Serenitea Catering in a nut shell - SERENITEA CATERING blog at BridesClub.com

Thank you for your interest in Serenitea Catering, home of Chateau de Mari, a fine dining experience. We believe that when it comes to customizing your wedding meal, budget, style, food allergies, and personal religious beliefs are factors on what to serve, and how to serve it.

A brief history of our company, Serenitea Catering was born from frustration at the standards in the wedding industry.

The owner, Teresa Potter grew up in Asia and Europe before coming back to the United States, where she was born and her family was from. This gave her a foundation of an ethnic palate. She spent many years in Human Resources and working as a bar manager at the historic ER Rogers in Steilacoom, a mansion restaurant, now sadly closed. They served prime rib and wonderful creamed spinach making this location in Steilacoom a local favorite and special event dining destination.

From the second floor of the bar, she would watch people marrying at Pioneer Park overlooking the water. This job being her first bar experience after going to Bartending School. This experience helped create the elite types of cocktails now used for the catering.

One day deciding to become a wedding bartender, she and her husband Jacob bartended many, many weddings providing all the glassware. The caterers always left early, leaving the clients and their guests to pick up dirty napkins and garbage. As bartenders, they always stayed behind to clean up the bar and related mess.

The food was hit and miss, sometimes cold, sometimes there just wasnt enough leaving many guests still hungry after the client had spent all that money to feed them with the very limited selections that we currently being offered.

The Potters decided that things had to change. Teresa Potter, the owner and heir to a long line of cooks opened a new division and named it Serenitea, hired classically trained chefs from the Northwest with insane test menus.

One chef, Kyle Dagastini had to prepare 400 crab cakes for his test into the Serenitea Catering family. His specialty being Italian and Teresas being Asian cuisine, a new way of building menus was formed. More members were tested and our company grew and grew.

Now we are featured in TheKnot.com, Bridesclub.com, Weddingchannel.com, Weddingwire.com, Partyspot.com, RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, Yellowpages.com and related magazines.

We have served thousands of wedding guests, and although we actively do not compete in catering contests, our happy brides and grooms is more then enough credit for us.

Education is a constant for us, we believe that there is always something to learn, new things to try, as we regularly attend Catersource to get the newest and best that the industry has to offer, as well as eating our way through many of the best restaurants and incorporating what we have tasted and learned into our menus for others to experience.

We know that there are going to be companies that are less costly, but after seeing what we offer and the large selection and lack of hidden fees that go along with the wedding industry, we are confident that you will feel that with our company, your wedding needs will be more them taken care of.

We include a chocolate fountain with real Belgium chocolate blended to produce a divine mix of sweet and bitter, pairing perfectly with biscotti and fresh seasonal strawberries.

Included are:
Your choice of plates, white round, white squared, disposable scalloped edged with reflective ware or your choice of cloth napkins, bamboo handled or classic utensils, and a wide selection of glassware.

We do not provide chairs or tables, or table cloths. We will help in the assistance of putting those items out and clean up after the function itself. We stay the duration, unlike the standard catering practice of leaving after a 3 4 hour block of time.

The first thing you should ask yourself is what is my vision?
The second is what is my budget?

Do I want to have a casual buffet line style menu where my guests help them selves?

This style runs about $25 - $30 with staffing flat fee and tax. This menu is best suited for some of our laid back types of menus, such as Sweet Georgia Brown or Mad Tea Party.

Do I want the classic buffet choices of prime rib and salmon with the standard wedding menu flair?

This style is $63 a person. Coffee, tea, and bottled water are included. Prime rib and salmon are very classic wedding dishes, great crowd pleaser. Shrimp and prawns for appetizers are also a nice choice with an assortment of cold dishes. If a classic menu is what you are interested in, this choice may best fit your needs.

Do I want a semi formal cocktail hour and formal buffet for my guests with servers with a wide selection of choices?

This options in $98 a person with staffing flat fee and tax.
This menu has wine barrels with appetizers decorated, a bar with all glassware provided and you as the client purchase the alcohol and are responsible for getting the said liquor to the event prior to the event. We carry insurance for our catering and bar tending services and have liquor and food handlers cards. Appetizers are passed by uniformed staff to your guests as well. Please refer to the below menus for a sample list of menu options.

Do I want a formal cocktail hour and a formal sit down dinner presented to my guests?

This option is $138 a person with all liquor, water bottles, espresso or coffee, wine and champagne brought in by us and served to your guests. We include elegant cocktails in this option as well as award winning wines both dry and sweet for white, and full flavored for reds, as well as champagne, and bottled micro brews. This is a flat rate per person. We use high end liquor such as Markers Mark and VSOP, in our cooking and at the bar. This menu was designed to have a regal feel to it, as you know; you are royalty for a day.

Dont you find it frustrating when you go to a website, see the venues they have been, menus they provide, some pictures, and then when it comes to how much or how it breaks down in cost are no where to be found? Or it takes several phone calls to get a quote? We thought it would be easier if you could see our chart for yourself. Staff hourly (flat rate as we stay the duration) and tax are already included. Gratuity is not.

* We do not add gratuity because we believe through presentation and service we earn our tip, which is left to your discretion. A head member of our staff will always be on site, Teresa Potter or Jacob Potter will graciously handle the division of the gratuity to the staff. Please include the gratuity in an envelope and hand to either Mr. or Mrs. Potter at the end of the night, or to your wedding coordinator for her or him to take care of it your place. Thank you.

How much would a wedding of & cost for the catering?
$138 a person formal option @ 100 people = $13,800
$138 a person formal option @ 125 people = $17,250
$138 a person formal option @150 people = $20,700

$98 a person formal buffet option @100 people = $9,800
$98 a person formal buffet option @125 people = $12,250
$98 a person formal buffet option @150 people = $14,700
$98 a person formal buffet option @175 people = $17,150
$98 a person formal buffet option @ 200 people = $19,600

$63 a person classic buffet option @100 people = $6,300
$63 a person classic buffet option @150 people = $9,450
$63 a person classic buffet option @200 people = $12,600
$63 a person classic buffet option @300 people = $18,900

$30 a person casual buffet option @ 100 people = $3,000
$30 a person casual buffet option @ 200 people = $6,000
$30 a person casual buffet option @300 people = $9,000
$30 a person casual buffet option @ 400 people = $12,000
$30 a person casual buffet option @ 500 people = $15,000

* We can do weddings up to 500 buffet style with multiple lines staffed to serve your guests for a wedding. Call for larger groups and corporate functions. 253.212.8476

Venues we have catered at:
Point Defiance Lodge Tacoma (our preferred venue)
Pioneer Park Pavilion in Puyallup (our preferred venue)
Thornewood Castle in Lakewood (our preferred venue)
Sanders Mansion in Auburn (our preferred venue )
Private home in Lake Tapps
Assorted locale in Port Orchard and Port Townsend
Mt. Rainer Lodge
Assorted private homes in Tacoma
Hyatt hotel private party in Seattle
Office function for Microsoft party planners
Assorted locals in Gig Harbor
Steilacoom Town Hall
Churches in Renton
Derengers Gym near Auburn
Private parties in Steilacoom
and many, many more&hotels, apple orchards, private homes, and charity events.

Ask the people at the Federal Way Starbucks for a referral, we feed them all the time! This is our favorite meeting place for wedding clients, across from the Commons Mall off 320th in Federal Way.

We do not charge for these services:
Charity catering in Seatac Masonic
Charity catering in Burien Eastern Star
Charity catering in University place Hospice
Charity catering in Tacoma

If you have any questions about availability, feel free to call us at 253.212.8476 and we will get back to you with 24 hours or email us at northwestbartender@yahoo.com. Thank you again for your consideration and your time. Happy planning!