Daniel B.
Yelp
We were really impressed with our wedding tasting at Affairs to Remember. Before our tasting was even finished, I knew I wanted to go with them. Afterwards, my fiancee and our wedding planner agreed. We will be booking Affairs to Remember to cater our wedding.
Our wedding is going to be at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead. Affairs to Remember is one of the History Center's approved caterers. After a lackluster experience with Proof of the Pudding at a holiday party, our planner recommended Affairs to Remember and Bold Catering & Design. Our choice came down to those two.
After having experienced the food and service from both Affairs to Remember and Bold Catering & Design at various company parties over the years, I initially leaned towards Bold to cater our wedding. This was before we did any tastings. After our tastings, there was no question in any of our minds that we should go with Affairs to Remember.
Based on my past experiences, I was under the impression that Bold served more modern food while Affairs served more traditional food. I was wrong. Affairs wowed us with a seasonal, contemporary menu.
The service at both the Affairs to Remember and Bold tastings was great. The staff at both companies is wonderful. However, the food at the Bold tasting was "just" good as opposed to the food at the Affairs tasting which was great. I walked out of the Bold tasting not feeling 100% confident about our wedding food. I walked out of the Affairs tasting feeling excited and assured. That was the difference. Both tastings were private multi-course tastings led by a catering consultant and attended by our wedding planner(s).
Affairs to Remember has a really nice space. It's decorated really well. There's a showroom to show you what various arrangements, table settings, etc. will look like. There are several private consultation rooms. There were five in our group: Affairs catering consultant Saffold Barksdale, our wedding planners (two), my fiancee, and myself. Affairs set us up in one of their bigger (biggest?) rooms that can seat eight (IIRC).
The room was neatly arranged with table settings and our first course ready to go. Like our tasting at Bold, there was a personal server and chef appearances.
Here was our tasting menu at Affairs:
Starters:
* Mixture of hydro lettuce and arugula from Crystal Organic Farm, oven-roasted sweet peppers, baby fennel and beets, toasted pepitas, and roasted garlic vinaigrette
* House-smoked chorizo pork belly brochette
* Mushroom chicken salad on goji berry coconut crisp
* Watermelon gazpacho
* Ketchup-battered lobster fritter, jalapeno tartar
Entrees and sides:
* Southern-fried Spring Mountain Farms chicken served over braised lady peas from South Georgia, finished with a buttermilk remoulade
* Medley of braised collard, mustard, and turnip greens
* Campanelle pasta with caramelized fennel, onion, and corn, fresh radicchio and a touch of cream
Dessert and coffee:
* Honeysuckle Gelato with macerated strawberries and basil on a frozen marble slab
* Beanealogy dark roast Selva Negra coffee
My fiancee loves local, seasonal, and sustainable food. Affairs really delivered on that front. Crystal Organic Farm (Newborn, Georgia), Springer Mountain Farms (Mount Airy/Baldwin, Georgia), Honeysuckle Gelato (Atlanta), and Beanealogy (Atlanta) are all local brands. Our dessert was actually supposed to be made out of ice cream from High Road Craft (Marietta), but there was a supply issue, so they subbed in Honeysuckle instead (fine with me; both brands are excellent).
In general, the food tasted fresh, high quality, and absolutely delicious. The chefs did a terrific job. Just about every item was packed with flavor and/or cooked to perfection (such as the chicken). This was a "getting to know you" tasting. We tasted the items together. Saffold would explain each item as we ate it. Along the way, she learned our likes and dislikes when it came to food. I really appreciated this.
In contrast, with Bold, we were sent menus before our tasting and were asked to choose items we'd like to taste. It was difficult for us to decide on a wedding tasting menu with no guidance. Bold's menus were somewhat disorganized and confusing. We much preferred the route Affairs took by choosing an initial tasting menu for us. That way, we could familiarize ourselves with Affairs first.
There are over a mind-boggling 3,500 items to choose from at Affairs, so we're putting our full faith and trust into Saffold to come up with a proposal that is within our budget. For what we want, Affairs is a bit pricier than Bold, but still reasonable.
Affairs executive chef Ahmad Nourzad prepared the pasta and dessert courses in-person for us. This was to show us examples of action stations. Saffold, chef Ahmad, and our server were fantastic. We really enjoyed the tasting and had a lot of fun.
In addition to food, we can (and probably will) get our linens from Affairs too. It saves us time and money.