to the real world" for Caila students!!!!!!! (Alice Waters meets Ronald McDonald!) I could also use them for the occasional small charity pro bono work that I now turn down. That extra advertising would "pay" me for my time, the students would get experience, & those "special" clients would get a real deal! Don't you just LOVE this forum! You start out trying to solve a problem with one individual client and you end up adding new menu suggestions and beefing up your advertising!
The Saucy Cajun

 

Sorry if I've kept you all in suspence (LOL) about this wedding, but I've been going slightly crazy with other weddings. But the saga continues! After submiting menu suggestions to the bride, she emails me & says she is going to Sam's to make up a menu!!! My husband almost feel off his chair laughing, then proceded to list her menu almost to the dish. The only difference was he said those frozen quiche and she listed cocktail sausages in bbq sauce instead!!! (I had a lot of fun teasing him about what a lousy caterer he was because he forgot the sausages!) Then, the next morning I get a call...opps..she had forgotten to list the quiche! I LOVE IT!!! She wanted to go and buy everything she (thought she) needed & have me "just warm it up & get it on the table".I explained we did not do it that way, and that she basically had 2 options. Either call Manpower, which I would not recomend, or hire me as a consultant (which I already do) for $35 an hour. Bring me a list of oven temps and times, along with how many friends and family she could get to help. I would divide up the responsibilies and make a time sheet and a shopping list with amounts needed. It would probably take an hour or so. That was 3 days ago & I haven't heard from her since! I have the feeling that she wanted me to "do" the wedding for about $35! I really hate to say this, and I'm sure there are exceptions, but once again it seems that the less money someone wants to pay, the more work they will cause you! I have people tell me all the time how I'm the first caterer that they've called who will really try to help. That all the other caterers just blew them off. But it's those same people who are drive you crazy! I'm begining to think I'm confusing LOW budget with wanting something for nothing. EVERY wedding we've booked this year has been in the med-high to high range. Time spent on low buget quotes was "wasted". Also, in looking back over the 10 years I've been doing this, it's almost like the higher the price, the less hassle. But I really hate the idea of just blowing people off.
The Saucy Cajun
PS Oh, Chef David, I found your comment on booze really interesting. Down here it's just the opposite. When I was a child ALL weddings were afternoon teas with absolutely no liquior served. Times have changed, but the less affluent "country" people tend to be Southern Baptist etc. and so if they do drink, they keep it to themselves! In fact, I've never attended a wedding with an open bar and the only one I've catered was my son's which was held in an Irish pub. Most weddings have wine & beer. I guess we like to put our money in food instead!