For the Love of Food + Drink at Saltwater Farm — Restaurant in Wells

Don’t go with this caterer, we booked this company a year and a half before our wedding because they were on our venue’s preferred list. At that time i was under the impression that our meat items ( burgers and chicken) would be grilled on site as the venue had grills available to use. It was not until 2 month before our wedding when we had to change venues and I asked them about grill rentals that i found out the food would be cooked at their cafe or catering location in wells, and then transported to the venue. Our original venue was an hour away, our new venue was atleast 90 minutes away. I expressed my concern about the food being cold and people getting sick. Wendy assured me that the food would stay warm in the warmers for 8 hours. By dinner time the food had been in warmers for atleast 3.5-4 hours, perhaps longer. Although the food tasted good, many guests had raw, cold burgers. Someone found a hair in the salad, and I did not see them check the food temperature at all while they were there. Needless to say, Several guests got sick by the end of the night as well as my husband and I. Besides the food being cold and under cooked, it was left uncovered when they cleaned up, they didn’t properly rinse the plates before leaving although they said they did. Clean plates were put ontop of dirty ones to make it look like they were all clean. We ended up wiping them off ourselves to avoid additional charges with the event rental company. They were under prepared(not enough chafing dishes, water pitchers, and no electrical source). They did not specify that they needed electricity in the contract, thankfully my husband came prepared. The desserts were not set out on display until just before the cake cutting when i reminded them. Emails communications were Very confusing, it was if I was speaking to two totally didferent people because I would send and email and get an appropriate response but then a few weeks later i would email to check in and would get a reply that sounded as if they never sent the response the first time. Because of this we almost didn’t have our desserts from them even though we paid for them. I was actually still unsure and had to check when they arrived that day. I did send them an email the day after my wedding stating several people got sick and that I would like a refund. I let them know what had happened because the owner left my wedding very early on and for a very long time and only returned during clean up. I don’t even know when she left because i didn’t see her until clean up when she asked for her check. No apologies were made except to say they would check into a meat recall. They did not aknowledge or aplologize for any of the other issues i mentioned. The only good thing I can say is that I was given 100% refund and was told that they hoped this would make things right for us some how. My wedding was ruined because my husband and I could not finish our last dance of the night because we were both sick. Do yourselves a favor and do not hire...

If I could go back in time and hire a different caterer for our wedding, I would.

We hired for the love of food and drink for our wedding (October 2023) back in January 2022. They were on our venues recommended vendors list. Wendy was pleasant at first and we were confident choosing them, as they had wonderful reviews. We went for a “taste testing” to find out that they don’t offer what’s on your dinner wedding menu, they have you taste test off of a brunch menu. This should have been red flag #1.

We communicated multiple times thru email about the menu (confirming what was on it), confirming arrival time, and timeline of events. (Communications including week of wedding)

Wendy’s team showed up at 1;30 with NO FOOD. Wedding was at 2:30 pm with cocktail hour starting at 3:15. Food finally showed up at 3:00, cold!!!! And then they wouldn’t allow guests into the cocktail hour area, because they were trying to heat the food, which left the guests in the pouring rain! The food was never heated properly and guests were served half raw hors d’oeuvres! Her team also didn’t bring our welcome station (apple cider and donuts), and guests kept asking me where they were! I was supposed to have passed apps and her team left them scattered on tables, where 1/2 the guests never got any apps. The wedding party didn’t get any apps and we were “guaranteed” a platter. Because of their late arrival- they pushed my dinner back an hour and a half, which pushed everything way off track!

Let’s get to dinner- the food was cold. I’m talking inedible cold. Vegetables and ravioli were completely raw. The steak was freezing, the fish was soggy and cold.. horrible, I didn’t even eat. They also didn’t bring enough food for 100 guests ( we paid for 100 and only 90 people attended) guests were told “you get what you get”

At dessert time, people grabbed their desserts and put them at their seats and then got up to dance. I had stopped Wendy’s team multiple times because they were throwing out FULL PLATES of desserts. Again, multiple guests came up to me asking where their plates went because they “just put them down and now they are gone”

They were rude to my DOC & photographers, to me, my parents, and most importantly my guests the day of my wedding! I had multiple guests get sick after eating their food, as it was not served at correct temperatures.

Wendy ACKNOWLEDGED the missing items and her staffs shortcomings a few days after the event and said she would send us a refund. 90 days later, still no refund. We have emailed her and she gives an excuse each time as to why she has not sent it, and has just ghosted us. We have proof of all of this in email.

We wish we could go back in time and never hire them as a catering company. We would have been better ordering pizza for our main meal, at least it would have been hot and...

From one bride to another, DO NOT hire this company to cater your wedding or you risk the chance of scrambling the day before when they cancel.

The day before our wedding, I received a vague text from Wendy (yes a text, not a phone call). Wendy said they had a covid outbreak and are trying to find a replacement. This should have been a phone call, not a text. It was also very vague, we didn’t know if it meant they needed to find additional staff, bartenders ect. I tried to call Wendy, my now Husband tried to call Wendy and she ignored our calls but when my maid of honor called from her phone, she answered. She was clearly screening our phone numbers.

We asked if they could at least drop off the food that had been prepared and we could find staff/bartenders. Wendy said nothing had been prepped. We were having stationed and passed apps (cheese boards, veggies ect) and we found it hard to believe they didn’t even have that for us. It was the day before the wedding, how could nothing be prepped? My husband is in hospitality and has worked on the catering side, he knows food should have been prepped when it’s the day before.

Wendy was so kind (not so much) to at least drop off the plates and flatware, but she didn’t even drop off the correct plates and flatware we ordered from them. It was the least she could do was drop off the CORRECT plates and flatware. Her excuse “they weren’t sanitized”, it’s the day before our wedding…how are our plates/flatware not cleaned? Also they could have at least washed them and dropped off the correct ones. My maid of honor called her 4 times after she dropped off the wrong plates and she never answered.

Wendy showed no remorse, it seemed like she didn’t care that she was cancelling just the day before our wedding. She didn't provide any solutions, didn’t offer us anything. We understand covid is now part of our life, it has been for 3 years now, yet Wendy and this business had no back up plan. We would have thought that they would try anything to make up for this (drop off correct plates, provide us with the staff that didn’t test for positive for covid, prep some of the food (easy things like the cheese and veggies), provide any type of solution but we didn’t get anything. This situation was poorly handled by Wendy and their business and I would not recommend them to anyone...