The Abbey Catering & Event Design Co

My husband and I were married at the Coronado Community Center on 4÷23÷2016 and used The Abbey’s all-​inclusive package. My wedding was everything I ever hoped it would be and I place the responsibility for that squarely on the shoulders of The Abbey and its phenomenal staff. :-)
Soup to nuts, The Abbey helped us with everything – even finding a venue. My husband and I are not California natives and as recent transplants, we only knew we wanted our wedding to be in the San Diego area. Jesse Tait on their sales side set up and appointment with us and took us to see every venue we were interested in in one afternoon. By the end of the day we were able to lock down our desired location. I don’t know how we would have done it without him. He was helpful, knowledgeable and a great source of information throughout the initial process.
After signing up, Megan was our point person. Megan, if you’re reading this, I love you. Megan helped me to coordinate with vendors, kept an organized cache of all the information I was sending her at random hours and checked in regularly to see if I needed anything or had any questions. I had one hiccup with a potential vendor and Megan was able to fix the entire situation. She went above and beyond.
Our month-​of wedding planner was Chuck Ferrante. Chuck is the man. I am not a planner by nature and I didn’t have much of a vision for my wedding – it was something I never even thought about before getting engaged. Chuck had great suggestions for the setup of our room. He was punctual whenever needed to meet (even though I wasn’t always – so sorry, Chuck!). Chuck answered every question, responded to every email, accommodated me in all ways that he could given that I live out of town from the venue. He really help bring it all together and on the day of my wedding when I walked into the reception room and saw the setup I was taken aback by how beautiful it was. It exceed my expectations in all respects. It was a dream I didn’t even know I had come true.
The food provided by The Abbey was universally applauded. They accommodated all the food allergies. The service was prompt and orderly. In addition to being delicious, the food arrived hot and in a great presentation. Our cocktail hour was outdoors and everyone loved all the little finger foods.
Overall, The Abbey has earned its superior reputation and if I had to do it all over again I would not change a thing.

Our experience with The Abbey was so incredible, that I don’t even know where to start. We hired them for our wedding on June 4^th at La Jolla Cove Suites. From the very first time we sat down with Jesse, we could tell that they were going to go above and beyond creating our magical day. We were planning a destination and they helped to relieve all of the stress and anxiety that comes with that. All of their vendors were phenomenal, Bill Rice Photography, Adelaid’s Flowers, Flour Power Cakery, and Glasz Productions. They all work together all the time, so everything went smoothly. Megan was so great to work with and answered my numerous anxiety ridden emails in a timely manner and was extremely friendly. We were assigned, Chuck, as our coordinator, and boy did we luck out! He is by far the best and he definitely blew us away. He made sure that everything was exactly how we wanted it and turned out perfectly. We couldn’t be happier. All of our guests have said that it was the best wedding they had ever been to, and that is all thanks to Chuck and The Abbey.

6÷4÷16 was a dream come true and I can assure you, we can attribute this all to the Abbey Catering and Event planning. From the very beginning, Robert was friendly, patient and informative. Me being an indecisive perfectionist, needed to see almost every venue option available before making a decision. He was extremely patient with me and gladly took us around to ensure I could see as many options needed until I was ready to make a decision. However, the second I walked onto the La Jolla Women’s Club grounds it was a game changer. It was everything I was looking for and I can thank Robert for listening to my vision and helping me find the most perfect venue for our coastal garden wedding.
Megan was just amazing. She is top notch and incredibly organized! She ensured all vendor details and invoices were up to date. I could explain to her exactly what I was looking for and she would make sure this was relayed to my vendors throughout the process. She also ran my tasting, which was an incredible experience! Make sure you go hungry, as there is an endless amount of food presented to you! She took notes on everything we tasted, took pictures of our final choices and sent a detailed list of both to us after the process. She even asked the chef to prepare one last dish we did not request to taste at the very last minute, which ended up being a final dinner choice! She went above and beyond to ensure we were given all we desired. She even held her promise to my husband to have 4 sliders specially delivered to him when we entered the cocktail hour! Amazing! Dinner was incredible! My guests could not stop ranting and raving how tender and fresh everything was! Beautifully executed!
And finally our day of coordinator was Petr. You must request Petr! He is outstanding and will ensure your wedding is nothing less than perfection! Petr was the perfect mix of professional and fun! He went above and beyond his duties to ensure our day was absolutely perfect! He is extremely organized and will respond to all emails within 5 minutes of you sending them :) He is so dedicated to delivering your dream wedding. He was right by my side throughout our day ensuring anything we needed was taken care of and gently reminding us when and what the next formality was up next. In addition to all of this he also made sure to give little hints for things like cake cutting and bouquet toss which was greatly appreciated! He stayed until the very end of the wedding and I am so grateful he was a part of our special day. My guests also could not believe how amazing he was. He was definitely a topic of conversation, where guests were wondering who the sharply dressed man who just took care of absolutely everything and anything was lol We can attribute a perfect wedding day to Petr :) Thank you Petr!!!
Our entire Abbey team including all our vendors, put together a wedding that exceeded my vision. I felt very taken care of and confident that my team would delivered the wedding I had envisioned, but they topped my expectations. Do yourself a favor and go with Abbey catering. I assure you, you will breath easy throughout the entire planning process and will not be disappointed. They are dedicated to their clients and even surprised us at the wedding to send their congratulations.
Thank you for giving me truly the best day ever :)

The reviews are true. We feel so fortunate to have had the Abbey do their magic for our wedding. Jesse helped us choose our package which made picking vendors super easy! Meghan was there to guide us through and Then we met our Coordinator Peter. So worth doing the month coordinator. Our entire wedding was outside at the Encinitas Botanical Gardens in March (rainy season!) it all turned out perfect. The last two weeks my freak outs about the weather we’re all calmed with Petr and Meghan’s back up plans. We didn’t even need the tents because it was perfect! They are the most professional experienced and detailed team I could have imagined. We feel our wedding was perfection! Thank you Abbey! Some helpful hints! Get the vendor package and absolutely get the coffee cart! So fun! All of their vendors were great! Kyle was our cook and dinner was exactly what we had hoped!!!’

I found The Abbey through Unilocal and was impressed by their reviews. I was even more impressed by their event consultant, Marvin, during our first meeting. He immediately clicked with us, was willing to accommodate my special requests and I liked the available packages. I thought that’s it, I’ve found my caterer. However, I had previously booked an appointment with another catering company and I thought I should see what they have to say. After meeting with the other company, I was pleased with their presentation but still felt The Abbey was the direction I wanted to go… that was until Marvin turned into a pushy salesman. He kept calling to say their pricing was going to increase and to book asap. He also scolded me when I gave him my wedding times saying no one has a wedding THAT long (note: I had my times mixed up). I couldn’t believe it.
Wedding planning is a challenge and dealing with an unpleasant vendor is an unnecessary burden. I ended up going with the other caterer. I paid more but they were patient, courteous, accommodating and did a fantastic job catering my wedding.

The Abbey did the most incredible job catering my wedding. From the initial tasting almost a year before the wedding all the way through they did an amazing job. Our reception was outdoors at the Bernardo Winery and everything was cooked onsite, hot and plated ready for our guests to walk up an get it. The food was of the same quality and freshness when cooked for 150 people as it was for 3 at our tasting. Our appetizers were a hit with everyone during cocktail hour and our dinner was just as good.
Our event captain, Fede, was great to work with. He was attentive to any emails i sent him and helped pull everything together. At the end of the night he even put aside some leftovers for later, a piece of our cake and our cake toppers. The Abbey is wonderful company to work with and would help make anyone’s event a memorable one.

I cannot say enough about how great the Abbey Catering and Event planning was for my daughter Nicole’s wedding on 4÷16÷16. From the beginning stages Jack, Megan and Petr were attentive and professional. They offered advice but did not push us into their vendors. We ended up choosing several of their vendors and were more than happy. If you go with them request Petr as your coordinator. He is off the charts great. I run a business of 350 employees and know the difference from BS to just plain great… I would literally email him a question at 7pm and he would respond by 7:02pm and I’m sure he was not working then. He also copied me on all correspondence with Vendors so I was 100% aware of what was going on. Petr handled all of the vendor contacts, all of the last minute changes, timing especially the day of the event. Everything was exactly on time and I did not have to manage any of it… AMAZING… The food was fabulous and all of the vendors we used from them were all top notch…
If you are a bride to be, or a father of the bride (like myself) trust me and choose the Abbey Catering and Petr as your coordinator. Your daughter will have the day she (and you) always dreamed of…

If I could give The Abbey 10 stars I think that they deserve even more. My daughter had her wedding at the San Diego Botanical gardens and the Abbey took care of everything. Petr was the very best coordinator we could have hoped for. From Megan to all the servers it was amazing how we received the best service. The food was excellent my family keeps telling everyone how great it was. It all turned out to be more than we expected!!! So classy and beautiful. I would recommend The Abbey to everyone!

I was expecting a lot from the Abbey Catering after reading the reviews and hearing from friends who had been to functions there, but I was stunned at the meal we had — despite about 37 dietary restrictions we threw at the team! We wanted gluten-​free options, kid-​friendly options, a plated meal that was artistic — and high quality taste!
And The Abbey delivered!
From the beautiful salad (purple, sage and green lettuce) to «the holy trinity» of proteins in the entrée (with a yummy glutton free sauce that I would LOVE the recipe for) to an array of not 1, not 2, but about 8 stunning dessert options, including glutton-​free.
Everything was effortless, from the meal selections to the service and — as others have said — it was just easy and a pleasure working with the staff.
Thank you, thank you for making our evening memorable, affordable, and fun!
Paula Rutledge

Can’t believe how helpful and caring Jesse at The Abbey was. He patiently talked out my wedding wants and needs to determine appropriate food options for me. I really needed someone experienced in wedding catering to explain all the details that go into it for me to better understand what style of catering I needed. I am so so grateful for all of his help and time! If you’re able to hire The Abbey, you SHOULD! Classy, experienced, and caring staff.

Shame on me for taking so long to write this review… but it’s only because I have SO many wonderful things to say, I knew it would be no small feat writing it!
When I started planning my wedding… my budget wedding… one of the most frustrating experiences was finding a caterer that didn’t make me feel like some loser because I planned to have a small wedding of only 50 people, therefore not spending a ridiculous amount of money on the food I would be serving! I was running into «food minimums» left and right, or uppity, snobby treatment from companies that clearly only wanted to work with LARGE parties.
Then I found The Abbey. I’ll admit, I was skeptical due to all of their shining reviews from Elite Unilocalers, figuring they had lured those folks somehow into giving them these amazing reviews… well I quickly learned that yeah, they lured them alright… with outstanding customer service, affordable prices, and amazing food!
My husband and I first sat down with Jack… we LOVE Jack… such a cool, laid back, non-​pushy guy that I looked square in the eye, told him my budget, preparing for a fight or some ridiculous food minimum, and was shocked when I heard, «No problem! In fact, what if I can beat that budget?» Say WHAT?! So after going over a few options with him we settled on some choices that fit nicely into our budget, but still allowed for plated meals and a selection of tray passed appetizers. Hold up though, not so fast… this was the first caterer we had found that seemed to be a great match for us, but we hadn’t so much as tasted any other caterer’s food, so I wanted to explore a few other places before we decided on the Abbey. And quite frankly, this all seemed too good to be true!
Fast forward a few weeks… we continue to run into food minimums, or companies that force us to serve their liquor (we wanted to provide our own and just have the caterer serve it), or snooty companies that wouldn’t even schedule a tasting until we signed an agreement with them (yeah, not kidding… commit to us before you even taste our food… no thanks), all the while Jack is there with amazing, persistent follow-​up checking in with us weekly, so I finally caved and decided to just book the tasting, telling myself if the food wasn’t amazing, we just wouldn’t book them.
Tasting time… such a great experience! Jack literally set up a table for us near the fire, served us wine, and our food selections came one at a time for us to try and discuss. It was like an intimate date with various delicious food items… and Jack! LOL! Needless to say, we were blown away by the food! Everything we tried was so delicious, the biggest problem we had was choosing which ones to serve!
But alas, we did and booked The Abbey for our May wedding! The next step was meeting with Megan, who oversees the operations of your event, and she was amazing as well! So friendly, organized, professional, and amazing follow up as well! She took the time to really talk with me and get a good grasp on my vision and what I wanted for my special day. She also paired me with Petr, whom would be my event Captain for the day! I quickly learned… who doesn’t LOVE Petr???
Petr was outstanding through the entire process, keeping in constant communication with me, scheduling meetings and laying everything out perfectly so that I felt very well taken care of! He also did a great job at keeping me sane during the madness that is planning a wedding… and kept me from jumping off a cliff when I found out how much lights… or a tent costs! ;-) Speaking of a tent, he pulled that off at the last minute too when my wedding day decided to be the ONE day in May 2015 that it rained!
No surprise at this point that day of everything went just beautifully! Petr worked so seamlessly with my wedding planner that everything fell into place exactly as it was supposed to and together they kept my husband and I on schedule and ensured we actually got to EAT that delicious food we paid for!
If anything went wrong on my wedding day, I have no idea that it did… and that is exactly how it should be! I am SO very glad that I hired The Abbey to take care of my catering needs on one of the most special days of my life… and I am a tough critic!
I constantly brag about you guys and tell everyone to hire The Abbey for their wedding or event… you guys are truly the best! I wish I were a baller so that I could throw parties all the time and hire The Abbey to cater them! ;-)
Jack, Petr and Megan… it is LONG overdue, but I am finally coming for a visit before month end! See you soon! :-)

I couldn’t be happier with our catering/​wedding planning services. Jack, Megan, and Petr and the most amazing team. They made everything happen flawlessly. They went above and beyond for our wedding in January. Everyone was commenting on how amazing the food was (which never happens at weddings) and how perfect the day was. I literally couldn’t have done it without them. We are forever grateful! Love you guys!

The Abbey Catering is the absolute best of the best! Their food is delicious and their customer service is second to none! At the tasting, they prepare whatever dishes you want to try. They want to know how important certain tastes, spiciness, sweetness, etc are to you prior to the tasting as well as at the tasting. Even if you are completely satisfied with a given dish, they want to know if there’s anything they can do to make it better. They were so accommodating as to the walk through, linens, special dietary needs of guests. They wanted to know not only the special meals (vegan, gluten-​free, etc), what table they were sitting at and the guest’s name, so when they brought the meal, they could say, «Mrs. Jones, this is your special gluten-​free meal.» Every correspondence ended with, «At your service», and that is exactly how they conduct their business. Their customer service is a ²⁵⁄₁₀!!! I would highly recommend The Abbey Catering to anyone! Megan, Courtney and Federico are amazing! Thank you Abbey for making our Bar Mitzvah the best!

The Abbey was amazing! I was so happy with their service and quality from start to finish. Chuck is a rock star and made me feel extremely calm on my wedding day and throughout the planning experience. Jessie was also fantastic. The food was delicious and the options were spectacular making it hard to decide on a menu for our special day. The linens looked fantastic and every server they chose to work the even was professional. I couldn’t be happier and would recommend them to everyone!

Planning a wedding can be overwhelming, I suppose. The first smart move we made was to select the Abbey for our catering needs. With it, they had a package deal for other services from a list of pre-​selected vendors that they work with (we ended up with our cake, DJ, photographer, rehearsal dinner and flowers through the package, which I’m sure saved us a chunk of change plus the hassle of tracking down all these services ourselves). In addition, the package came with month-​of coordination, which was also great for us since we both work full time during the week.
Ultimately, things can be summed up like this:
1. Planning wasn’t nearly as stressful as everyone told us it would be. We essentially got the advantage of the Abbey’s well structured system and wonderful staff.
2. We were told by so many people that we had the most gorgeous wedding they had been to. The Abbey staff (shout out to Chuck F., our coordinator, and Megan, both pleasant and great to work with) guided us through all the little details and even added a little flair to our set up (candles along the walking path) that really made it shine. Plus the food was delicious, really impressive (we had more time to appreciate it at the tasting than at the reception, true to form).
3. Everything ran smoothly. There were no catastrophes or meltdowns or really anything bad at all. At the end of the night they packed all our stuff up nicely and even gave us a bag of leftovers.
We really couldn’t have asked for a better day and the Abbey did a fabulous job fulfilling it for us!

Working with The Abbey was such a great experience. We opted for the all inclusive package which meant that they helped us find a florist, desert, DJ, provided a Photo Booth, and hosted our rehearsal dinner at the Cuvier Club. We worked with Robert, Megan and finally Chuck throughout our 10 months of planning. We really felt like we mattered and received great service with anything we requested. Megan and Chuck really did the leg work with making our vision come true. Chuck was so crucial as our month of coordinator. He had such attention to detail and was so helpful with the whole planning of our wedding and rehearsal dinner. When we asked for something, he made it happen. The entire day ran so smoothly! The Abbey catering was delicious! Guests raved about the food. The decorations were exactly what I pictured and really looked better than I could have even imagined. We are so thankful to the Abbey for making our wedding such a spectacular event.

As I can see many others have already said, Megan and Petr made my wedding. It was perfection from the moment I got my first call from Megan until Petr hugged me goodbye and closed the doors at the end of my reception. I had so many guests comment it was the BEST wedding food they’d ever had and I couldn’t agree more! Quality food was so important to my husband and the Abbey nailed it!!! :D

I can’t say enough about The Abbey Catering! They honestly made our day so exquisite and provided the most impeccable service for our special day!
We had our wedding on 10÷17÷15 at my parents’ home in Escondido (yes, just a few days before writing this review!). Initially we were going to go with another catering company and at the last minute I started having doubts. I cast a net of a few emails to local, high rated catering companies and Jack Taylor from The Abbey got back to me immediately!
With less than two months until the wedding, I was nervous we wouldn’t find another company to fill our needs. After speaking with Jack (who is quite the character!) and gathering more info about The Abbey ~ ie, that they could work with our budget and provide us everything we needed, we decided to go for it! And we are so happy we did!
We were assigned Petr as our catering captain, and man were we impressed! When we did the walk through of the ceremony site, Petr had so many great ideas and was paying such close attention to detail that I immediately felt relieved because I knew we were in good hands!
Throughout the planning process, Petr was responsive to every email/​call and was just so great at answering every question of ours.
On the day of our wedding, everything went off without a hitch! Our guests RAVED about the food and we definitely had some food connoisseurs there who were ready to critique :) It was SO amazing to me how they kept everything so fresh, hot and delicious! We did a station style dinner and the line didn’t get clogged (which I was a little worried about) and it didn’t take too long (which I was also worried about).
We had the Short Ribs with a Chimichurri Sauce and the Salmon with a Mango Salsa ~ two dishes that Jack Taylor worked with us on to get exactly what we wanted! I have food allergies and they made special meals for me and all of my guests who also had allergies. This was VERY MUCH appreciated!
Petr made sure we were taken care of all night, serving our food at our sweetheart table, filling our glasses, and sent us home with a doggie bag of goodies!
After the experience, the Abbey feels a bit like family now. It’s a bonding experience to go through the planning/​preparation and I feel like because of their genuine care and commitment to giving us the best experience for our special day, we now know them so well.
I would recommend them to ANYONE looking for an amazing, affordable, professional & impeccable catering service!!!
And just a final note. I can’t speak of any of their vendors because we had already booked all our vendors ourselves (photographers, videographers, bakery, DJ, sound companies, etc). The Abbey provided us with all the rentals we needed and provided us the service, the food, the setup and the deliveries ~ which were all amazing! :)

I worked with Megan, Peter, and finally Chuck throughout our wedding planning. We initially signed our deposit and were introduced to the Cuvier Club venue by Brad and Megan. My husband and I planned to host the ceremony at the wedding bowl but were informed permits are not given out on holiday weekends (we got married over Labor Day weekend). Peter was so accommodating with my vision and said he was willing to have chairs set up to hold the spot for us anyway in the early morning to prepare for our evening event. We immediately bonded as I loved his we can make anything happen attitude! In the end my husband decided he wasn’t comfortable «breaking the law» (that’s why he is my better half ;-) …plus our guest list grew over capacity for the space.
Anyhow our month /​day of coordinator ended up being Chuck. Chuck was exceptionally professional to the point of my wedding party commenting. He kept everything in order, and on the day of my hair stylist was 3 hours late! Thank goodness it only set the wedding back 20 mins at the start but as the ceremony /​pictures finished we were an hour behind the reception start time. Chuck kept us both so calm and effortlessly cut time in the itinerary in places we did not even realize we lost. We hope our guest were quiet leaving, but either way it was a bit after 10:00 I’m sure and the staff and Chuck were not rude about ushering them out. We also forgot to give the final deposit the day of and that was a whole other scramble at the end of the night to find a check book while our car was waiting but again Chuck was calm and orderly. The fact that he always had a level head really helped with everyone else’s nerves, he definitely set the tone.
All in all if I could do it again (and trust me I wish I could & hire an on time stylist lol) I would always choose the abbey and their teams all inclusive package! Thank you!

Highly recommended! We had our wedding at the Cuvier Club in Sept 2015 and got so many compliments on the food! Additionally, the team is amazing to work and communicate with leading up until your event. The Abbey is lucky to have Megan (VP of Ops) and Chuck (Wedding Coordinator). They make life so much smoother. I don’t know what I would have done without Megan answering my crazy emails for a year and a half about our wedding! Where else will you get service like that? Book them now!

My husband and I chose The Abbey’s all inclusive wedding package for our wedding on 9÷6÷15 at the San Diego Rowing Club. They were a pleasure to work with from Day 1! Megan took great care of us in the months leading up to the wedding. She has excellent communication skills and she is super helpful. She even allowed us to bring our 3 month old puppy to our tasting so we didn’t have to leaver her alone! Chuck did an excellent job as our month of planner. He made our wedding day an absolute breeze! The vendors we chose through their all inclusive package were all wonderful as well. Our friends and family can’t stop talking about «the best wedding ever» and we have Megan, Chuck, and The Abbey to thank! I have already recommended them to several friends and would recommend them to anyone.

Robert, Megan and Petr made our wedding dreams come true.
We started working with Robert in April 2014, for our August 8, 2015 wedding. Throughout that whole time, we were given incredible service. A lot of vendors will have you sign a contract, and you’ll never hear from them again. That was not the case with Abbey at all. They were with us every step of the way.
The reason you should hire them over Continental Catering, or Culinary Concepts (even though they are a little cheaper), is because of the level of service and the quality of the food. In the end, after a little of haggling of course, our price was probably similar to that of the cheaper catering companies anyway!
We were sold on Abbey Catering at the tasting. We wanted fusion middle eastern food. Zapher, the owner and the head chef, is middle eastern! He totally understood our food palette. He created a beautiful, but delicious menu for us. Our greatest fear was ‘wedding chicken’. That was definitely NOT what we had.
We were also sold on Abbey because we felt like Robert was in our corner. As far as negotiating the contract price, he did whatever he could to make us happy. Free coffee? fine. Plate upgrade? sure. Extra appetizers? why not. Uplighting? fine. We ended up getting a lot of food for the price.
After the contract was complete, Megan stepped in to do the really heavy lifting. Our reception occurred at the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier. You have to bring EVERYTHING IN! Megan had to coordinate permits, fire marshalls, insurance, and billions of questions from us! She handled everything with so much grace. She was pretty much our wedding coordinator before we hired one.
Then, toward the wedding date, Petr was assigned as our event captain. You are so, so lucky if you get Petr. This guy made everything happen. ‘Petr, can you have your people set up my chairs?’ yes. ‘Can you bring me some table number holders?’ yes. I was not denied! Petr made sure everything looked beautiful. I was a little upset with the up lighting. It was not the ‘wash’ that I was expecting. But other than that, I was really happy.
And the food service! After the wedding, we keep hearing stories about how fantastic the food service was! We had a buffet. Everyone HATES buffets, but not the way Abbey Catering did it! We had no idea because our plates were brought to us, but our guests were really happy. The tables were dismissed properly, and the guests don’t serve themselves, Abbey serves them! There was no super long line, and everyone really appreciated that.
Our vegans and vegetarians were really happy as well with their food options. The food was presented beautifully, and it was FREAKING DELICIOUS! Everything from the cheese rukaka, to the lamb meatballs, the chicken skewers and the beef kabobs was AH-​MAZING. My fried-​chicken eating dad asked how to make the cous cous dish because it was so delicious!
We also hired their bartending services. Um, consult a professional if you are going to be bringing in your own alcohol. Apparently, our people do not drink beer or wine. We had soooo much left over. And we ran out of hard liquor. I believe that if we stocked it properly, the bartenders wouldn’t have had to be so stingy with the drinks.
At the end of the night, they struck everything with no problems. I mean, from start to finish, we were treated so well, and we think we definitely got our monies worth.

Weddings… it’s a big ordeal and a huge thing to try to tackle on your own. So we were in search of a venue with all inclusive packages to make things easier. As you start, you’ll notice that a lot of vendors and venues are no longer an option. Which made the process of elimination a lot easier. Now that we have 5 potential prospects, I’ve made sure I interviewed them to make sure I had the right staff and venue in place. Out of the 5, there was one clear cut winner in my books and here we are on 8÷16÷15.
Services:
The Abbey Catering has many packages and are very flexible in offering just about anything to fit your criteria. All their DJs, Photographers, Cake, Florists, etc… (Vendor list) ALL were exceptionally good. Just as all my interviews go… there were clear cut winners and we went with DJ Glasz Productions (Ryan and Sev), Bill Rice Photography, Adelaide’s Flowers, Grove Pastry, Concepts Linens, Rehearsal Dinner, and Videographer Tareq Zaatari.
Staff:
Jessie was our sales guy that just started 2 weeks ago, but was in the industry for some time. Megan is an absolute ball of joy and an amazing person to work with. During the initial phase of planning and general overview of your needs; she is on point, very responsive, and ALWAYS willing to help. Once we had our coordinator, Petr, assigned to us everything moved like clockwork. Petr has impeccable timing on just about everything. He is there when you make (last minute) changes, when you least expect him, when you feel overwhelmed, and when he makes you feel confident with what you’re about to do.
Food:
We had 2 other foodies accompany us to the tasting and EVERYONE was loving EVERYTHING. Of course, we had to make adjustments to our menu on the fact that most asians don’t like horse radish on anything. After a few bottles of wine we made worked out the menu for our plated dinner service. During Rehearsal Dinner we had a buffet style dinner menu from our wedding menu, which was also good. But we’re glad that we went with a plated dinner service for the wedding. Which by the way, was AMAZING! Everyone loved the food.
Side Note:
Just when you feel like you’re ready to go… as Murphy law has it something will go wrong. After reserving and having permits for the ceremony to be held at the wedding bowl you don’t think too much about it. Until someone posts up in your spot at 6 am and refuses to leave. The staff here made the absolute worst situation become an absolute best day of my life. Make sure you have physical copies of the permits. Cops and State Park Rangers can’t do anything without it.
Big shout out to Jessie, Petr, Megan, Bill, Chuck and all the staff there to make everything happen without anyone noticing. Everyone had so much fun that no one was bored or knew that the party was over. Everyone genuinely took care of us throughout the ENTIRE process! And for that we had an amazing time and a (now) funny story to tell about our wedding day!
LOVE YOU GUYS!

My husband and I had the most perfect wedding at the Cuvier Club! We were married this last weekend in August, and from start to finish Abbey Catering and Events made this a positive and memorable experience that we will never forget. We met Jack and Robert first who were very attentive in helping us seal the deal at this venue for 220 people.
Then we met Megan, and it had reaffirmed that we made the right choice for our wedding venue. Big thank you to Megan for your guidance and advice throughout our 10 months of planning!
Not only do they have a fabulous venue space with indoor and outdoor space for the ceremony and reception, but they also had a fabulous vendor list and package that made it so easy to plan our wedding! With our videographer Tareq with time code media, our day of coordinator Petr Trebin, dilanattas photography, Abbey catering, our dj glasz productions, yummy cupcakes, artquest flowers all in one package, my husband and I could focus more on the details of the day.
We also loved that this venue was a blank slate and it allowed us to make our wedding day special and unique to our taste. Abbey Catering also has an option to add a photobooth, and cigar rolling table which were fabulous!
Thank you to all of the above and especially Petr for his wonderful execution of our event and attention to detail! Our day was absolutely perfect! All of our guest loved the food, and the serving staff was excellent! Thank you to all of you for making our wedding day amazing!

Using Abbey Catering and Event Planning was the best decision my husband and I made for our wedding. Zapher (the owner) and Megan (the Operations manager) were absolutely fantastic to work with from start to finish. Our coordinator was Chuck Ferrante and there are not enough words to describe how amazing he was for us. Our wedding was on 7-​19-​2015 and we had planned an all outdoor wedding and reception. July 19 this year turned out to be the rainiest day on a July 19 in 107 years! Thanks to Chuck and his team I was able to relax knowing that they had multiple back up plans to use — he was able to get us a tent to cover the reception and moved the ceremony indoors last minute. Our 120 chairs with cushions were soaked before they could be moved out of the rain and Megan personally brought 120 dry cushions and retied them herself in time for our ceremony.
On a normal day the Abbey is spectacular, but on our day they were our heroes. Our day would have been a disaster if not for their well seasoned expertise and calm, confident demeanor. Thank you Abbey!

My husband and I got married in June and we had an «all-​inclusive» package through Abbey Catering. Booking this package was the best decision we ever made! It made the entire wedding planning process so stress-​free.
During the early planning stages, Megan was excellent in answering our questions and getting back to us in a timely manner. She is extremely personable and professional at the same time. She also helped us choose our 7 phenomenal vendors.
We also loved having Petr as our day-​of-​coordinator! He was very diligent and made sure everything looked great and ran smoothly. I couldn’t imagine our day without him!
Finally, the food! I can’t say enough good things about the food! The appetizers and entrees were delicious and beautifully presented.
I highly recommend Abbey Catering for a stress-​free wedding experience! You won’t regret it!

The Abbey catered our wedding this past weekend in June. I can’t say enough about them. They were always easy to contact and were totally on point about every detail. The service was so spectacular. My new wife and I didn’t have to worry about a thing for months before our wedding. Petr, was our coordinator and he was spectacular. Our Food was so good, most guests called our dinner «so good it seemed like a 5 start restaurant». Highly recommended.

I spent a long time trying to choose a wedding venue: I wanted something in my budget that was something I’d be proud of. I also wanted something near the beach. I had no idea a place like this existed. The Abbey Catering Co hosted our wedding at the Cuvier Club in La Jolla this past weekend and I could not be happier with how it turned out.
Budget: I came to them with a budget of $ 10,000 (which is ridiculousy low for a 100 person wedding in San Diego). The final bill was exactly what I had budgeted –when does that ever happen with weddings?!? They took my vision and made it happen with my budget. I had almost given up on the idea of having the wedding of my dreams until I met Robert at the Abbey Catering and he showed me that was possible.
Quality: the food was absolutely amazing! All of my guests commented on how much they enjoyed the carne asada tacos and soba noodle dish. The venue was kept tidy the entire evening, which wasn’t an easy task with my group. They set us up with an amazing bar package that far exceeded any that I had looked into before. They also did not charge a corkage fee if you wanted to add a bottle of something special.
Staff: The workers were all extremely pleasant to work with and took care of all the details so that I could enjoy the evening. Each and everyone I came across was professional and over the top helpful.
Customer service: above and beyond what I could have ever expected!!! We had the pleasure of working with Petr Trebin who blew my expectations out of the water! He met with us prior to the wedding for the tasting and went over every little detail, offing a perspective of expertise on things I would not have thought about. I simply cannot say enough good things about Petr. I have never met a more hard-​working, meticulous person. He took care of every last detail, even helped me set up, and made sure that I was 100% happy through the entire night. He is the reason I had the wedding of my dreams.
Thank you Petr and the Abbey Catering for making this night epic for me and Evan!!!

Kris, my husband, and I were engaged in late February of 2014 and wanted to get married in October when San Diego is still warm for all of our guests to enjoy the beach. We began contacting venues right away. We are both from outside of San Diego and wanted a location where we could have more than 200 people if they could join us, but that was still close to the beach and reasonably priced. Cuvier Club was one of the few places that could hold our number of people. So that was the first plus. We went in to see the location and meet with Robert and the in-​house catering team, The Abbey Catering & Event Design.
Robert had been very helpful on the phone walking me through different scenarios and options. He was just as great in person. We discussed all of the food we like and ideas of what we could serve at the wedding. The Abbey team is very conscious of making sure their food is fresh and in season. We held our tasting session about two months before the wedding. They had come up with a great idea for the salad as display for when all our guests walked in. It looked beautiful and tasted delicious. Everyone loved the appetizers and the dinner options.
Chuck, our event captain, his catering team and the night of staff all were great. Chuck worked with me for the few weeks prior to the wedding to make sure all the seating was correct, placement for the bar, dessert table, and everything was set to the best positioning for our venue.
Our Menu:
Tri Color Bruschetta on Elongated Toasted Baguette Slices
Carnitas on Fresh House-​Made Corn Tortilla with Cotija
Coconut-​crusted Golden Shrimp with Thai chili sauce
Goat cheese-​chorizo quesadillas with Chipotle cream sauce
Mixed Greens with Dried Cranberries, Caramelized Walnuts and Crumbled Imported Feta with our famous balsamic vinaigrette
Grilled mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa
Long-​Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Demi
Roasted Garlic, Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Seasonal Roasted Vegetables
The whole night ran according to plan and went wonderfully. I could not have asked for anything more!
I would highly recommend the Cuvier Club and working with their team and Abbey Catering.
Our wedding was October 25, 2014.