Highlights on Vendors

A very interesting part of being an event planner and caterer are the vendors you work with along the way. Most are delightful people who are in the business for all the right reasons and truly feel as I do....that it is an honor and a priviledge to have been chosen to be a part of the special occasions in life. As always, there are exceptions and why they choose to do what they do escapes me. I think of the DJ at an outdoor wedding I catered a few years ago where no one had done their homework regarding power requirements. At the time I was with a company that had multiple and simultaneous events happening. It was not at all unusual for the caterer to have never seen the event site prior to arriving with truck and crew. We were totally reliant on the previous ground work of the event manager and had to trust that we would have what we needed to make each event happen. In this case we were sadly short of power. I immediately began to blow circuits when I powered up my oven, two warmers and lighting. After several hours of creative shifting, I was finally at a place where I was producing food, but at that point I was incredibly behind schedule. As the DJ arrived, the event manager brought him up to speed and at my request, implored him to give me a minute to power down before he powered up. He was impatient and would have no part of being a team player. When he turned on his equipment, he blew everything, and we were right back to square one. We made it happen, but it was a painful experience from start to finish. He made what was already a tough and stressful work environment much worse with his ego. Thankfully he was the exception! I have been blessed to work with many talented, kind, helpful and downright fun people through the years. I am delighted to highlight some very talented vendors in the southern, midcoast and central Maine areas that work very hard to make each and every event they are part of a little more magical than they otherwise would be.