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DeliciousSo as if planning a wedding in 4 months time on no budget (mind you, anything less than 30k in California is “no budget”!!!!) with no wedding dress (yet) & all the lunacy & gymnastics that go into any stressful-large scaled event weren’t enough…on top of EVERYTHING ELSE, our caterer for our after ceremony “elixir soiree” has just flown the coup!!!
Yes, you read right. She became all unglued when she learned that the ceremony venue, in BH, requires her to have a City of Beverly Hills Business license. (From what I have learned, this is PAR FOR THE COURSE for every event professional who works in Bev Hills, costs $91 & is good for a year. Apparently, she told VeganGroom at the venue walk-through that we should pay for her business license! When he requested that she look further into it to see if it was solely for a one-time use, or a general benefit for her company, she came back w/the concern (irrational) that doing our event & getting the BH business license would cause her to have to pay approx. $1,000 in taxes, which “wasn’t worth it” for an event where she’d be making “so little”. (Mind you, she claimed to be “charging us rock bottom rates” but was, in actuality charging VERY INFLATED rates for the amount & quality of food we were talking… (much of it looked microwaved, I’ll post pics soon…however we were overwhelmed, had not much time & were desperate) 4 small appetizers, 2 fruit drinks, small tray of fruit & water, for 75 people, totaling nearly $1,000 w/all said & done. As an aside….whoever heard of paying $1,000 in taxes for an event where you didn’t even make $1,000 BEFORE expenses?..hmmm, shady macgrady sounding if you ask me…)
However the larger problem, besides the sheer lunacy of not being prepared to have a business license for the city you’re working in & refusing to do a job for “fear of taxes”…is leaving a bride & groom HANGING – 4 days before the event, 2 tastings & 1,000 phone calls & emails later (though she has ceased to return our calls & completely stood us up for the last tasting)! 
…Her most email included an attempt that we see as nothing less than extortion, in the form of “I will not do your event for less than $500 added to the agreed upon amount”.
However her flakiness & total disregard for the stress this puts us under speakes greater volume, than even trying to squeeze an extra $500 out for no more food, & much lesser service! How could we trust such an individual to even show up the day of?!
Woe is me…if anyone knows of any slammin’ vegan-friendly caterers who can whip up some appetizers & non-alcoholic drinks in 3 days, please let us know on the jiffy!!!!!!
C
I am sooo sorry to hear what you are going through. Try Ruth Dale. Ruth’s Catering. She has been a delight to work with. She has been in the business for 36 years and I have not found prices like hers anywhere!! She will work with your budget! Ruth Dale 818-249-2343. Let me know if I can help at all!!!
You need to publish the name of this terrible business woman!!!
You could try telling your story to the Hot Knives. Maybe they could help you out, I know they have catered at least one wedding before as they blogged about it. At the least they could refer you to others who might be helpful! http://www.urbanhonking.com/hotknives
Oh my gosh, deary!
Try One World Vegetarian http://www.oneworldveggie.com
and Seedling Catering http://www.seedlingcatering.com
Good luck!
Noura, You’re the sweetest person on thw planet…thank you!!
Hot knives? Never heard of them before! THANK YOU so much!! 
They were one of the sources I was venting about during my rant “catering someone, anyone”, or whatever it was called. 
:) One World? We’re on it! Thanks so much for the source!
C
Yo Soy Liz, it’s Mariko of Free Baking Company…a newly formed catering outfit that specializes in vegan cuisine, yet would do this at the last minute to totally throw a vegan wedding into dishevel. True nightmare. I am shaking as I type this. My b-day today, people are in town & we weren’t even able to order a vegan cake yet because of all this hoopla … 2 days away from wedding & still w/no caterer!
Mary L., I CALLED seedling catering when I first was looking for a caterer AND wrote them TWO emails but never heard back.
Blessings & love,
Hi, Candy! I’m SO sorry for all this last-minute drama! How awful.
You may have already contacted some of these people….but here are some I found on Google. FYI, I haven’t had any personal experience with any of these caterers, but I hope one of them can come to your rescue!
Jennie Cooks, based in Culver City
http://www.jenniecooks.com/vegan/
Spork Foods
http://www.sporkfoods.com/
Vegin’ Out – click on Catering
http://www.veginout.com/
Green Truck
http://www.greentruckonthego.com/
(Throwing out a crazy idea to you: Green Truck has a catering truck…maybe you could have the truck set up in the parking lot at BH venue and serve food as guests leave? The couple we photographed there had an In-N-Out truck parked in the upper parking lot for an hour or so around 6 p.m. to serve leaving guests….)
The Vegan Joint, West LA
http://www.theveganjoint.com/
Casa de Tree, West LA (needs 3 days notice for catering)
http://www.casadetree.com/index.php
Cinnamon Restaurant, Highland Park
http://www.cinnamonvegetarian.com/los-angeles-vegetarian-restaurant-catering.html
If I find anymore, I’ll send them along. Hope this helps, Candy!
Best,
Donna
Spork Foods is amazing! I take their vegan cooking classes and they catered my friend’s 30th birthday party! Check them out!
If you have any questions let me know, I do weddings and have been vegetarian for 5 years.
Good luck with everything!
Lauren
laurenran@gmail.com
WOW! So sorry that happen to and you couple. As a industry professional, you have to post the name of this vendor so no one else goes through this experience. Where did you find her?
ASE
An AMAZING caterer to work with is Brion Clarkson at Absolutely Gourmet numbers: 818-741-7993 or 323-974- 2738. I’ve tasted her food at several events and is fantastic, very affordable and extremely easy to work with. Assuming she’s available, I’d think that she’d be happy to help!
Stephanie
Wow, what a nightmare! I’m sorry you had to go through that.
Wow! What a nightmare. Im sorry you had to go through that.
Thank you all so much for the suggestions & support!! (If only I had known she was going to flake sooner in time to have found one of your highly recommended replacements, argh!!)
VB
Red Lantern, you ALWAYS have the best suggestions& a wealth of knowledge/contacts! Thank you!
Lauren! I’m on Spork’s email list & am excited to find out more about them! (If only I had known about them sooner…wow, we really need to hurry up & finish our guide!!:)
ASE! I LOVE your website!! The name is FREE BAKING COMPANY, Mariko Amekedonno, owner (uh, I shutter even thinking about that name!)
Stephanie! Thank you so much!!! Too bad this came two days AFTER the wedding, (we never posted our wedding date, huh? It was Oct. 12th) We totally had to improvise on the spot, however I will def. keep this in mind for the future!!
Cupcake Wedding, thank you so much for the support!!!!!!!
Love to all!