Confusion Before The Wedding

On July 11^th, 2012, Tiffany sent an email saying that I was more than welcome to come between 3:00-6:00pm to drop off any items and/or decorate on the day of the wedding. I responded that we'd be there at 3:00pm. We later received a reminder from Tiff on August 14^th about decorating a day prior to the wedding between 3:00-6:00pm. However, this turned out to be a disaster, as we were not even allowed to go in and decorate the ballroom on the day of the wedding. My fiancée, now husband, and some family members and bridesmaids showed up to decorate the hall at 3:00pm. They were told by Tiffany that no one was allowed in. I then showed up at 3:30pm to talk to Tiffany and am told that she said that we could drop off decorations and see what her staff has done as far as set up but that we couldn’t decorate until 4:30pm. She also said that we couldn’t bring in that many people to help, even though we only had an hour and a half to decorate a whole ballroom. (It had been previously stated twice in 2 separate emails that we could decorate from 3-6pm.) 

Finally Able To Set Up a Taste Test 3 Weeks Before The Wedding

To begin with, we had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes to try the food. Most of the food tasted great, and we were excited to treat our guests with great food. A large, thick piece of fish was served over a bed of rice, and it was phenomenal. The chicken was served a bit bland in flavor, and the beef was served dry. When we asked about the beef, the chef (Cliff Rome) said that he was rushed and that the beef is usually served with a sauce. He said that if we did choose the beef he would cook it with his heart and soul, since he wouldn’t be rushed as he was during this time. A very good salad was also served, as were veggies, but no potatoes. I later requested red roasted potatoes for the potato choice for dinner.

Later on, I e-mailed Tiffany asking for a description of the menu. She replied with: Herb buttered Tilapia, Roast Sirloin of Beef with garlic mayo sauce, roasted red potatoes with fresh herbs, seasoned veggies, mixed green salad and choice of ranch or Italian dressing and rolls. On August 2^nd, I sent another email asking if the fish was served on a bed of rice like it was at the taste testing and Tiff responded NO. We were confused as to why they would serve the fish a different way at the tasting than they do at the event.

We Were Being Pressured To Choose a Meal Without A Taste Test

I’m sad to say that things only got worse after the awful phone conversation we had. The next thing I heard from Tiffany was from an e-mail with the new proposal. She wanted us to pick fish or beef, even though we had not done a taste-tasting yet because she had canceled the one we had scheduled. Trying to set up a tasting was a challenge, as Tiffany wanted us to pick beef, fish, or chicken without having had tasted any of those meals. We kept reminding her that we needed to taste the food, but she told us that we could only taste the chicken and the fish. According to Tiffany, it wasn’t feasible to include the beef in the tasting because most of it would end up going to waste, but we really needed to try it before picking an option.

There were other problems going on at the same time, such as the fact that the new proposal stated that our guests were going to be served “buffet style” even though we asked for family style. Anyway, after trying to set up a taste testing with Tiffany countless times, we were finally able to get one three weeks before the wedding at the pavilion in Gary Indiana. You can probably guess by now that the taste testing didn’t go well either.  

Unprofessional Behavior from Rome’s Joy Representatives

Rather than listening to us, her customers as well as the bride and groom, she insisted on having things her way. During the same phone conversation, she began addressing to me with an attitude that was arrogant in tone, and I was really surprised at the way she was talking to me. I put Tiffany on speaker, and my sister, who was with me at the time, was also shocked at how inappropriate the Rome’s Joy representative was behaving. Tiffany and I began to have a small argument over the phone. She said that she had stayed up all night working on the proposal and was excited to present it to us, and then accused me of never being satisfied. I responded that I was never satisfied because she and Rome’s Joy were not providing us with what we asked for. We had been clear the entire time with them ever since our first meeting, but they just fought back at almost every step of the way. At the time, I had already spent a year planning the wedding, and we couldn’t just switch caterers and venue without affecting the entire plans of the event. Then, Tiffany replied “I’ll give you everything you want,” but that she was going to take all of the discounts out of the proposal so that we can have whatever we want. I was puzzled as to why she would do that; I just wanted her to do what we had asked her to do, and she was behaving very rudely. Finally, I let Tiffany know that she was on speaker and that my sister was shocked at how I was being talked to, which then caused Tiffany to change her demeanor. Tiff then said she would change the proposal and we hung up. Later that same day, I sent her an email in an effort to diffuse the tension caused by Tiffany’s attitude, but she never replied.

Rome’s Joy Refused to Give Us What We Asked For

Everything went downhill from there, as communication with the representative from Rome’s Joy, Tiffany, became a chore. Not only did Tiffany resist on most of our requests for the wedding, but she also behaved unprofessionally with me. There were many times when she spoke to me with an attitude and was very rude to both me and our guests at the time of the wedding reception. On May 5^th, Tiffany sent a revised proposal with food, cocktail hour (with a manager’s discount of $500), labor prep, setup, break down plus the event totaling at $12,500. The proposal states that cocktail hour would have food and only wine, and that’s not what we had originally asked for at our first face-to-face meeting. Because we did not immediately accept the proposal, Tiffany threatened to remove the manager’s discount. We didn’t accept as quickly as she had hoped, due to the fact that the proposal contained several things that we didn’t want. The proposal included appetizers during our cocktail hour. We called Tiffany right away to let her know about our concerns, but she insisted that it’s “proper etiquette” to have food during cocktail hour, and that the guests needed to eat because of the hot weather outside. She said that drinking on empty stomachs would make them sick. However, this is not what we wanted and not what we had planned. So, I asked Tiffany to remove the appetizers and add beer instead to go along with the wine, which is what we had originally asked for.

Early Problems with the Catering Company

Our first problems arose with both the City of Gary, Indiana and Rome’s Joy Catering company. Because we planned to have our wedding at the city-owned Marquette Park Pavilion, we had to use the catering services that the City of Gary contracted with – Rome’s Joy. At the time, however, the city was in the process of switching caterers from a previous company to Rome’s Joy. We were not informed that this transition was taking place, which is something that should have been communicated to us since new a new catering company means there will be different prices. Instead, the City of Gary chose not to inform us and promised us the same prices for food and alcohol (chicken, beef, beer, wine, etc) that were offered when the older catering company was around. We assumed that Rome’s Joy was already fully operating with the city, and we didn’t find out about this transition until seven months after we had signed the contract with the Pavilion and eight months before our wedding on August 11^th, 2012. Not only did we find out late about the transition, but we were also told that we were going to have to pay different prices for the meals.

Rome's Joy Catering, A Client Review

Why I’m Reviewing This Catering Service, Roman’s Joy

Welcome to my blog! So happy you've decided to visit and read my reviews. Oftentimes, when I'm about to embark on an expensive project or thinking about buying something but want to know more information, I find myself doing research on the web. As you probably know, service and product reviews are very important in today's consumer society. This is especially true in today's economy, when people want to get the most out of their money and not spend on something that isn't worth it. Worse, you wouldn't want to spend your money on something that doesn't live up to what the seller or provider advertised!

So, if you're about to purchase a VERY expensive service, wouldn't you want to see reviews about the company you're potentially going to contract? Well, I would absolutely have appreciated it if someone had taken the time to post a review for this catering company, because I did not have a good experience. Has anybody else had any bad experiences with the Rome's Joy Catering company? If you do, then please let me and everyone else know by posting in the comments. If you have a particularly long complaint, then send it to me and I will post it as a guest author entry on my blog. This would be a great help, because as I have mentioned, services like these are very expensive and you should know everything about it before you buy.

What is Romans Joy? It’s a Catering Company For Special Events

Typically, Rome’s Joy Catering is hired for very important events, such as weddings. Can you imagine planning for your wedding for so long and have it be nearly a disaster when the day comes due to the irresponsibility of the services you hired and paid to handle things?