No Emotional Distress Despite Stress At Wedding

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you're hosting a wedding this season, here's what you might keep in mind when hiring a caterer.

A Connecticut woman recently brought a lawsuit against the caterer for intentional infliction of emotional distress. While the lack of utensils, insufficient numbers of servers (one bartender for more than 200 guests), not enough food and poor quality no doubt caused distress, it does sound a bit like the old joke: the food was awful, and the portions were so small!

The Court thought the emotional distress claim was something of a joke, as well, and tossed the claim because while the service was poor, there was no intent to cause distress. To avoid distress at your wedding, you need to be specific when you sign that contract, so list the date, location, start time and length of the affair, the number of guests and the price per person. The number of servers and bartenders you can expect, the food and drinks that will be served and what is excluded from the cost, like alcohol or the wedding cake.

Your choice of spouse - and not caterer - should be your primary concern.