Curious how wedding caterers handle the unexpected? From power outages to last-minute guest surprises, Dawn Deardorf of Aurora Catering shares how her team transforms chaos into seamless celebrations.

Dawn the co-owner of Aurora Catering, joins us to talk about the intricate dance of wedding catering. From handling unexpected challenges to accommodating unique requests, Dawn offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to ensure every wedding is a success.

Starting her business during the 2008 recession, Dawn has weathered it all—from wildfires to last-minute dietary surprises—and learned how to pivot under pressure. She shares tips for couples on how honesty and planning can make a big difference in a caterer’s ability to deliver a flawless experience.

We dive into the challenges of catering without a proper kitchen, the importance of clear communication with other vendors, and how site visits and thorough preparation can save the day. Dawn also opens up about her favorite moments, including creating a six-foot charcuterie board that wowed a bride and her guests.

Whether it’s managing timelines or dealing with dietary restrictions, Dawn emphasizes that choosing experienced vendors who know how to adapt is key to ensuring a stress-free wedding day.

Highlights:

• How Dawn’s catering business began during the 2008 recession and thrived through the pandemic.
• The importance of honesty about guest counts and dietary restrictions.
• Managing unexpected challenges, from power outages to last-minute dietary needs.
• The role of teamwork and communication among vendors in creating a seamless event.
• Unique catering requests, like family recipes and Pinterest-worthy charcuterie boards.
• Why site visits and pre-event preparation are essential for success.

Have a wedding question you’d like us to answer? Email us at podcasts@fantasysound.com or visit our website to ask directly! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share the podcast with your friends. Your reviews help us grow and bring you more valuable wedding insights!

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Kevin Dennis (0:0.772)

Alright folks, welcome to another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married? We have the one and only Don Deardor with us, so welcome Don and welcome August as always. So Don, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Dawn Deardorf (0:13.916)

Kevin Dennis (0:41.370)

I thought, well, happily married is good. I, when you talked about surviving, uh, oh wait, I thought that was the worst thing we were ever going to encounter. then, and then good old COVID hit all of us. So yeah, that was a whole nother level of oh wait. So that we don't ever want to get into. So, all right. So today we're talking about serving under pressure, how caterers handle the unexpected. So as we jump in, what do couples always seem to underestimate about

Dawn Deardorf (0:51.652)

and keep it up.

August Yocher (0:52.413)

And then, oh boy.

Kevin Dennis (1:11.228)

catering logistics, Don.

Dawn Deardorf (1:14.428)

For some reason, they think it's going to be easy. And we want them to think it's easy. That's what we want them to feel about it. But they are completely unaware of the intricate choreography of putting together the food and working with the planners and working with the venues and the vendors, how much preparation and hard work goes into it so it goes off without a hitch so that they never know if anything went wrong.

Kevin Dennis (1:18.093)

Hahaha!

Dawn Deardorf (1:42.746)

because things do go wrong and just as long as they're happy, we're happy.

Kevin Dennis (1:48.698)

I always say we in the wedding industry, we're the greatest at improv because that is what we have to do. And I also think that you have the hardest job of everyone in the wedding industry. Yeah, you, you a hundred percent do. So yeah, yeah, I agree.

Dawn Deardorf (1:58.212)

Yep.

Dawn Deardorf (2:1.796)

It's a very tangible thing. Yeah, for sure.

August Yocher (2:6.572)

Yeah, it's like a dance almost trying to make sure everything goes well, but also at the same time, make sure that they're not realizing any mishaps are happening. So kudos for sure.

Dawn Deardorf (2:18.318)

Exactly. have good partners in that dance to make the dance work. we have a great team that we've put together for these years.

Kevin Dennis (2:23.099)

That's true.

August Yocher (2:30.072)

All right, so what are some things that you think couples can do to make your job easier or other caterers' job easier and try to avoid any of those mishaps on the front end?

Kevin Dennis (2:30.317)

All right.

Dawn Deardorf (2:31.036)

you

Dawn Deardorf (2:43.708)

Well, for one thing, I'd love for them to be honest about their guest count and have the expectations. We've had people have 30 people show up extra. Yeah, so just we really, really communicate with people from the get go. Once we book with them, I have a list of 45 questions I go through with them so that they are aware of all of the details that happen. There's so much that.

Kevin Dennis (2:47.804)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (2:53.433)

Oh jeez.

Dawn Deardorf (3:9.850)

they've read, you know, bridal magazines and looked on websites and they've seen what the beauty and the vision, but they, there's so much more to that. So the ones that educate them and all the intricate parts of everything and how we work with them and how we work with our other vendors and especially the venue. We really want to know their dietary restrictions and requirements, especially families and wedding parties. had a wedding in half Moon Bay years ago where the groom and the brother

Kevin Dennis (3:30.428)

Mmm.

Dawn Deardorf (3:39.046)

didn't get along really, really well. So the groom forgot to tell us that the brother had a Muslim diet. that goes on to, don't know, we, fortunately it was in a house. They had rented a house. So one of our chefs was able to go in and whip up a meal specifically for the brother. So having as much information about the menu, the food, what they like, what they don't, especially what they don't like. We don't want something to pop up if they don't like tomatoes.

August Yocher (3:46.040)

Did he forget or?

Kevin Dennis (3:46.233)

Oh my!

Kevin Dennis (3:54.693)

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (4:0.988)

Hmm.

Dawn Deardorf (4:8.762)

We don't want to put tomatoes on the menu. So very important to talk about that and to be reasonable about the menu requests because some venues don't have a kitchen. So you can't do a seared something if you don't have an oven. And there's an extra expense of bringing in an oven. So we want them to be aware of that. And we ask the right questions. We've been doing this for a long time. So.

Kevin Dennis (4:27.184)

Hmm.

Dawn Deardorf (4:34.256)

We know what people have asked us. We know what we've learned from our experiences too. So we just really guide them along the way and want them to have fun in the process, of course.

August Yocher (4:44.918)

Yeah, do you think there's a lot of couples that start touring their venues without keeping the kitchen in mind for their caterer?

Dawn Deardorf (4:52.092)

Totally. Yep. Definitely.

August Yocher (4:54.562)

Yeah, that's rough. Because I mean, you guys have to, again, kind of do a dance when you get there when you're talking with them and figure out like logistics. not only is it food logistics, but just preparation, serving, all that. I'm sure that just adds so many more difficult variables to the equation.

Dawn Deardorf (5:14.468)

there's five sets of stairs that we're not aware of. So I've learned, I have learned the hard way to do a site visit or go online with them to see the site before we say yes to the booking because we want it to be successful for them. We want it to be successful for our staff. We want our staff to continue to want to work with us instead of at the end of the day they're so exhausted from going up five flights of stairs and down and it's hot. So

August Yocher (5:17.750)

Oh my gosh.

Kevin Dennis (5:18.689)

Oh.

Dawn Deardorf (5:41.240)

as much education as we have before we booked the event to make sure that we're able to handle what they need and be within their budget parameters as well because it's a thousand dollars to rent a kitchen. They may not even be thinking about that.

Kevin Dennis (5:52.764)

Yeah.

August Yocher (5:53.944)

Wow.

And does that happen more often than not with the guest count too? Cause I used to work for a venue and they had in-house catering and honestly, it was kind of pulling teeth a lot to get them to just say the number or like you said, like last minute, the day of they want to add on 10 more people. And it's like, well, we've have tables out, we have chairs out, we have certain amount of staff here and it's very hard to pivot at the last minute. I mean, obviously we do, you can, you know, cause

Kevin Dennis (5:56.505)

No, they're not.

August Yocher (6:24.598)

it's their wedding day, you wanna make those accommodations, but it does just add some unnecessary stress to the day.

Dawn Deardorf (6:31.548)

August Yocher (6:35.327)

Yes.

Kevin Dennis (6:35.797)

Hahahaha

Kevin Dennis (6:40.508)

That's funny. All right. So you talked a little bit about diet restrictions earlier. So I feel like that's a big, we probably could do a whole podcast on diet restrictions. So what is the biggest, I guess, hurdles you have to overcome with it? are you surprised by them on the day of a lot of time or, know, what, what, what's the normal approach when it comes to all these diet restrictions that we have nowadays?

August Yocher (6:50.861)

Mm-hmm.

Dawn Deardorf (7:7.396)

It's rare that we're surprised because we really do talk about it. It's so important if you have a vegan guest that they don't feel like they're not just tossed a salad. There's so many things that we can do now for a vegan menu that are interesting and delicious. In fact, if we have people are not vegan, we don't tell them it's vegan because they...

Kevin Dennis (7:9.380)

Okay, that's good.

Kevin Dennis (7:18.203)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (7:24.892)

Mm-hmm.

Dawn Deardorf (7:29.466)

They may have a feeling about vegan food and it's really wonderful. So we really talk to them at the tasting. We go over it. We talk about what they want to have at the tasting and what their dietary restrictions for do they have a dad who's allergic to seafood. Allergies are super important. We have a big yellow that we put out because I like paper just it's right there like big allergy sheet because that's so important. And if someone is gluten free.

Kevin Dennis (7:47.420)

Mmm.

Dawn Deardorf (7:58.212)

we need to know, they have celiac? Because if it's just bothers their stomach, that's okay. But if they have celiac, that's serious. And we work in a communal kitchen. So we have to let them know that there may be airborne gluten in the kitchen. And we want them, we want everyone to be safe and happy. That's a big question. And we live near Berkeley where everyone has a different diet. Yeah, we have a lot of...

Kevin Dennis (8:0.732)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (8:14.882)

Yeah.

August Yocher (8:21.856)

gonna bring that up I'm like California like I mean it's kind of too stone right

Dawn Deardorf (8:26.364)

We have a dinner for 13 people with 13 different hair hair restrictions.

August Yocher (8:30.434)

Yeah, I feel like it's a blessing and a curse, right? Because you have like California, there, I mean, I feel like that's a stereotype, right? Like everyone has a dietary restriction, but then we have all these options, right? Because, you know, it's kind of more accepted here. You can't get a little bit more crazy with the menu.

Dawn Deardorf (8:49.720)

Yeah and I think sometimes it's trendy. I don't mean that a bad way but it's sort of trendy to be gluten-free, you know. I'm sorry all you gluten-free people but...

August Yocher (8:52.289)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (8:56.442)

Yeah. No, it's funny. I'll be honest with you, I'm guilty of that, playing the I'm a vegetarian card at an event because I didn't like what they were serving from the entree. So I've done that. And for me, it's short ribs. I don't know why I'm over short ribs. so I just don't. Yeah.

August Yocher (8:59.607)

No offense!

Dawn Deardorf (9:17.688)

Oh my gosh, that's so funny. Cause that's when you were to ask me my favorite dish, would be the braised beef short rib.

Kevin Dennis (9:22.842)

No, that's funny. Well, it's just because I think I'd like, I'll go through a weekend of weddings and I've eaten short ribs three times in a weekend. Yeah. And so it's just like, and all the, and all the couples love them and I think they're delicious, but it's just like, at one point you get over, you know, eating the same thing over and over again. And so that's sometimes I'll go, I'm a vegetarian.

Dawn Deardorf (9:42.939)

really.

Dawn Deardorf (9:48.732)

We have had a guest or two go through the buffet line. They're supposed to be vegetarian, but every so often they eat chicken. We also clarify pescatarian versus vegetarian. Some people are vegetarian, but they will eat fish. So we're very, very aware of that.

Kevin Dennis (9:56.486)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (10:0.860)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (10:5.318)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (10:9.296)

And I have a daughter, a 10 year old that has decided she's vegetarian and won't eat vegetables. So that's, it's been an interesting adventure for us and the Dennis Howe told it. Yeah. Yeah, I might. Yeah, I might.

August Yocher (10:9.335)

Yeah.

Oh good!

That's an interesting ride. Well, if you want to talk to Chef Marty about that, I'm sure he'd be happy help you. I don't like vegetables and he disguises them really, really well.

Mmm.

Yeah, I've been getting good at disguising them and so she's getting used to it, anyway.

Yeah.

That's too funny. Love that.

Yeah, I will say there are some caterers I've worked with before or have tried before, and they do a really good job at making vegetables not taste like vegetables, and I super love that because I'm like, this was prepared for me every day this way, I think I could be a vegetarian.

Marty has, what's the word? I don't know what the word is when you don't like it, but then you end up liking it. He's done that with russet sprouts, mushrooms and beets because people have this. Right? Well, he did.

Kevin Dennis (11:0.700)

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (11:4.173)

Mmm, I love beets.

August Yocher (11:6.584)

I'm not a big beats guy, no.

Kevin Dennis (11:8.356)

Oh, I love beets.

Dawn Deardorf (11:9.564)

Well, if you had this whipped beets with whipped cream, would transform you to a beet lover. It's happened to many of our friends and we don't do it with weddings, obviously. If they say don't like beets, we're not going to try to make them like beets. But we might have it at the tasting just for them to see what it's like. But people think it tastes like dirt and Brussels sprouts think that tastes like dirt and they don't. They really, really want it.

oooo

Mm-hmm.

People have a thing with cilantro too, right? Cilantro's another one. Yeah. Yeah.

Cilantro, oh right, or cilantro, yeah.

Oh, it tastes like soap. Yeah. I think that's a genetic thing, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Yeah, because I know I did the 23 in me and it brought that up like, does it taste like soap to you? And no, I love cilantro. I'm very happy that that's not a problem for me.

No.

I never thought about that. That's cool.

Alright, so when you're preparing for a wedding, how do you approach the what ifs? What are some of the worst case scenarios you plan for and how do you stay ready for them?

Well, again, we talk, talk, talk to the venue and to the client. We always arrive early to be able to shift gears and rectify any issues that we can see might be potentially an issue before, you know, we'll get there three hours early just to be sure that we can fix certain things if we can. We, if we have non-functioning equipment, that can be an issue for sure, but we do bring butane burners that we'll use if necessary. can do

Mm.

use chafing dishes to heat food as well. We bring gallons of water to every event. We bring bug fans in case there's yellow jackets or flies in the kitchen. could be if it's a depending on the place some place will have fruit flies. So we have these little bug fans that swing around. And we you know with over 16 years of experience that's really helped us see so many things. So we come prepared with our just in case

Yeah

Dawn Deardorf (13:8.528)

list has doubled in the last 15 years for sure because you see so many things you never thought you'd see. I never thought that would happen. went, oh wow, that happened. So just being able to think on our feet is a really big part of it and being able to stay calm and focused and not freaked out.

Oh wow.

It's funny you say call it. That's the biggest thing. Cause it's like, is that saying? They don't want, you don't want to see, don't let them see your sweat or whatever it is because you know, shit does hit the fan when we're doing the weddings and something, you know, does happen. But as long as we're calm and the guests will have no idea that we, you know, flip flop something, you know, in order because something's going on or, you know, that's why I always say we're the greatest at improv. So

Yeah, I like that line and I love the dance line. I'm gonna do both of those and run with them.

Yeah. Yeah. The dances it's really, we use that line a lot when we are talking, cause we do a lot of Indian flips for the Indian weddings where they'll do a lunch and then we have to flip the entire wedding for dinner and we have to go in there. And so we're like with the setup people, it's a dance. Like let me, you know, get this corner of the room done first and then, and then you start dropping tape, you know, like let's work together and cause it'll be a whole lot smoother process, but the dances it's, it's such a good.

August Yocher (14:8.366)

Mm-hmm.

a good scenario for us to own the wedding industry.

Yeah, yeah, that we transformed a wedding ceremony site for 100 people to a dining site in 27 minutes. I have a really fun, fast video of it because they're rolling to the tables and then all of a sudden it's beautiful with the linens and the, it was, you know, just everyone had their job. Everyone had their job and they worked with each other and it's so critical that the vendors work together. It's like we,

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

One of the things to keep our vendors happy, we feed them. When I did wedding photography for 20 years and I would come home with these horror stories of they gave me a sandwich down the hall that I, and I had to be ready to work. had to be, so we always talk to the planner. When do the vendors need to be fed? The photographer often and the videographer need to be fed early so they can do their job. So we'll coordinate after the bridal couple, the wedding couple have gone through and the families then.

August Yocher (15:3.054)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (15:3.269)

Yeah?

the vendors will often be fed them because then they're fueled for their job. And that's part of what we do too.

Yeah. And then as a vendor, I know we all appreciate that because I can't, one time I will never forget that I got a box lunch and the turkey sandwich smelled foul. It smelled sour. It was a gross thing. And I went to eat the peach that was in my box and my thumb went through it because it was rotten. And so that night I ate a bag of chips.

Mmm.

You can't do your job well with that. Exactly. Yeah.

But you can't do your best work

Kevin Dennis (16:0.153)

Well, yeah, it was the grossest thing ever.

Dawn Deardorf (16:5.500)

So we have a great, because I did it for so long, we have a great understanding of really respecting and appreciate the vendors.

Well, the other thing too is we're marketing for you. know, so when, when we eat your food, can, you know, we, it's, it's, you know, cause like the Ritz Carlton does that they feed you separately in a separate room and something different. And so I never know what the food tastes like because we don't get to eat it. You know, so I think there's.

It's the big hotels in San Francisco who do that. The St. Francis did that. So you can talk about our short ribs then,

Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah. And again, I love short rib, but it's just not three times a Friday, Saturday night dinner. Anyway.

Yeah.

No, yeah, but the vendor community talks, so I mean, give them something good to talk about,

It's funny, because I was working a wedding this last summer and we were at a facility that wasn't really taking good care of us. And then we, all of us were sitting there and we all started talking about venues and caterers that do take care of us. They're like, have you tried this food? Oh my God. They just started this whole thing. And you're right. We all do talk. Yeah.

Dawn Deardorf (17:9.222)

about marketing but if you're doing it even more so if you're doing it from a place of love and experience and respect even better but that's great I love that yeah

Oh yes.

Yeah. So is there such thing as being too prepared?

Nope, absolutely not. Yeah. We do a site visit before every wedding. Like I said, we do it now often before we booked the event, just to be sure that we'll be able to do what they want successfully. We have the name of an emergency maintenance person on site. We cater to weddings in San Francisco. It's really important to have an on-site person who works at the venue. Really, and often the bride and groom don't have that, a couple doesn't have that. So.

Wow.

Hmm.

Yeah.

We'll ask them specifically or we'll reach out to the venue ourselves to make sure that we have an emergency contact. There's a building in San Francisco that was built in 1912. It has not been updated. The elevator is temperamental. If you don't close the top, it doesn't work. You have to run up and close the top to get it to come up from the basement. There's no prep space. There's a prep space, but there's no place to put an oven inside. There's no running water. So yeah.

Kevin Dennis (18:3.185)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (18:8.859)

Mm.

Oh my gosh.

So we worked and when we got there, we rented electric hot boxes. So then we planned the menu accordingly so that what we did was successful without having an oven. And the electricity wasn't on in the prep space. So we tried to reach the maintenance person, didn't answer the call. We're running the cords out into the garden and Marty made it work. He made it work. I just let him do his thing. I was upstairs doing my thing. That's the one where we trans.

Sounds like a nightmare.

complicates things.

Oh jeez.

Ugh.

Yeah.

know, transform the room in 27 minutes. So he's downstairs doing his own and we're a great partnership in that way. I think being married for so long helps us in that way with business too, so.

Oh wow.

Kevin Dennis (19:2.554)

Yeah, makes sense.

Dawn Deardorf (19:4.592)

So you cannot, yeah, you want. And I love being on a preferred list for a venue because then I know the venue much better than a place I've just walking into for the first time. can be a team player with the client in answering some questions about when can the rentals be dropped off and picked up? Cause that's another expense. If they have to be brought in on the day of and return, it's another 500 bucks. So we try to educate them. And if we could catch.

August Yocher (19:4.822)

Yeah, you can kind of read each other's minds, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's a comfort. Yeah, it's a comfort. Yeah.

Uh huh, yeah. I love to talk about it. Yeah.

One, think two, it's, I think that just kind of, you know, pushes the reason more to of you should hire an experienced caterer because you have the years under your belt of running into those mishaps in order to have that preparedness, right? So like you said, your list just keeps getting longer because you keep running into situations, but now you know how to avoid those in the future. So having all those years of experience under your belt only helps with all those wedding what ifs.

Exactly.

Dawn Deardorf (20:7.266)

Exactly, exactly.

Alright, so what's the most unusual or unique request that you've had to accommodate?

We had a wedding a years ago now where the bride's grandfather owned a restaurant many years ago, like in the thirties. And he had a special spaghetti sauce and they wanted us make it. They gave us the recipe. We did it. Marty loves doing that. He loves working with people's family recipes, their cultures, learning about them, practicing them ahead of time if he hasn't done it before. We...

Mmm.

Hmm.

to this day use the Skinner sauce. It's so good. And the grandfather came out to the kitchen and gave us a thumbs up at the reception, which just melted Marty's heart. Like that was all he needed. That was that. And also when the bride got there, she came over to me and she hugged me and she said, I was so nervous, but seeing you and having you here with me made such a difference. And that's the connection we'd want to have with our couples is be friends with them. And

Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah.

have them count on us for any questions silly or not, know, whatever they think, anything, anything they need help with, we're going to be there for them.

That really is the best part.

It's beautiful. That's such a beautiful story. I'm like getting a little teary eyed over here. But it's just the best feeling when you know you've nailed it and you know that, you know, they're going to remember you forever and that you just created such a special moment for them. So it's very rewarding feeling.

It is.

Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. We're still in touch. So.

Alright, so now going down the path, what is one of the craziest unexpected challenges you faced at a wedding and how did you manage to keep it on track?

It wasn't super unexpected because it was in wildfire season in Marin County. And we were catering a buffet for 200 people outside. PG &E had said there might be a power shut off. We prepared that there would be a power shut off.

Kevin Dennis (22:2.556)

Oh.

Hmm.

So we cranked up the ovens, apparently. That's what Marty said he did was he cranked it up so he could get the food cooked fast. And then we held it in our hot boxes, which we always do. 30 minutes before service, lost all power. Fortunately, was afternoon. wasn't super dark, but we did bring headlamps. got the bride and groom were so pleased and so happy with what we handled because there was smoke. It was a really unusual situation.

boxes.

Mmm.

because we knew about it ahead of time that was helpful to us. So unexpected, nothing really came to mind for me because we always handle everything. How's that for me?

Yeah. You're a pros pro.

August Yocher (23:0.035)

Like, no worries, we've got it.

Dawn Deardorf (23:2.704)

We got it, right.

August Yocher (23:5.538)

Yeah. Okay. So how has your approach to handling pressure evolved since you started catering weddings? I know we kind of talked about that, but I kind of want to expand on it a little bit more.

Kevin Dennis (23:5.574)

Yeah.

Dawn Deardorf (23:7.824)

That was it.

Well, again, it's about communication. We have a meeting with our staff and just talk about what possible things could happen and how we would handle them. We always have an extra person on hand who needs to do whatever they need to do. Most of the time is some supply that the couple didn't think about having. Instacart is definitely our friend. We've used it many times.

Yeah.

Oh, jeez.

Yes.

I can't tell you how many times we're counting the inventory for the bar and there's no garnish or no mixer. So we've got to go out. That's why we get there early so that we can.

Mmm. Yeah.

Dawn Deardorf (24:1.980)

And that's what we've learned from experience because I tell you when you're not experienced and you go into these situations, it's incredibly stressful. It's just, it's so stressful because that is not what you want. You want a happy day for these, for your, for your couples. You want it to be their happiest day of their lives. And so it's just, you know, we think we've seen it all. So we will prepare for things that

It really is.

Like I said before, there's always something new. It's just because we've been doing it so long and we have such a great team of people that we can hand off, okay, we've got this thing going on, go take care of it. We've got this thing going on, go take care of it. And fortunately, it always comes together.

Yeah, that's the best part. So what are some of the biggest like misconceptions couples have when it comes to the timeline for you? Yeah.

Oh my gosh, really? This is just a giant misconception. Some planners have it by the minute. And we had a bride in Moraga whose zipper broke on her dress. So they got married, they disappeared for 45 minutes. We got salmon ready to serve, and you cook salmon at the very last minute. And on top of that, the...

August Yocher (25:2.530)

Oh, shit.

Oh jeez, yeah.

Yeah.

oven in the small kitchen we were in did not work but they had another larger kitchen that they rented for separate people it was available and we drove the salmon to the other kitchen when we got word that they were going to come in to sit down for dinner.

Mm.

Oh my gosh.

45 minutes light. you know, we just, fortunately we had enough appetizers. It wasn't a giant wedding. I think it was maybe 50 people. So that was helpful that we had enough to keep the guests happy and entertained. And I think there was enough booze too. So that helped. Not for us.

Yeah, something we we always talked about at my the venue I worked at that had the in-house catering was that too many people always expected the catering to be like a restaurant. Like I can just order some fries or I can just order this entree and it'll be out in 20 minutes. But the truth is, is you're preparing lots of food for a mass amount of people. So it's not so easy to just whip up one thing or have something come a little earlier.

kind of just has to happen when it happens. Like, I mean, obviously you can kind of adjust a little here and there, but I think that was something that a lot of guests didn't understand either.

That's a really good comment to remember for us actually, because you're right. It's like, well, I didn't order chicken, I want beef. Well, so we always have extra of everything like that. They don't remember that they ordered something. So be prepared for everything, right, Kevin? Yeah.

You ordered that though!

Really?

Yeah, that's what you got to do. It's funny when you were talking about that, was reminding me of your, with the zipper. I had a wedding one time where the photographer put the couple in a limo and took them for a photo shoot and didn't tell anyone he was doing this and went off site. And we were going off the timeline because we thought they were just out front doing photos and had no idea they actually left property. And the caterer was serving filet that

night and so again last minute cook you know like you just want it right and you know they fired the fillet and no couple and so finally they mom was mad the mother of the bride was bad and uh at the photographer and she told so everyone got served their dinner without the couple being there because she didn't want she didn't want a well-done fillet she wanted to yeah yeah yeah

It would have been ruined. It could have been completely ruined. It would have been gray. Good for worse.

Yeah, and gross. Yeah, no, yeah, she's like, I want it right. So, and boy did that. I wouldn't want to have been that photographer because when he got back, the mother of the bride unleashed on him. was something fierce. I was like, well, this guy will never do this again. But the fact that he didn't tell, he just didn't tell anyone was just mind blowing. know, because we, he's like, yeah, I'll be out front. We're going to, you know, finish up the photos. Great. You know, and didn't think that they're going to put them in the limo and take off. So.

Dawn Deardorf (28:9.030)

Yeah.

August Yocher (28:9.068)

Well that's just...

Yeah, a lot of vendors have their own agenda and that's what we try to avoid by having open communication. We do require a planner for anything over 50 people because that cohesiveness is so important and they have so much that they can also offer. They can also sometimes offer discounts on rentals. They have great referrals from people they've worked with. know that they've vetted them because they've worked with them before and they do beautiful. So we have a requirement now that

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

over 50 needs to have a planner. I great planners to recommend too. Yeah.

Yeah, well speaking of that, so how do you balance working with vendors on the day of to ensure that the day is smooth? And I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going let you answer it.

Dawn Deardorf (29:6.160)

I would like to hear your answer because it's not always smooth. It is.

Kevin Dennis (29:9.020)

Okay, well, I think it's communication. It always comes to, yeah, and that's what I think. That's where everything goes wrong is when they're like, like that photographer, for instance, if he, would have told someone that he was taking them to this tree that he saw down the road or whatever, I forget what it was, but, uh, you know, then we wouldn't know. And you could pivot and not seat the guest. And you know, there would have been, it wouldn't have been so stressful. So I think it all comes down to communication. And that's where I think.

Mm-hmm.

a lot of vendors get in the weeds or they get on the bad. The naughty list with caterers or with venues is when they don't communicate.

Yeah.

first thing I do is go talk to the DJ and talk about what's your timeline? This is what we have. Does it match? What do you how do think it's going to When something's going to be announced or happen just just communicating with them for sure.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Sometimes they don't either, so...

Kevin Dennis (30:2.554)

Yeah.

August Yocher (30:3.616)

Yeah. I mean, my thing was it was always better to over communicate than to under communicate. And I think I would almost be annoying sometimes when I was a coordinator, just like overly updating people. like, I know I just talked to you five minutes ago, but hey, this happened. But it's just because you don't want anyone to run into anything, especially like leaving in a limo. It's better to just all be on the same page. We know what just happened, what's currently happening, what's about to happen.

And, you know, if there are any mishaps, which, you know, sometimes they're just bound to happen that everyone is in the loop still. And we all have a united front and a game plan moving forward. But like you said, Don, all too often that would happen where I don't even know how that does, but just couples creating different timelines for each vendor. And sometimes they'd be off by like 10 or 15 minutes. And I'm like, whoa, like it's kind of a big discrepancy. So definitely good to.

kind of meet beforehand and just verify those things before going into the day.

Dawn Deardorf (31:8.412)

That's why it's really, really good to have a planner who can do all that too. It's really helpful because they create the timeline usually and everyone follows that.

Kevin Dennis (31:8.890)

Yeah.

Yeah, and make sure that we're all sticking to it and moving forward. And yeah, and if we have to improv, we improv and we move on. So, all right. So as we're getting here to the end, we always like to ask our guests, what is their favorite part of a wedding? And I'm curious to hear yours.

You can't, you don't.

Mm-hmm.

You've worked with someone for months often and you walk into a blank slate basically and seeing it just come together and everyone working together and the camaraderie and laughter and you gotta stay loose, know, you just, I don't feel so loose, but my people do. So they keep me.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

you

Dawn Deardorf (32:3.312)

And just to see, it's never gonna happen, it's never gonna happen. then magically, it's not magic at all, it's hard work, but you look at this room and this is what they envisioned. And I had so many people come in and cry when they see the room. delivering their dream to them is really wonderful. We had a, it's kind of off topic, but we had a bride who requested a six foot,

Yeah, that's my best. That's my favorite.

charcuterie board. She saw it on Pinterest. We'd never done one before. And Marty jumped on It was so gorgeous. And she was very particular. She wouldn't let any of her photos be published after the because she didn't like them. were a couple she didn't like the flowers. But she jumped up and down because she's a little tiny thing. She jumped up and down and applauded when she saw the board.

Wow.

Oh. That sounds delicious.

Oh.

Mmm.

Aww.

And we do that. We offer that to people now because it's such a massively beautiful. It's an experience, really. We're offering them an experience, food experience. So I love that when you when you have a special request from someone like the Skinner Sauce, like the six foot charcuterie board, like seeing their faces when they walk in to see their dream come to life. That's the important part. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (33:4.987)

Yeah.

That was such a great answer!

Yeah, I really like that. Yeah, me too. All right. Yeah.

I'm glad you called me on that before.

I also knew that this podcast was gonna make me hungry today, so I'm definitely gonna eat a snack after, but now I'm wanting a six-inch charcuterie board.

Yeah.

Good.

We always tell people before a menu call, make sure you've eaten something first. Don't do it at lunchtime. Yeah.

Yeah, no kidding, me too.

Yeah.

It's just the other day I took my daughter to Costco and she was hungry and it was the worst decision I ever did in my life. She kept throwing things in the, I'm like, girl, stop, stop throwing things in the cart. Yeah. You can't grocery. Yeah.

Oh, no. Well, go get... Who's in Uber? She'd be, you know, or that hot dog.

August Yocher (34:0.270)

That's why they have the samples!

Kevin Dennis (34:5.508)

Yeah, well she just wanted to buy everything ever. Well, remember she's the vegetarian, that one, so. She likes.

Mmm.

So in closing, sorry.

No, I just say she's the cheese pizza girl. Yeah. anyway. All right. Well, Don, how do we get in contact with you or how do our listeners get in contact with you and hire you to do all their amazing food for their wedding?

We are available on Instagram, Facebook. We have a phone number. We have a website. It's called a phone number, right? In my office, actually.

Oh. What's a phone number?

Yeah

Our website is auroracateringbayarea.com. Aurora Catering was already taken, so we have the longest website address in the world. So there's a contact page there. They can email me directly. Most people go to the website. It's just easier to use that contact page. And I just want to finish with saying, you know, always expect the unexpected and stay calm and let Aurora handle it.

Hmm.

August Yocher (35:5.358)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (35:9.230)

There you go. I like that. Very nice. Very nice.

August Yocher (35:9.262)

Ah!

I'll do that for dance and improv to my taglines too. So thank you guys very much. It's a pleasure.

Yeah, that's right. All right. No, thank you. You were a great guest and we appreciate having you here on the podcast. And also want to remind all our listeners, just go out there. If you have a question, send it to podcastatfantasysound.com. Also go out there and review, like all those fun things for the podcast as well. So Don, thank you for being here. We really appreciate it.

And Kevin, one more thing. So this week we actually just launched the podcast on our Fantasy Sound website. So now you can listen to episodes there and on the first page when you hop onto the podcast page, you can also ask questions there too. So you can either do it through podcasts at fantasysound.com or you can just go straight to the website.

EW.

Oh, I forgot, yes.

Nice.

Dawn Deardorf (36:4.400)

That's great. Our newsletter is going out today, so we're mentioning this podcast, so we'll add that. And I'll see you tonight, Kevin.

Kevin Dennis (36:4.464)

Look at August. Getting her done August.

August Yocher (36:7.896)

Yeah.

Yay!

Yay! We appreciate it. We will see you tonight. All right. If I make my flight, that's the next step. I'm coming live from Seattle right now. anyway. All right. No, thank you guys. All right. Bye, everyone.

Yes.

I'll have to tell you about it. That's right. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Yeah!

Bye.