i have done weddings for a really long time, but before we started the flashdance, it was mostly word of mouth amongst friends, and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends! if your friend comes to your wedding (working or not) you are going to treat them as well as you possibly can so it was a big surprise for me to learn about the vendor or staff meal. i like to think that the people who hire me will become my friends, and i always do whatever i can to treat them as such... i wouldn't feed my friends something that looks like this for dinner!

there are some people out there who try to cut a few corners and save a buck or two by providing the people who are working at their wedding with what they call a vendor meal (this usually means truck stop food) i have seen some pretty gnarly things this past year and i thought i would speak up on behalf of myself and all of the people who i work with and say DON'T DO THAT.

that delicious looking meal is courtesy of our favorite restaurant in Atlanta dynamic dish most people who are planning a wedding wouldn't really know this but many catering companies version of a vendor meal (or maybe they sell it to you with a clever name like family meal) is a soggy leftover piece of meat, a day or two old sandwich or worse along with a wilted salad, a bag of doritos, and a chocolate chip cookie! i wouldn't feed this to my dog, let alone someone who is in charge of my most important day, memories, details etc. it is insulting and classless! at the very least i would insure that the coordinator, photographers, and musicians / dj (people who will work a 10 + hour shift that you really need to have on point) get a meal similar to what the rest of the guests were having. i understand the need to keep costs down, & i certainly don't need a 4 course meal, in fact i can't even eat that much when i am working but nothing changes a perfect day into a crappy job faster than the vendor meal! i guarantee you that the extra $100 will be worth it in the end! you will have a better reception because of it, and your vendors won't be stuck in the bathroom (i have heard stories!) and giving you the stink eye all night because you fed them school lunch. there, that is my etiquette lesson for the day, now call your caterer. p.s. dear, catering companies... the vendors at your wedding have blogs, twitter, facebook, & yelp accounts... you might want to reconsider how you treat them. we know this is not all the fault of the couple, it is not hard to provide a good meal that is inexpensive.