Warning: Our caterer cancelled 2 weeks before the wedding — lessons learned

I'm sharing this as a cautionary tale for other couples. Our caterer (a seemingly reputable company with good reviews) informed us just TWO WEEKS before our wedding that they couldn't fulfill our order due to "scheduling conflicts." Here's what we learned the hard way: 1. **Always have a backup caterer** — Get quotes from at least 3 caterers and keep the runner-up's contact warm 2. **Read the cancellation clause** in your contract carefully 3. **Pay in milestones**, not full upfront — We lost our 50% deposit 4. **Get referrals from recent clients** — not just Instagram reviews 5. **Check their capacity** — can they actually handle your guest count? We ended up finding an amazing replacement through this community (shout out to the members who helped!), but the stress was unreal. Has anyone else experienced vendor cancellations? How did you handle it?