Sterling Events

Where do I begin?
This caterer was the best decision we could have made regarding our wedding. The food was absolutely superb! We chose the Italian buffet style dinner and 2 passed appetizers. We received so many compliments on the food and our guests kept asking us who catered the food. My groom and I didn’t get to eat much of our food during the reception but the staff was so nice to pack leftover food for us. We were able to enjoy it fully the next day. And oh boy was it delicious.
Shea worked so well with us in helping coordinate our big day. She responded very quickly to any questions I had and even helped me out during a stressful time (organizing seating charts which she advised I didn’t even need, yay!).
During the wedding, the staff were on point and were good at keeping the venue clear of cups and plates and so forth.
I highly recommend this caterer. If only they had a restaurant so we could eat more of their delicious food!
You can’t go wrong with Sterling Affairs, it’s the right choice!

Great food, great cost, and great staff! Highly recommend and would use them again in the future. Thanks Shea!

Sterling Affairs Catering and Shoal Crossing Event Center:
Great food, staff and facility. I’ve have to plan many special functions over the years for my family & friends and my business. Sterling Affairs out shined them all. First of all, great location, I wasn’t forced into a hotel to fit my party. Plenty of free parking and easy convenient location. The interior was beautiful with designer touches (better than a stark ballroom). The coordinator offered many options and was very flexible with my requests. The food was amazing. Wasn’t typical catering food. Party went off without a hitch and the staff took care of all my guests. Wonderful experience!

We used Sterling to cater out wedding and had a great experience. Shea was our day-​of coordinator and worked well with our venues MC to make everything perfect. She responded quickly to all of my emails and was flexible enough to adjust our plans every time fiancé and I changed our minds about the menu. In the end, our wedding was perfect and we were very happy with the service. Only complaint is that one of our guests was unable to swallow solid foods due to a medical condition and can only eat creamy soups. We discussed this with Sterling and were guaranteed that he would be served a bowl of soup instead of the regular buffet menu. We provided his name and table number ahead of time but later found out that the soup was never served and this guest was unable to eat the entire night– we felt terrible!

Sterling Affairs did an amazing job catering our wedding reception! We chose to have Fun Stations, with mini grilled cheeses, mini corn dogs, mac & cheese, sliders, pulled pork sliders, crab cakes and shrimp shooters, and our guests LOVED the food! Many of guests went back for seconds and we were surprised at how almost all of the food was eaten. We also had a few passed appetizers during our cocktail hour and the next day a guest asked me for the recipe of the passed Tomato Soup Shooter because she enjoyed it so much. Delish!

What a great venue for the first annual «Oyster Fest» (Shoal Crossing). All the oyster booths were outside (under a tent) with easy access to the main building. Cool crowd and lots of oysters and a great live band! Can’t wait until next year’s fest!

I had a great experience with Sterling Affairs! The food was totally amazing and reflected my husband’s and my taste perfectly — we really wanted our wedding to reflect us as a couple, including in our food. I had some weird requests (mac and cheese and a pear martini that I didn’t know the recipe for, but had tried during an inauguration party in 2008) and Sterling Affairs didn’t even blink! The mac and cheese was created for us AND the drink was executed perfectly! They were so willing to cater (ha) to our needs! They were very budget-​oriented while also focusing on making the menu as close to our vision as possible.
The reason I’m giving them 4 stars is because of some communication/​scheduling issues. Due to various computer/​office fails I lost touch with Sterling Affairs multiple times during the process, which was a bit difficult to handle. Everything ended up getting taken care of, but it was needlessly stressful. Additionally, the day-​of schedule ended up getting messed up. We had a pretty tight schedule because our room rental was shorter than normal. Dinner ended up taking too long, so we didn’t get to greet our guests — had our coordinator let us know we weren’t on schedule, we would have totally changed things up. There was also a snaffu with the cake cutting because it was in a different room than the dinner service — my parents ended up missing it because our coordinator rushed us through it so fast.
So, food was great, service was pretty good and the auxilliary stuff was a bit subpar. Overall I recommend them, but make sure you are totally clear on scheduling stuff if you choose to go take advantage of their bridal coordinators.

We LOVED Sterling Affairs! Sterling Affairs recently catered our wedding and Tedi was wonderful to work with. She provided some great recommendations and since we lived out of town and were not able to taste test, her recommendations were especially needed. We had a plated meal and had Chicken Royale and a Beef Filet with the tomato florentine and risotto. Our guests all were commenting on how great the food was and my husband and I were also very happy with it. The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is that they had a tip jar sitting
out at the open bar. We thought that was pretty tacky, especially since a very generous tip was already paid for by my husband.

Shea from Sterling Affairs is amazing! She worked with my husband and I to plan our wedding this last weekend and EVERYONE complimented the service, how well the wedding was run, & how the food was really good :) My wedding was perfect ! (now how many brides can say that?)
5 stars all the way.

Just came from a wedding with food from Sterling. As usual disappointing and inconsistent quality of food. They have been around for a long time can’t they serve good tasting food? Their chicken recipes lack taste and always overcooked.

I cannot brag enough about Sterling! Specifically my coordinator, Shea. Every bride has multiple panic attacks during the planning of her wedding. Mine stopped the minute I met Shea! She not only helped us plan out our seated meal and bar services, she also took the lead in coordinating the rehearsal and pictures after the ceremony. Wherever I was, whatever I needed, Shea was there without me even having to think about her! From drinks and appetizers after our ceremony, making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there, and just all around being aweome. I just can’t thank her enough for what a fantastic day she helped make happen!
Sterling’s food was amazing! We chose passed appetizers and drinks right after the ceremony, a plated dinner, champagne toast and upgraded our wines and beers. Everything was perfection! We felt there were so many choices, it was difficult to narrow all of the delicious options down to two. But we were so pleased with our choices and the way everything was done!
The service staff was excellent, food was service promptly, water was refilled quickly and drinks were refreshed as needed!
Thank you Sterling Affairs! I can’t imagine my day without you!

In fairness, I’d first like to say that if I had more money to spend, then I probably would give a higher rating. That being said, my primary complaint was inflexibility of menu options, and, to a much smaller extent, their customer care.
From my experience, here’s what to expect:
—real plates, silverware, and glassware costs extra ($ 3 pp). Acrylic plates, plastic cups, and acrylic silverware are included in base price.
—glassware for bar is extra (on average $ 2 pp more). Plastic cups are included in base price.
—If your guest count is under 125 ppl, it is actually more expensive to provide beer and wine, with a cash bar for well liquor, than it is to just provide beer, wine, and well liquor. (Still blows my mind.)
—linens for your guest dining tables are $ 1 pp, unless you order your linens elsewhere. Linens for buffet tables are included in the price.
—a poorly formatted pricing sheet and menu. I had to do lots of editing work to the file before things were clear. For a pretty version of what the pricing list should look like check out «The Mansion on Judges’ Hill» website (MoJH pricing is higher than SA).
—you do not get a tasting before booking. While I have no doubts that the food is very good, you only get a tasting after a non-​refundable deposit has been made.
—If you would like a performance or action station rather than a carving station, then be prepared to buy the Platinum Reception.
—If you would like an additional carving, performance, or action station, then be prepared to buy the Platinum Reception.
I was told by the wedding venues that SA was very flexible, but my experience didn’t reflect that. I found that in order to gain any flexibility, I would need to buy the most expensive package and then add to that price. I also inquired about vegan options, and while SA was willing to accommodate them, it would be an extra charge and I was never given an example of a vegan friendly option. I always felt like I was getting «nickel and dimed,» and that wasn’t how I wanted to start my wedding planning.
I contacted SA through two different wedding venues (Villa Antonia and Vista on Seward Hill), and worked with two different people. My experience with Villa’s contact was very prompt but also very impersonal. All contact was done via email, and I just never got that sense of security I was looking for.
My VoSH contact, on the other hand, was informative, friendly, and very eager to help out in any way she could. I’m a little sad that I won’t be working with her as VoSH was just too much of a strain on my budget.