Thomas John Events

Very personable! Email response a bit slow but willing to help in more way than just food!

We worked with Thomas John Events for our wedding in July 2009 at Nestldown.We decided to work with them because of their unmatched quality and service level. Our expectations were exceeded on the big day when every detail was just as planned, and they even helped us deal with some small details (cake was undecorated, oops!) that we didn't anticipate.Thomas John is different from other caterers because they will work with you to give you whatever service level you need - whether it means having staff direct guests to a certain area or accommodate specific food requests. Unfortunately this means you end up paying a bit more. We definitely thought the extra cost was warranted because of the great service.Thomas John came to our apt in SF and spend 3-4 hours walking us through all the possibilities, and then we did a tasting (again at our apt - so convenient!)Kristin and her team were really fun to work with and gave us exceptional service. We would gladly hire them again (but we're not planning on putting on another wedding soon)!

We haven't had our wedding yet, but the interactions I've had with them have been great & their food is amazing! Seriously they actually come to your house to do the tasting & you invite friends for a dinner party. We had ours last week & it was so fun & the food was restaurant style. I mean up to the standards of Town Hall, Frascati ect. I consider myself to be somewhat of a foodie so I set the bar high. And you should seeing that food is the biggest portion of expenses for the wedding.

More to come after the wedding, but I HIGHLY recommend checking them out!!

Post Wedding Review:
TJE is absolutely outstanding at what they do. At our wedding, everything from the way they executed the tables, lighting, the bar & the food were more than I could have hoped for. I was one of those crazy anal brides that planned every last detail & they actually impressed me big time! On top of all of that, Tom & Dana are very easy to work with & are completely on top of their game.

When you look for a caterer, you don't realize how much interaction you actually do with them until you're in it & planning it. Working with Dana honestly made my wedding planning SO easy & she always responded immediately to my numerous emails.

My husband & I are pretty big foodies & our goal was to try & find a caterer with food that was great & still affordable. So many of our guests complimented how amazing the food was - a few said it was the best filet they ever had!

TJE did superb work at our wedding. The very pleasant and well groomed staff arrived earlier than expected to set up and when they had spare time, they even aided our family and friends, who were helping with decorations and flowers, finish up their presentations. Directly after our ceremony they were their with wine in hand for our parched guests and served hors d'oeuvres fit for a king. All of our guests commented about the fantastic food and how friendly and efficient the staff was. If my new bride and I could give higher than a five-star rating, we would.

I cannot tell a lie: I expected a lot from Dana. I know I'm not supposed to have high expectations, but I did. After working with Dana for over a year, I got to know her. I learned what kind of person she is (kind, funny, extremely organized, dedicated, and intelligent) and what kind of work she does (she strives for perfection). After seeing the chart she'd made of our reception napkins to make sure they looked awesome (they were all different colors), my expectations were really high. It didn't even worry me, though. I knew Dana would deliver.

And damn, did Dana deliver. Actually Dana did not just deliver. Holy crap. I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing our wedding was. It was AMAZING.

Yes, I am incredibly organized and a lot of why it looked awesome were the details I spent hours crafting. But you know what? All that organization and detail-obsessing is totally useless if it's not executed correctly. It's true! I am happy to say that not only were my details executed perfectly, but they added their own amazing touches to the reception that I couldn't even have dreamed up if I tried. They created a BEAUTIFUL bar with flowers and martini glasses and glass blocks. Our yellow signature cocktails had YELLOW sugar on the rims. Our soup was poured hot out of a kettle-like-thing in front of each of our guests. It is this attention to detail that separates Dana and Thomas John Events from the rest.

Our wedding was so classy. Dana and the rest of the TJE staff were SO professional. There was thought put into every detail, and none of it was lost on me. From the water and hors d'oeuvres set aside for us after the ceremony to the take-home bag they'd prepared for us (complete with a doggy bag of each of our entrees, hors d'oeuvres, a bottle of champagne, plastic champagne glasses and flatware and boxes of our dessert), they truly thought of everything. Words cannot possibly express how perfect everything was, so I uploaded a few pictures of our event in the photos section. Check it out. :)

Thank you so much, TJE!

PS--the food was great too (obviously)!

HOLY CRAP. I am AMAZED by these people. We have been working with Dana Miller to plan our wedding, and we couldn't be happier. She is incredibly professional, intelligent, kind and fun. We were impressed from the very beginning, when we met with Dana for a 2 hour initial consultation. We went over everything from the types of food we like/dislike and what we want our wedding to look like to the types of linens/dishes we could afford. She came back a week later with a 10-page, highly detailed proposal that knocked our socks off. The chef had created a completely custom menu for us, and their price was within our range.Then came the tasting. Fantastic. They actually CAME to our HOUSE and catered a dinner with our wedding menu for us and 6 of our family and friends. The food was fantastic. Fresh, wonderful, and BEAUTIFULLY presented. I was SO impressed, both by the food and by their service. All of our guests were impressed as well. We are all really excited for the wedding.I think TJE is this affordable because they're just starting out, because their service and food is worth far more than the price they charge for it. Although Thomas John has been in the catering business for over a decade, his company is a baby compared to others in the biz (I think they've been in business for around 2 years, but I could be wrong). This would have made me nervous, except that TJE was recommended to me by someone on theknot.com, and all of their references were thrilled with the service and food they received (yes, I called every single one of them. I am very thorough!).So when our wedding rolled around, I was very excited. I cannot tell a lie: I expected a lot from Dana. I know I'm not supposed to have high expectations, but I did. After working with Dana for over a year, I got to know her. I learned what kind of person she is (kind, funny, extremely organized, dedicated, and intelligent) and what kind of work she does (she strives for perfection). After seeing the chart she'd made of our reception napkins to make sure they looked awesome (they were all different colors), my expectations were really high. It didn't even worry me, though. I knew Dana would deliver.And damn, did Dana deliver. Actually Dana did not just deliver. Holy crap. I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing our wedding was. It was AMAZING. Yes, I am incredibly organized and a lot of why it looked awesome were the details I spent hours crafting. But you know what? All that organization and detail-obsessing is totally useless if it's not executed correctly. It's true! I am happy to say that not only were my details executed perfectly, but they added their own amazing touches to the reception that I couldn't even have dreamed up if I tried. They created a BEAUTIFUL bar with flowers and martini glasses and glass blocks. Our yellow signature cocktails had YELLOW sugar on the rims. Our soup was poured hot out of a kettle-like-thing in front of each of our guests. It is this attention to detail that separates Dana and Thomas John Events from the rest.Our wedding was so classy. Dana and the rest of the TJE staff were SO professional. There was thought put into every detail, and none of it was lost on me. From the water and hors d'oeuvres set aside for us after the ceremony to the take-home bag they'd prepared for us (complete with a doggy bag of each of our entrees, hors d'oeuvres, a bottle of champagne, plastic champagne glasses and flatware and boxes of our dessert), they truly thought of everything.

TJE is comprised of an incredible staff dedicated to providing top-notch service and creating delectable delights.

When we were selecting a caterer for our wedding, we wanted to make sure that no one headed into the evening's events forgetting the food or hungry with despair as is what happened very often at the weddings we've attended in the past. It was at our first meeting with Dana Miller at TJE that we became excited about what TJE could do for us.

Different from all other caterers we had met, TJE came to our home (rather than us going to them) and cooked a dinner for us and six of our guests. They prepared an evening of delicious food that was created based on our favorite foods, wants, and don't wants, etc. They used linens, plates, and other utensils that we'd selected to give us an idea of what the place settings could look like at our wedding. We met Ian, our extraordinary chef that night. At the end of the evening, we (along with our guests) sat down with Dana and Ian and encouraged us to provide honest feedback on what we liked and didn't like. It was great that they collaborated with us to create a menu we and others would like.

However, dinner service did not go without a hitch. One complaint from our guests is that they didn't get to taste all the various hors d'oeuvres that were being passed around. I wasn't sure if there weren't enough hors d'oeuvres or people to pass them out.

We also encountered a long delay for the delivery of the entrées after our guests were done with their soup and salad. I don't know what happened, but I remember sitting their anxious that my guests were going to get restless and annoyed.

However, aside from these hiccups their professionalism was incredible and every step of the way they exceeded our expectations with their excellent work and service. Because they were so great it was easy to overlook these oopsies.

In addition, they discussed and implemented great ideas to keep our guests hydrated before the ceremony and even surprised us by creating a special sign for our specialty drink! They make sure that the bride and groom are pampered. For example, they brought us and our families a few drinks and appetizers to hold us over during the picture session while our other guests were enjoying the cocktail hour. What a brilliant idea!

They were also accommodating to any special requests - have a special family dish you want to add to the menu? Send Ian the recipe and it can be done! Have a special drink that you and your lovely want to share with your guests? Ian and team has you covered too.

They are a dream team with a special hand for great food and great personalities to work with. We love them.

Would we use TJE again? Without a doubt - YES!