Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

Did anyone not meet the catering hall minimum? Did you do anything to fill the seats you had to pay for?

Thanks!!

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

i literally just made my minimum - we ended up reaching out to some casual acquaintences who were thrilled to attend. you will have to pay for them. how many do you need?

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

Yes, I was under our minimum. I was way too many under to fill the seats. We had a family emergency and had a lot of last minute cancellations.

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by mrs2012

i literally just made my minimum - we ended up reaching out to some casual acquaintences who were thrilled to attend. you will have to pay for them. how many do you need?

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I'm about 8 under, and that's including a few kids and 5 vendor meals that would have been half price if I had met the minimum. There were people that were invited that unexpectedly said no when we thought for sure they would come. I guess there is nothing we can do. I have a few people that I would have liked to have asked but I think it's too late in the game to do that. If it's not, what do you say? How do you ask?

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by dawnbon26

Yes, I was under our minimum. I was way too many under to fill the seats. We had a family emergency and had a lot of last minute cancellations.

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So sorry to hear that! :(

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by jen372

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Posted by mrs2012

i literally just made my minimum - we ended up reaching out to some casual acquaintences who were thrilled to attend. you will have to pay for them. how many do you need?

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I'm about 8 under, and that's including a few kids and 5 vendor meals that would have been half price if I had met the minimum. There were people that were invited that unexpectedly said no when we thought for sure they would come. I guess there is nothing we can do. I have a few people that I would have liked to have asked but I think it's too late in the game to do that. If it's not, what do you say? How do you ask?

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yes, we had the same problem with a few unexpected no's. it was a real disappointment. but there's really nothing you can do and shouldnt stress about it. i started panicking that we might have a lot of no-shows but it turns out we only had one. so my tables didnt appear to be empty.

in terms of asking some casual acquaintances, i would just say something along the lines of how you would be honored if they attended - and apologize for not asking sooner but you had to keep your minimums down. you can say you had a few cancellations due to xyz. honestly, we didnt have anyone who was offended - a few of them were quite happy to come solo or with a guest.

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

We met our minimum but why dont you ask people that werent invited with guests that they can bring a date?

If you still dont meet the minimum normally they will send you home with the dinners.

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

so, old bride here crashing.

We were actually 30 under our minimum the week before the wedding. We reached out to people on FB, told people who had siblings who wanted to come to bring them. I have seen some girls put out invites to their LIW ladies and have a LIW table as well.

If you are that under, they will sometimes work with you. For us, we wound up SO under hte day of (77 people, min of 100) they gave us meals to take home.

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

Thanks, ladies. There are a few I would like to ask but I just have to figure out how. Before, I think I would have been offended being asked last minute, but as a bride in this position, I totally understand now. Kind of like how I would NEVER not send back an RSVP... :)

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

What happens if there is a family emergency? I have to give a final count 2 weeks before! I worry that something might happen...

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by Kristin31613

What happens if there is a family emergency? I have to give a final count 2 weeks before! I worry that something might happen...

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Unfortunately it doesn't matter. The minimum in your contract is what you have to pay regardless of whether there is a family emergency or not

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

We've actually started contacting a few people that we would have loved to have invited and they are really excited to come. We knew we'd have to pay for our minimum no matter what, but I called WM and they said they would compensate us with dinners or something depending on how short we were. I thought that was nice... they technically don't have to :)

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by jen372

We've actually started contacting a few people that we would have loved to have invited and they are really excited to come. We knew we'd have to pay for our minimum no matter what, but I called WM and they said they would compensate us with dinners or something depending on how short we were. I thought that was nice... they technically don't have to :)

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That's great that WM is working with you to do something. Hopefully you will have enough guests and that won't be necessary.

The Watermill did not what to do anything, I finally got them to agree to put bottles of wine on the table, that was all they would do. NO take home dinners allowed we were told over and over.

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

thats awesome!!!! and im so glad to hear you're finding some last minute attendees :)

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by mara1017

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Posted by Kristin31613

What happens if there is a family emergency? I have to give a final count 2 weeks before! I worry that something might happen...

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Unfortunately it doesn't matter. The minimum in your contract is what you have to pay regardless of whether there is a family emergency or not

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I'm definitely over my minimum but let s say that I count 200, give them my final count and then 2 days later there is an emergency and 5 people can't go. Can I call them at that point at tell them?

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

I was having a hard time reaching my minimum because I got a lot of No's. My husband had recently started a new job so he started inviting people from work and we met the minimum. The disappointing part was 14 people that were Yes's did not show up the day of the wedding which we had already paid for. So my advice is even if you think you have reached your minimum, try to invite a few more because some people will not show up the day of the wedding.

Hope this helps.

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

It seems that for the most part, they few that we asked to go it was too late for them to change other plans. We had a lot of no's that we weren't expecting too. Oh well, it is what it is. we have to call soon with our final count. It never hurts to call and ask what happens if you don't meet, if people cancel last minute etc. At least you know your options.

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by dawnbon26

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Posted by jen372

We've actually started contacting a few people that we would have loved to have invited and they are really excited to come. We knew we'd have to pay for our minimum no matter what, but I called WM and they said they would compensate us with dinners or something depending on how short we were. I thought that was nice... they technically don't have to :)

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That's great that WM is working with you to do something. Hopefully you will have enough guests and that won't be necessary.

The Watermill did not what to do anything, I finally got them to agree to put bottles of wine on the table, that was all they would do. NO take home dinners allowed we were told over and over.

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Hey! I'm having worries I won't make my minimum. When we signed I tried getting it down to 120 but since my wedding is a Saturday night in June they said the minimum is 150. We were hoping that the people out of the country would b able to make it but they can afford to make the trip that time of year. I'm in the process of ordering invites so I'm not sure how under I will be but I thought maybe the Watermill would let me have Viennese hour or something like that so at least I'm paying for something and getting something in return. But now I'm reading this and I'm not happy. It just makes sense if I'm
paying anyways just give me something in return. There's no wiggle room at all? How much under were you?

Re: Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

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Posted by bellasmommy1029

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Posted by dawnbon26

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Posted by jen372

We've actually started contacting a few people that we would have loved to have invited and they are really excited to come. We knew we'd have to pay for our minimum no matter what, but I called WM and they said they would compensate us with dinners or something depending on how short we were. I thought that was nice... they technically don't have to :)

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That's great that WM is working with you to do something. Hopefully you will have enough guests and that won't be necessary.

The Watermill did not what to do anything, I finally got them to agree to put bottles of wine on the table, that was all they would do. NO take home dinners allowed we were told over and over.

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Hey! I'm having worries I won't make my minimum. When we signed I tried getting it down to 120 but since my wedding is a Saturday night in June they said the minimum is 150. We were hoping that the people out of the country would b able to make it but they can afford to make the trip that time of year. I'm in the process of ordering invites so I'm not sure how under I will be but I thought maybe the Watermill would let me have Viennese hour or something like that so at least I'm paying for something and getting something in return. But now I'm reading this and I'm not happy. It just makes sense if I'm
paying anyways just give me something in return. There's no wiggle room at all? How much under were you?

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Sent you FM

Anyone not make catering hall minimum?

we have a 100 person minimum and we were told we can use our vendors to hit that number if we have to! hoping to stay under 120 but still hit that min!