We've asked the wedding caterers of the BuzzFeed Community to share their ✨secrets and stories✨ from the trade with us. Here are some of the juuuuuuuiciest and most shocking things they revealed:
1. "Catering manager here. We dealt with lots of rich people, but this was just obscene. We had this bride who was paying her bill in all cash. Bill was around $10K. She came in with a stack of cash that was easily $30K. She handed me the stack and looked bewildered when I started counting it. I hit $10K and still had 2/3 of the stack in my hand. The bride laughed and said, 'Oh no, I must've grabbed the wrong pile from the safe!'"
—Anonymous
2. "I worked fine dining/catering for over 20 years, and I once heard a bride during the toasts at her reception say that she actually thought she was asking out the groom's twin brother on their first date, and that might actually be cute, except she...kept talking about it. She went on to say how the twin was more compatible with her, and then she ended the toast with 'Well...as nice as you are, you'll make a great first husband.' I was walking past the camera man at that time, and you can hear me on tape saying, 'Did you get that? Tell me you got that.'"
—Anonymous
3. "Working behind a hot buffet is the worst job. It's so warm, your face sweats, and you get really hungry, but you can't eat any of the food."
4. "I worked in catering for about six years, and I wouldn’t wish that job on anybody! My worst experiences were with my managers and the owners. They would make us work from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. without breaks, and we weren’t allowed to eat any of the food. Oh, and the gratuity on the bill usually never went to the waiters or waitresses, chefs, or anyone working that venue. It went to the manager and owners who did nothing. So, when having a banquet, always check where the money actually goes."
—Anonymous
5. "During college, I worked as a server for a staffing company (they weren’t a catering company — they just hired out event staff). I worked a huge wedding that was pure chaos: guests grabbing bottles from behind the bar, it went waaaay late, etc. At one point in the evening, all the guests on the dance floor started tossing money in the air. This was entertaining until we realized it was meant as the servers’ tip, and we were expected to dodge dancing feet to collect the cash."
—Anonymous
6. "My aunt was a wedding caterer, and she was a damn saint to the couples. As soon as she could, she would essentially steal the couple, sit them down, plaster them with napkins, and make them eat something — full meal, snack, whatever they wanted, they got it, along with a half-hour of peace. She saw too many brides and grooms faint, puke, and/or get dehydrated because NO ONE would let them eat, enjoy their own reception, or they would simply forget because they were entertaining their guests all night. This became her trademark in the industry."
7. "I remember a wedding that I worked catering for involved the groom getting rather handsy with the maid of honor during the reception — both were drunk, and a bit too close. The bride was on the dance floor flopping around drunk to the point of having to be escorted to a restroom to freshen up. Honestly, it always seems like when the bride and groom get trashed during the reception, something happens that will cause them to split shortly after. Not always, but it's just something I noticed during the weddings I have assisted with."
8. "I went for a quick bathroom break just after the starter had been served, and while I was in the stall, I heard someone come in. I couldn’t see who, but they were angrily talking on the phone. She was complaining about the starter, funnily enough. I found it strange that she had problems such as 'stale bread' and feta cheese that 'looked like it was rotting' as we’d literally only just served it about two minutes ago, and I didn’t think it was small enough to be eaten that quick. I brushed it off and left the bathroom. A few moments later, I saw a woman exit the bathroom, and since no one else had entered the bathroom, I assumed it was the complainer. I watched her return to her seat. She hadn’t TOUCHED the starter at all, but once she sat down, she immediately wolfed it down without a second thought! It’s not the wildest story, I know, but I still found it very strange."
—Anonymous
9. "If you are listed as a vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free/lactose-free guest, we pay more attention to you than the bride. We point you out to our fellow colleagues once we’ve ID'ed you. We know when we’re holding something you can’t have, and make sure we don’t offer it to you. If you ask for it anyway, we probably hate you a little."
—Anonymous
10. "Table service is pretty nerve-wracking. Not spilling stuff is always a challenge, but it's more important when it's the best day of someone's life. But most of all, we're terrified of spilling red wine down the bride's dress."
11. "I worked for a catering company as a teenager. I was working a wedding where the groom got absolutely wasted and jumped into a fountain outside the reception venue. The bride was clearly livid and went outside, yelling at him. He proceeded to grab her arm and yank her into the fountain with him. We all just watched from inside while the groom laughed uncontrollably and the bride sat in the fountain, in her wedding dress, bawling. I'm so confident they're divorced now."
12. "I'm an ex-banquet server. At the worst wedding I catered, the maid of honor's sister gave a speech about tampons and pads, neither the bride or groom smiled all night, the DJ didn't have the first dance song, and the mothers of both sides had a screaming match at the end of the night about flowers. The tension was palpable all night."
13. "A long time ago when I worked as a wedding planner and caterer, I seriously had a woman call me on a Monday morning, say that her fiancé had proposed the day before, and that she wanted to get married that Saturday."
14. "I worked for a banquet center as an event server/bartender, and there was one wedding that had over-invited guests well past capacity for the room they'd booked. Guests were bringing in chairs from the hallway and squeezing them in wherever they could. It was almost impossible to move between tables. The real problem was food, though. We had been contracted for 400 meals, but we always had extras on hand just in case. We could only give meals to people sitting at place settings, and one lady yelled at me and tossed the plate back at me after I told her I couldn't give her two extra meals for her kids. I was honestly amazed the event wasn't shut down."
—Anonymous
15. "Working for a caterer was one learning experience after another. We once showed up at a reception hall to find a power failure! How about the baker who was late delivering the cake and forgot the top of the cake? It would have been different if that’s where that problem ended, but the young man who showed up with the cake top proceeded to trip in front of the bride in the kitchen and smash it into the floor! Yes, interesting experiences that we had to try to fix!"
—Anonymous
And lastly:
16. "My little brother worked in catering for a bit after he graduated college, and he told me that during one wedding, the groom drank 10 beers during dinner and proceeded to projectile vomit on the wedding cake."
Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.