I did promise a little while back to fill you in on my Good Service awards after our party, so perhaps the time has come to share the secrets of the super service we experienced from various sectors. These service providers were all unearthed after extensive research (and you wondered what had been taking up my time and energy earlier in the year?) and I am happy to spread the word, as I believe good service should be rewarded with more business to keep them in business.
So, food first...after several hit and miss enquiries ranging from simply ridiculous to unbelievably confusing and inefficient, we chanced upon Ambrosia Catering, owned and run by Beatrice McShane in Diep River. From the moment she responded to me with a simple to decipher, factual, reasonable quote and delicious sounding menus, I reckoned we might be onto a good thing. Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we arranged a tasting at her premises with a few of our choices.
Efficiency must be her middle name, as she was waiting in her spotless kitchen with a platter of delectable bites (we wanted finger foods so our guests could mingle) and we were sold. The big problem was narrowing down our choices as her selection was so exciting and innovative, and I spent hours poring over her menus, wondering if our friends would enjoy the mini seafood curry bunny chows more than the baby caramelized red onion and balsamico quiches. Beatrice also subcontracted an excellent function hire company who delivered and collected punctually, not leaving me hanging about waiting for them to arrive, and who provided quality glassware. Our waiter and kitchen service was professional and friendly and looked after our friends very well, and left our kitchen clean with any leftovers packed away in the fridge. After all that, I can barely remember tasting a thing as it was such a busy and happy day, but our friends really enjoyed Ambrosia's cuisine and some are still talking about it.
So thanks to Beatrice and team!
www.ambrosia-catering.co.za
Flowers next... I miss dear Joan Pare, our world famous florist from Forget-me-Nots who used to present flowers to the Queen, and who did our wedding and baby flowers, but I have since given my loyalty to Alison's Flowers in Wynberg. It is such a beautiful shop, and Camilla made our experience very personal and special. She sourced flowers slightly out of season and was so enthusiastic about our whole occasion, that the collection the day before the party of such exquisite, tenderly made coronets and posies made us realize that our big day was actually becoming a reality.
Thanks Camilla and all at Alison's!
www.alisonsflowers.co.za
If music be the food of love, play on... Once again, by trial and error, and then a spot of good luck, we found Mike Laatz to play the dreamy kind of saxophone music, including our favourite old Louis Armstrong numbers, which we adore. He was more than willing to accomodate all our requests, bent over backwards to try to help us with music for the Mass despite being a jazz musician, was here to set up timeously, and gently played the day away creating just the right mood, until we reluctantly let him go. He played for over four hours for a very reasonable fee.
Thank you too Mike for making our day!
www.mikelaatz.com
Oh for another party. Any wedding bells out there...?
Mwaah,
Suzy Q
No comments:
Post a Comment