Can a venue tell you who can cater your wedding?

As you all know, this blog is about all things food truck wedding related.
Most of my info is shared to help couples in the planning process or to help
bust some myths.
Today will be a little different - The topic is all about venues.

I hear a lot about the most time consuming parts of planning a wedding reception.
Lots of couples mention finding a venue and booking a caterer as the two hardest
things to get ironed out.
So, I started asking couples what made these tasks so darned complicated.
Talk about a pandora's box of sorts - Granted, the catering thing was a lot of what I
imagined, however, the venue part threw me for a complete curveball.

Almost every couple has told me about the struggle to do business with venues
that will not let them bring in the vendors they choose.
Now, my distaste for the good old boy clubs runs deep beyond words. Good, healthy
competition is the foundation for any industry to stay sharp and be successful.
I have come across a lot of venues who won't let an outside vendor come to the party,
unless they are on the "Preferred" Vendor List.
So, to clarify - These venues want you to write them a check for a lot of money, like new car
amount of money, then feel like they need to tell you who you can have for other vendors?
So, their photographers, their caterers, basically the people they are in close with - The old deal of
who shines their shoes.

With total disregard for the fact that you are, in fact, the people getting married, who in the world
is arrogant enough to feel like they have any right to tell someone what they can and cannot do is
ludicrous to me.
I totally understand if the venue has a restaurant and handles the catering onsite - That makes sense.
However, most of the venues we work with don't have a restaurant.

How do all of you feel about this?
If I was engaged and someone told me what I had to do for my wedding, besides my fiance (Insert Wink), I have a feeling I would not be writing them a check for anything.

Today I got an email that made me smile - A couple told their favorite venue whose name I won't
mention, they were bringing us to cater the party or they weren't getting booked.
Guess what happened ....
Maybe the time has come to tell these venues that the world doesn't revolve around them.
Your Wedding = Your Vendors.
Plain and simple in my book.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Agree, disagree, other points of view, etc.
Please leave a comment here or email me if you feel more comfortable - info@wanderingdago.com

I really do want to thank everyone for the great feedback from this blog.
The support for this industry and where food truck wedding catering is heading, we need input and advice on best practices. The best way to do that is get good, honest feedback from everyone.

Thank you again everyone -

Brandon - Chef/Owner
Wandering Dago Catering Co. & Food Truck