Beyond Basil Catering

From the very beginning, Marcy embraced our food concept -- gourmet comfort foods -- and took our menu to the next level, making each item more unique and remarkable than we ever imagined when we started out. And, although we had around 300 guests, she perfectly executed every aspect, efficiently and beautifully.

Our menu started with passed appetizers of truffled popcorn, crab salad cones and salmon mousse on potato cakes with paddlefish caviar. My cousin said the truffled popcorn was the best thing he's ever eaten in his entire life, and we had a friend that took a picture of the crab cones so that he could post it on facebook as one of the highlights of our wedding weekend! I should also note that rain just before our outdoor, uncovered ceremony forced our guests to take cover under the reception tent while we waited out the rain. Marcy and her crew didn't miss a beat and brought out some of the appetizers early so that guests could snack and drink cocktails while they waited. For several guests, this was their favorite part of the wedding! I really, really appreciated that Marcy was able to adapt to the unexpected change of plans and keep our guests happy.

At the beginning of the reception, the Beyond Basil staff served our salad course to each of our guests (no small feat for a 300-person wedding), and a relative loved the salad so much that she insisted I get the recipe from Marcy so that she could bring it to her next potluck. For dinner, Marcy set up a buffet with a mac 'n cheese bar with truffle and wild mushroom mac 'n cheese, chipotle chicken mac 'n cheese, bleu mac 'n cheese and childhood favorite mac 'n cheese; a slider bar with beef, stilton and onion jam sliders, turkey sliders with curry aioli, and buffalo and wild mushroom sliders; and a fry bar with freshly-fried-on-site french fries and mini squeeze bottles of gourmet dipping sauces. Our guests were blown away by how amazing the food was and loved the mini-squeeze bottles (one of Marcy's fun ideas). They also loved the change of pace from usual choose-chicken-or-beef wedding menus. Later on in the night, Marcy served hot dogs a la Seattle's late-night street carts. They were the perfect late-night snacks.

One of the things I loved most about Beyond Basil was how gorgeously they presented our food. There wasn't a hotel pan in sight--we had modern, stainless steel trays on iron stands and the fries were wrapped in paper in the traditional Belgian style (which we had requested as a shout-out to my husband's Belgian roots). Also, it was hard to believe simply because there was so much of it, but ALL of the food was made from scratch by Beyond Basil.

On top of it all, I loved working with Marcy. From the moment I met her, I felt total confidence in her ability to handle the types of food we wanted and the large number of guests we anticipated. She really just "got" us, had lots of up-to-the-minute ideas and was obviously a pro at what she does--she even offered us lots of helpful ideas for aspects of our wedding that were completely unrelated to the food. The execution was better than we had ever imagined it would be!

Overall, the food at our wedding was outstanding! Dozens and dozens of our guests have raved to us about how much they enjoyed it. Also, we felt that the price of our catering was absolutely reasonable, especially given that every part was made from scratch and so beautifully presented.

Marcy and Beyond Basil, we loved you and recommend you to everyone we know (and now, to anyone who reads this!). You cannot go wrong with Beyond Basil. Choosing them will be one of the best wedding decisions you make. Thanks for everything Marcy!

Kara & Steve H.