(Closed) Vendor meals–rude?

• orangeblossomspecial
• 4 years ago

dreamreve1 :  Agreed, this is a courtesy issue. 

• cassiegirl
• 4 years ago

I’d offer a hot meal to a repair person if I happened to be eating something when they are there.

• smalltownbigworld
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: November 2018

Our vendors will be seated with our guests and will be served the same dinner as everyone else because they are just as important. I just can’t imagine giving a soggy sandwich and an apple to someone who is taking the photographs that we will treasure forever or to someone who is making sure my guests have an amazing time on the dance floor. Our DJ will have a playlist set up to play during dinner so that they can eat and I have no desire to have pictures of my groom and I stuffing our faces. Yes, they will be working “for me” but they are not second class guests. 

• averria
• 4 years ago

I don’t think it’s a big deal between a vendor meal and a full meal. Whatever you can afford. Though I’d prefer feeding vendors real food. No one likes to sit down for dinner and have a soggy boxed sandwich. Hot filling meals and water and such are required.

I think the reason so many vendors require you to feed them is because not all venues have easily accesible places to get food that the vendor can disappear for an hour, whether it be a remote location with nothing to eat at the venue or ciry weddings that are subjected to congestion. The second scenario runs the risk of the vendor taking more than one hour due to unfortunate circumstances such as finding parking or being subjected to traffic. Something may happen. Make their lives (and yours) easier and feed them on site.

I’m going to come out and say it, but people who treat others poorly are horrible people. It doesn’t even have to be the fancy steak meals the guests are getting. Don’t have vendors if you can’t afford simple things as feeding them a basic warm meal. You can search for the other thread that was active a few months ago on the bee about vendor bees sharing their stories.

• ladycirtolthiel
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: March 2015

Our vendors all got the same meal options as our guests 🙂

• farmfreshjoy
• 4 years ago

Our contract with our photographer specified that a hot meal was to be provided. We’re just including her in our guest count, and we’ll have a seat for her at one of our tables. We don’t have any other vendors to deal with so this was an easy decision!

• Misswhowedding
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: May 2014

lula0508 :  Remember when you are paying a vender, you aren’t just paying for their time at your wedding.  A good, full DJ equipment set is going to cost $1000 plus, before upkeep and purchasing music rights.  Assume that every 4th or 5th wedding some idiot breaks a speaker by spilling a drink or dancing too close, and your DJ is paying $60 in equipment per wedding roulet ($300 per new speaker)  You are also paying your DJ for two extra hours on top of the contracted wedding time for set up/tear down both at your venue and where their equipment is stored.

Photographers probably have $500 of equipment, plus $1000 in editing equipmet (computer plus orginal softwear buy), and editing programs have licensing fees that have to be updated yearly.  Along with your wedding, your photographer is likely spending two hours for every one hour at your wedding editing photos.

Instead of looking at their pay per hour and compare to yours, look at your pay and then think about having to pay for your work computer, internet access, phone, phone line, printer and printer paper. 

Comparing a self employed vender to a 9-5 corperate job is very different, and not completely fair.  My boss would never expect me to do something durring my lunch break.  My photographer took pictures durring dinner when people clinked thier glasses to get DH and I to kiss, while she was trying to eat too.

• rosalily
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: July 2014

We seated our photographers (x2) with our guests during the meal so they ate a ‘guest’ meal too. Our DJ team (x3) were given ‘guest’ meals too however I think they would have preferred to have sandwiches as apparently it is quite hard to set up and eat a three course meal!

You could give them the option, depending on how comfortable you are with them and how much you are willing to pay for.

• Nay1976
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: March 2014 - Church and University

As a vendor, 50% of the time we get what guests are having, 50% it’s the sandwich/chips/apple route.  We happen to have a really good relationship with most venues which we’re thankful for, but still…..it’s just part of the deal.

• btob17
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: July 2017

I was wondering about this issue today… but for your case $15 for what is essentually a kids box meal is rediculous, surely you could do a main for that price even if its something simple like spaghetti?

 

im debating on weather to serve the videographers a 3 course meal or just the main?

I think the bands will have the same reception snack as everyone else later in the day (served in the band break time) because they wont be there during the meal

• btob17
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: July 2017

Misswhowedding :  what cheap equiptment does you photographer have?

my ex was a pro wedding photographer and his main camera + lense was closer to $5000 not $500

 

I was a realatively ammature understudy and my entry level Nikon SLR camera bought from a high street chain was $500 and luckly I was gifted most my lenses, the one I bough was another $300

• MsCandyGirl
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: April 2016 - Ed Oliver Golf Club, Wilmington, DE

We fed our vendors the same meal as guests. I will say that they were pretty shocked when I gave them the options to choose between the meals, but they all appreciated it. 

• MissJulianna
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: September 2014

lula0508 :  I have never heard of a boxed meal for vendors. They don’t usually have the same menu options as guests but definitely not a boxed meal that you would find in an elementary school lunch. We were given 2 options at several venues we looked at including the one we chose… First option was that they could eat during cocktail hour for free or they could get vendor meals for 1/2 price and they are given a table just outside of the reception room where they had like 3 choices of meals. We asked each of them what they preferred and they each said cocktail hour which according to the coordinator was the most common option.

• Souzie
• 4 years ago

We had 18 vendors.

They had their own tables amongst our guests and ate the same meal.