Catering by Seasons - College Park, Maryland

Chris Melendez

Catering by Seasons, and in particular Alberto and Glynis, were absolutely wonderful partners for our wedding reception! They stuck with us through 2 COVID reschedules and helped us stay on top of everything food related. When it came to our final, long-awaited day, Glynis helped us update our two-year-old menu to reflect seasonal food and their latest and greatest offerings, not to mention an incredible dessert table that everyone raved about! She gave us fantastic advice based on her industry experience, helped steer us towards things that would work well for our space and guests, and helped us finalize our choices without pushing us in a particular direction. We highly recommend working with this team!

Nawana Holt

In Dec 2022, I decided to have a retirement/50th bday party at the NMAI with a budget of $25k.

Before I go into details about Ms. Keith, I wanted to talk about the other staff and food. The waitstaff, bartenders, and captain (I believe his name was Juan) were phenomenal. They were courteous and attentive. My Event Coordinator had high praise.

Overall the food was fine but there were a few issues.
⦁ Cold bread - I specifically advised Ms. Keith, several times because I love my carbs, that I wanted fresh warm bread and soft butter. I stated this so much that she put "warm bread and soft butter" in the proposal and I printed it on the guest menus. We receive cold, hard bread and soft butter.
⦁ The carrots and green beans were barely kissed by heat. I didn't mention I liked cooked veggies because they were perfectly made for the tasting.
⦁ The last guest table received small dollops of mashed potatoes as it seems the portions were not evenly distributed.
⦁ The salads were barely dressed. The salad received during the meal was not the salad served during the tasting.

Now on to Ms. Keith...

The friction came about because I believe Ms. Keith is used to getting the budget and general wants from the client then running and executing as she sees fit. Below briefly (dang character limit) outlines the concerns I sent her via email.

Abrasive - Ms. Keith's communication regarding her opposition to the table overlays was seriously lacking nuance. She acted like she was contributing funds to pay for the party. My Coordinator had to tell her 3 times, "we had this, let it go".

Condescending - I sent clarifying questions about the proposal and received cut/paste verbiage from the proposal as responses

Dismissive - I sent emails requesting information be sent (from a meeting that had taken place a month prior), with a week lead time as the deadline, and I received last minute piecemeal and pushback. She told me I was the only one to ever ask for an itemized statement and that she was super busy with other events.

Lack attention to details - Never took any notes during meetings. Will argue you down over items she's forgotten.

On day of, my Event Coordinator was very frustrated because discussed details (a few suggested by Ms. Keith) were forgotten by Ms. Keith. Ms. Keith suggested a certain way to fold the napkins to hold the menus. We liked it and said yes, please do. On the day, My Event Coordinator asked about the fold and Ms. Keith acted like she didn't know what she was talking about. Another item was the dessert table. Ms. Keith had suggested a dessert table next to the dance floor and we liked it. On the day, My Event Coordinator asked about the table and again, Ms. Keith acted like she didn't know what she was talking about. I had purchased individual sanitizing wipes and asked my Coordinator to place on the napkin. Ms. Keith didn't like and asked my Coordinator if they could be moved to the side. My Coordinator said no, Nawana wanted them here. Ms. Keith asked a few more times, apparently not wanting them in her pictures (keep in mind she had nothing to do with the decor - I made the centerpieces and my Coordinator added to the look) and my Coordinator had to tell her several more times no, Nawana wanted them there. Ms. Keith asked my Coordinator about the number of seats at each table, and that info was sent via email weeks before.

Lastly, Ms. Keith's attire. This event was formal, she knew I had a custom, full-length gown made and the gentlemen wore tuxes. Ms. Keith wore an oversize, sloppy black shirt, faded black pants and scuffed up white tennis shoes. If she was going to remain unseen, absolutely no problem, but she was front and center during all aspects of the event - cocktail hour, dinner and start of the dancing. All others were sharply dressed. Ms. Keith looked out of place.

Ms. Keith made this harder than it should have been and frankly took the some of the joy. She offered free stuff at the end but I politely declined as I did not want anything other than what I paid for.

Leeanne Parnell

The phenomenal food is only improved by the impressive team that serves it. From start to finish, you won't find a more committed, passionate group of professionals.

Rebekah Ryan

Trying to plan a wedding by Lake Anna with a large guest list and many assorted dietary restrictions, we kept running into issues finding a company that came to our area and had an option for everyone. Catering By Seasons not only offered a menu that worked for our many varied dietary needs, but were willing to come all the way down from DC! The travel costs did of course make catering more expensive, but it was well worth it to know that every one of our guests would be able to safely partake in the meal 🙂
We were planning in the middle of the busy season, so responses could sometimes be delayed, but Leeanne made sure to answer all of our questions whether through email, text, or phone call, and worked with us as our attendance list kept changing, even the night before the wedding! We got so many compliments of the catering, especially the attentiveness of the servers. Thank you so much to Leeanne and all the staff who were willing to come down to the lake!

Katie Goff-Eldredge

We hired Catering by Seasons for our April 2022 wedding, and they were amazing. They managed the rentals of tables, chairs, linens, plates, etc. in addition to catering the food and beverages. We provided the alcohol but they provided a bartender and ice. Every member of their team was kind and professional, from the booking, to the tasting, to the day itself. They say that the bride and groom don't have time to eat at their own wedding, but the Catering by Seasons team made sure we got a chance to eat and drink! They made us a little plate of appetizers so that we didn't have to completely miss out (since we were doing photos during cocktail hour), for example.

The food itself was delicious. Our guests have a variety of dietary restrictions, and they were able to accommodate everyone. Everyone said how good the food was! And they baked the cake, so we didn't have to hire an outside bakery. It was gorgeous and really good--moist and delicate.

Polly was my main point of contact and she was a joy to work with. I truly can't speak highly enough of Catering by Seasons. They are phenomenal. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone planning an event in this area!

Lisa Learman Calabro

We hired Catering by Seasons for our wedding in the fall of 2023. Although the food was decent, the inappropriate treatment of wedding guests and other vendors, and consistent disregard for our requests disqualify any recommendations for her services.

Throughout the entire process - email communications, venue walkthrough, and even the event itself - the caterer was disrespectful to our planner, often trying to take over her job. She referred to our vendors repeatedly as "the help" and refused to let them go through the buffet line at the time that we, the clients, had decided.

The event coordinator consistently forced her own choices onto our event, despite clear and respectful communication on our end. For example, she ignored the table setup plans we discussed at our venue walkthrough, and as a result, the family of one of the brides (including parents and matron of honor) were stuck in the corner of the room rather than closest to our sweetheart table. At the reception, we had requested that the cake be placed on the table with the desserts so the guests could see it. Instead, Catering by Seasons placed our small 6-inch cake on a large table in the back of the room, so nobody saw it.

The event coordinator clearly scoffed at our flower and chuppah budget during the planning process and was disrespectful or explicitly rude to a number of guests on the day of the event. She verbally berated an elderly guest as they tried to leave the event hall to use the restroom before we made our entrance. She also belittled a guest who asked about a food allergy, after one of the caterer’s own servers mistakenly told a guest that all food was cooked in sesame oil, which the guest was allergic to and which also was not the case.

We did not feel as though food allergies were taken seriously. My wife is celiac, which we explained numerous times, but the event coordinator did not remember which items contained gluten at the tasting or the menu discussions that followed. Some of the sweet potatoes in one of the appetizers were so undercooked that they were inedible. The green beans and carrots on the dinner buffet were undercooked and the potatoes were cold, but the meats were good.

For this highly unprofessional behavior on the day of the wedding and generally unpleasant planning process, we do not recommend Catering by Seasons.

Melissa Anderson

This was the second time I worked with Catering by Seasons for an event. The first time was during the beginning of the pandemic for an outdoor event. Despite the chaos that reigned that summer, the staff of Catering by Seasons were organized and efficient. The food was great and everything unfolded perfectly.
More recently, I worked with them for a smaller indoor event. We chose cold platters, like Charcuterie, Mezze, and a Cheese Board. The food exceeded my expectations and it was beautifully presented. As with the first event, they were timely, organized, and overall, wonderful.

Annora Borden

I cannot say enough good things about Seasons and about Katie McAuliffe, our Event Manager. I initially contacted five our six caterers on our venue's approved list and Seasons was the only one to show me what I asked for -- a brunch menu. She was in contact with us for basically the entire year we were planning the wedding, and always had thoughtful answers for our many, many questions. I cannot stress enough how supported and respected we felt by Katie. We were invested at a level that's maybe not super common (we were interested to know the exact breakdown of the glassware, for example), but Katie was cheerful and helpful at every step. Whenever we wanted to do something unconventional she was 100% game. On the day of, the food was delicious (I recommend the mocha macarons in particular) and everyone commented on how excited they were to eat the food we'd been raving about all year. The staff were also super supportive as we dealt with needing to use our rain plan and when the venue made a mistake that impacted our catering service. I would absolutely recommend Catering by Seasons to anyone who wants to work with competent, caring professionals and then eat some delicious food.