For example, twelve days before the Alvarez/O'Connor wedding, the couple's planner emails Dana, the sales coordinator at Larkspur Catering:

“Quick heads up — ceremony is moving from 4:30 to 5:30 so the photos catch the light. Everything else shifts an hour.”

Dana reads it between a tasting and a site visit and replies, “Got it, we'll adjust.” She means to update the event order that afternoon. The afternoon fills up, and the email slides down her inbox under forty others.

A week later, the kitchen prints the event order. It still says cocktails at 5:00, dinner at 6:00, 140 guests, braised short rib. Marcus, the executive chef, builds his fire times around it. Priya, the staffing manager, schedules twelve servers off at 10:00. The rental company confirms pickup at 10:30.

On the wedding day, the Larkspur team is set up and ready at 5:00. The guests are still at the ceremony. Passed appetizers wait under heat lamps for an hour. The short rib, plated for 6:00, reaches the tables at 7:15 after an hour in the hot box.

The bride's mother asks why dinner was late and dry. Eight staff stay past 11:00 on overtime. The rental truck arrives at 10:30 to a half-cleared tent and charges a return fee. Larkspur eats the overtime and the fee, comps the dessert course, and gets a three-star review that mentions cold appetizers and dry short rib.