How a catering company ruined this bride's wedding day
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The next time you want to hire a caterer, be sure to do your homework.
Local brides are up in arms after a Portland catering company destroyed their weddings.
Lindsey Petrushkin was one of those brides. Petrushkin and her husband, Dusty, wrote their own vows, got married and then made their way to the reception.
"And that was when everything fell apart," she said.
Petrushkin had hired Troy Meza, who runs Unique Catering and Pacific Northwest Events in Portland. His company was supposed to serve 200 guests. But by looking at all of the pictures of the reception, it's easy to see something is missing -- the food. On every table, there was no food from the company that promised hand-crafted gourmet dinners at $30 per plate.
Instead, the food the company purchased was in bulk from a grocery store that the catering company charred and blackened.
"They burned the side of my parents' building," Petrushkin said.
There was so little food and it was so late into the night that the family took emergency measures.
"My sister ended up leaving and ended up picking up pizzas from local pizza places in town," Petrushkin said. "I think she bought 15-20 pizzas and they all got eaten because people were hungry and this was at midnight."
The smiles turned into tears as some guests left in search of food.
"All I did at my wedding was go around and apologize to everyone there," Petrushkin said.
But there was more. Petrushkin learned after the wedding that Meza is a predatory sex offender convicted of sexually abusing teens ages 13-16 -- the same ages as some of her wedding guests.
"It's icing on top of the cake," Petrushkin said. "Everything was already wrong with it and it's just disgusting."
At the address in Aumsville Meza provided when he had to register as a sex offender, Meza was not there, his father said.
"Hopefully, he's employed in Portland," the father said.
Meza's father went on to say he doesn't know his son's address or phone number, but that he would let Meza know KATU stopped by.
Meanwhile, Petrushkin is still feeling all sorts of emotions, including being afraid and being angry.
"We feel so deceived," she said.
Petrushkin, though, has advice for any bride who spots Meza's ad online.
"Run as fast as you can," she said.
When a caterer needs to be hired for an event, the person doing the hiring should ask the company for references and then actually call the references. People can also check the company's record with the health department and they should also do an internet search to find out the backgrounds of the catering staff because they'll be spending time with your guests.
@Tinothedog So sorry you lost your $1,000 deposit. Â Seems there A LOT of ppl here who had similar experiences. Everyone, let's connect if you had this happen to you, and see if we can find collective resolution. PLEASE CONTACT ME so we can talk!!! Email me here: leebox70@gmail.comÂ
I am so glad to see this article. We too were burned by Troy and his "fiancee"...at least financially. We put down a $1,000 deposit before we found through our venue owners (who did their research because of another friend in the business who had heard about Pacific Northwest Events) that Troy was a sex offender and Marisela was convicted of drug and theft charges. After confirming this by searching multiple public records and calling the county clerk, we called him to tell him we were uncomfortable having him associated with our wedding and we wanted our deposit back. Unfortunately, when we signed our name to the deposit form, it said we could owe them half of the total amount if we canceled early. A lawyer advised us it would not be worth the time and effort to go after them with this unfortunate clause. We consider ourselves intelligent people with an eye for detail when it comes to things like this....but these people are good. They thought of everything "just in case." We had a bad feeling about them from our first official meeting... like that used car salesman type of feeling...but ignored it once because of the price and the promises they made. Ultimately, we ended up having a wonderful wedding with everything taken care of perfectly by much better people (even with only two months to fix it).   My advice....Trust your gut and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
@TinothedogSo sorry you lost your $1,000 deposit. Â Seems there A LOT of ppl here who had similar experiences. Everyone, let's connect if you had this happen to you, and see if we can find collective resolution. PLEASE CONTACT ME so we can talk!!! Email me here: leebox70@gmail.comÂ
  @Tinothedog wow that's a crazy story!!  I've heard so much about this vendor and have a bunch of questions.  How long ago did this happen to you?  My email is  AM00577324 at hotmail dot com (these message threads are so public).  I'd love to touch base offline if you have a chance.Â
P.S. - I had called Portland Perks late this summer when I saw PNW Events' ad running again to let them know what kind of people they were dealing with. I also gave Charlotte's Bridal a note to put over the PNW Events ads in their store magazines. Hopefully others will do the same so they get the message not to promote these people.
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We were just married at the beginning of October and also burned by this company. Â We were only using them as a dj and they fell off the face of the earth. Â In defense of this bride and how we were scammed was that Pacific Northwest Events had a deal through a company that I trusted, Portland Perks for a wedding package. Â We met with them and they seemed on top of everything, then after a few meetings with them they fell out of contact and could not be reached. Â They called us at the end of August and made plans to meet with us at the beginning of September and now I know why they didn't show up and shut off their phone lines. Â We did not let them ruin our wedding day, but they did take our money and did not follow through with the service. Â Unfortunately they scammed us, but I'm glad to know that they will not be able to do this to any other couple. Â Weddings are stressful to plan and it's the last thing a couple needs to worry about a vendor ditching on them or worse. I feel for this couple and any other who have been affected by people like this.
@cturkington Would very much like to hear more and share our experiences to see if we can find resolutions togather.  Please email me! I'd really like to talk. Thank you!  leebox70@gmail.com
Well put Wendy, I agree completely. I actually found out recently from a mutual friend that this creep did this exact same thing again just this past weekend... They were able to con another bride and groom and totally ruined their wedding too. I know that the family of the bride from this story is doing what they can to get their money back but the guy claims hes broke and homeless (or so he told the other company who's name he was working under) and that he couldn't pay them back, he said he was in a shelter, yet this weekend he was able to miraculously put together another trainwreck of a wedding?? Hmm, lie much? The family couldn't track this guy down since the address he gave to them was the address the news crew went to, so there isn't much else they can do until they find this guy. I guess a sex offender going to someone's house for a private party including kids isn't a problem because it wasn't a location that kids are at like a school, day care, church, etc. so he wasn't in violation of those restrictions. I still don't get how its not illegal for him to be in a location where there are children especially in that kind of setting but when the family found out what a shady guy this Troy is, they were told it wasnt illegal for him to have been there even if kids were present. It's disgusting and just unfortunate that now, even after this bride tried getting her story out (a story which many people felt compelled to mock her for and said some really mean things about her which was very unkind) this creep has already gone and screwed over another bride and groom on whats supposed to have been the happiest day of their lives. This is exactly why she did this whole story, so that some other kind, happy couple wouldn't be met with a terrible reception. I only hope for their sake that they got to have a nice ceremony like this couple, Lindsey and Dusty got to have, before Troy ruined everything else.
@Peekay207Seems there A LOT of ppl here who had similar experiences. Everyone, let's connect if you had this happen to you, and see if we can find collective resolution. PLEASE CONTACT ME so we can talk!!! Email me here: leebox70@gmail.comÂ
@Peekay207 flippin dolphin 5 pts As a former employee I worked 7 months for this company and I was always impressed by the great work that was done by the owner and the rest of my coworkers. For the most part all brides and grooms were very happy with there events, and I was at about 7 of those wedding as wait staff At this particular wedding the bride Lindsey and the groom dusty along with the father of the bride Dan and the mother of the bride Beth had a large wedding in fact it was a day and a half event for us because the bride had wanted tables and chairs delivered by evening the day before the wedding. this was a courtesy on the part of the company. While onsite we arrived around 10 am and started setting up the tables and chairs, along with the cooking equipment, when we started plugging in the electrical equipment it was discovered that there were already two large refrigerators the kind you would find in a convenience store . and a 40 foot rv all pulling power from the same power plug in, this caused the electricity to keep going on and off and when our boss asked the brides father Dan to help to find another source of power my boss was told no and that it would have to work, so when we were preparing the food and try to cook the chicken and the prime rib it was hard to do so with the electricity not staying on. The chicken was ready to be served at dinner time but the prime rib was not yet at a safe temp to serve yet and we didn't want to make anyone sick. My boss and other co workers worked very hard to get the rest of the meal ready to serve and there were many announcements made by the D.J on the mic that dinner was running a lil behind due to tech issues. The worst part was when the brides mom Beth had told a coworker that the food was to be served all at the same time when she could have let us serve the chicken ,rice, veggies, and bread that way people wouldn't have to wait to eat instead Beth demanded we wait till the prime rib was cooked and this is what took so long for dinner to be served. And to make matters worse this family allowed there guests verbally attack us workers who were doing our best to fix a problem that could have been averted
I can not beilieve how many rude people on here. These people got married because they loved eachother. They paid a lot of money for things because they wanted a nice wedding. I know what it's like to have a wedding get ruined by things not going right after you forked out a lot of money or things not go your way, it's not a good thing. These people did there research, they were coned. Maybe you people should get more of the story and the facts before you start throwing stones. just because you think mariage, or weddings are stupid doesn't mean these people do or everyone does and just because you got divorced 5 times or was married 3 times doesn't mean these people will be. Maybe that should tell you something about yourself and your attitude. I know several people that have been married once and have been married for many many years and are very happy. Nobody knows the future. I think there are a bunch of morons on here that should have kept there oppinions to themselves because there oppinions made no sense. What I don't understand is why this guy wasn't arrested for 1. Being around minors if he was a registered sex offendor 2. conning you guys out of thousands of dollars 3. Property damamages 4. Using someone elses busines name basicly coning you giving false information.
I've been married three times. The first marriage was in front of a judge, with dinner out for our two witnesses and us. It lasted over 23 years until my wife died. The second marriage was also in front of a judge, followed by a big dinner and cake hosted by a friend of the bride. This one lasted 15 months until 1 divorced her for several reasons. The third wedding was at an Elks Club with music and festivities, etc. That one lasted a bit over 2 years. Moral of the story, it ain't the size of the wedding cake, it's the ingredients!Â
The wedding photo was beautiful, much happiness wished to the couple.  I hope someday they can look back at this and laugh, all though right now I would want to put the wedding cake over the mans head. who cares how much they spend on their wedding, a trip to Reno or a Castle as long as they are together and love one another. Its the bride's day to shine to be the princess if should never have ended like this.A young lady waits all her life for this perfect day.
May these con artists rot in H for spoiling it.
I have a friend who knows this bride pretty well and she told me about the wedding. Half of the crap that this guy did wasn't even mentioned in this story, but from what she told me, it was quite the disaster. Just to clarify, they did do the research, the problem is that this guy was using the name of another company, Unique Catering, so he was able to use their good reputation to make it seem like he was a part of that company. They had a tasting with amazing food and were told great things about the chef (at the tasting) and the rest of the services they offered. Problem was, that the two con artists, Troy Meza and his business partner Marisela, passed off their company under the name of another company which was highly respectable wiith good reviews. After the tasting, the chef was fired yet Troy and his associate never disclosed that to the bride, they were told the chef would be there the day of the wedding and at 2pm, Troy told the bride's father that they fired the chef before and that HE would be doing all the of the cooking, as well as the DJ services and setting up all the equipment. The reason they used the BBQ of the bride's family was because they didn't have the proper equipment, the equipment used at the tasting never belonged to Troy and his associate, it belonged to the other company who's name they were using. They were served food at the tasting which they paid for to be served at the wedding, yet when it came down to it, they were instead served reheated food from Costco which apparently this creep bough for 1/3 of the price of the actual food that should have been served. This guy was VERY good at hiding his deceit, for example, instead of renting tables/chairs that they were supposed to provide using his company's name, he would use a bogus address and the brides name so that things couldn't be traced back to him, something he apparently did to anothe one of his brides which this bride, Lindsey, found out after the fact (partly because when that happened, he was using a different name so Lindsey had no idea about that). And they did have a wedding planner, it was Marisela, this guy's business associate, but she didn't do shit to fix anything that went wrong from what I hear. For those of you who are telling this young lady to just get over it or it's not a big deal, it shouldn't ruin your wedding, you were NOT there and have no idea what it was like. It was ridiculous and insanely embarassing for the couple and their families, if you were in her position, how would you feel? This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and instead she was faced with watching her guests go hungry until what, like 11pm or whatever, then having them eat food which was burned, overcooked crap and NOT what they paid for, then had to send her sister to go get pizza, (seriously, the maid of honor had to go get pizza, that's just plain embarassing), the bride then had to cut and serve her own cake (something this company was supposed to do) and then find out that they ruined her parents property the day after the wedding, and oh yeah, HE"s A SEX OFFENDER AT A LOCATION WITH CHILDREN PRESENT!! It was a mess at every corner and this Troy guy and his associate did NOT do their jobs whatsoever. The couple did everything they should have, this guy is a career con artist and criminal and apparently used his skills as a shady person to simply ruin their day and screw them out of what should have been a wonderful, happy experience. This company is an "all inclusive" vendor, so they handle all aspects of the wedding, meaning that they didn't just screw up the food, they messed up everything else they were supposed to have handled. Just because some of you commenting on here don't agree with a bride wanting to have a wedding like this does not mean you should bash her and say it's her own fault or that she's crazy. She's angry and hurt, and you can see that on her face. I know first hand that they did what they should have and that they were simply screwed over. No one deserves this to happen to them, and as one comment said, he shouldn't even be walking the streets with a record like his. He lied about everything, and the worst part is that when things fell apart in the past at weddings he was hired to do, he would simply "close" that business, the bad reviews dissappear, and start a new one with a new name, phone number and website. My advice to any bride would be to not only check the business name, but also check the name of the owners/employees of the company because thats how this guy operates: new name means a new start which is just disgusting and unfortunate. I am so sorry your wedding ended up like this and that this jerk ruined it, you shouldnt have had to deal with this and it is NOT your fault. The good news is you were able to marry the man you loved and from what I was told, he's just as upset about this as you are, as it was his wedding day too. These people will get what's coming to them, I can almost guarantee that. What i'm trying to get at is that its unfair to criticize the bride and groom for having the wedding of their dreams and say they deserved it, because they didn't. Like I said, I have a couple mutual friends with this girl and all I have heard is amazing things about her, and if I even had heard one bad thing about her i'd leave a comment that says karma's a bitch, sucks to be you, but thats not the case. Cut her some slack and put yourself in her position. It's a really shitty feeling to find out so many bad things about someone you paid and trusted to help make your wedding day one to remember, unfortunatley for this couple, their memories aren't good ones and they can never go back and fix all the things this guy and his partner ruined. I was told that all the guests understood and felt so bad for the couple and didn't make a big deal about it, and I think you're right Rapth, hopefully someday they'll be able to laugh about it, but it's still fresh in their minds and they just want to get this out so no one else goes through what they did.    Â
Thanks for the succient response. We totally see your side of things. This bride will now find new things to complain about. After all - you only get one chance at your FIRST wedding - and it was ruined by the evil pedophile caterer. Better luck on the second and third go round in Reno.
Wow what a jerk. Your rude.
Don't let this ruing your life. It happened and decades from now you will laugh at it, unless you are a shallow person of course.
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If any guests were offended you don't need them as friends or family.
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I have found over the years that the best weddings are the ones that are not big complicated affairs. Keep it simple and there will be less stuff to go wrong. My wife and I had a pot luck and it was great.
When I first saw this on the news yest, my firest thought was she didn't check things out ahead of time.She kind of fell into it on her own and suffice it to say. got taken.In this day and age, with so many scams out there, that should have been her first clue. At least, hopefully, her story will put a crimp in his business and maybe Johnny Law will catch up to him.
well, as Forest Gump would say"stupid is, as stupid does". forgive me, but I always thought that planning a wedding involved checking out caterers? including researching them. Sorry that her day was ruin because of the caterer, but hey, it really isn't about the reception is it? it is about two people coming together as one.
Okay you go fork out hundreds of dollars for something nice, not get what you paid for, have someone ruin your property you have to fork out more money to fix , ontop of a once in a life time first time ever event being ruined, being embaresed infront of many people, risking many people shunning you for putting there children at risk for having a dangerous person around there children and not knowing it and smile about it, but your right it isn't about the reception now is it. Your a moron. Oh and she did her research he was a con artisist!Â
Wonder what the perv used for the icing on the cake.
God help the guy that married this piece of work. If she's so angry about this now, wait until you pop a kid out or two. No more golfing or boozing.
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Get over it, baby. There are lots of established catering companies you could have gone with. You cheaped out, and you get what you pay for. The guy tried to cook the food on a house BBQ in the field? Yeah - that should have told you.
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Divorced in 2-3 years - tops.
@ryanmang Uhmmm....what dope are you doing today? So...you think it's perfectly ok for someone to do this to a couple and then screw them like that??? I'm thinking you're a really bitter person. Either that or you can't read and completely missed the whole subject of this story. I don't get why you think she's a "piece of work". But then, I don't think you do either. Just for something to say I guess. Get a life.
It doesn't pay to go with the least expensive service, at least most of the time.
@Billy Batts At $6,000 for a catering gig thats not going cheap.
200 guests at $30 a plate is in my opinion too high....
I was just going to say the same thing where is everyone gettint she was going cheap? 30 dollars a plate is not cheap. I like to see where all these people get there money and how much they paid for there guests to eat. I bet these people didn't even feed there guests, lol.
It's interesting to read how horrible things are for people who seldom have anything horrible happen to them.
It's not like someone rained missiles on them from a drone or anything, like happens at Afghan weddings.
 @richXXIII Indeed. I hope they have learned their lesson. 33% of their guests starved to death and had to leave at midnight to forage for food. Half of that number were eaten by bears. It is a hard cold world. Next time they have a wedding it's survivalist rations and everyone who does not bring a gun will be asked to leave. Also there is the problem, hardly addressed, that so many sex offenders get jobs in fast food. People drive through there. It's disgusting.Â
@richXXIIIÂ drink that bitter whine by the gallon do ya ?
@Tonk And in afghan they which is the goat and which is the bride
I went to high school with this guy. He was a creap then and is still a creap. His name has been in the news off and on for many years. He also tries to run a DJ business, so run from that too!
 @notaverage that's listed on the website they mentioned, too. I guess he thinks he is a jack of all trades...and clearly, master of none.
bad omen. get divorced now, dont put it off, it will cost more the longer you stay married. (just kidding). but really, its your own darn fault.
@mstercor
Ha Ha! Getting married is not tough. I can testify that getting unmarried is immensely more difficult.
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One afternoon in Vegas was all it took for me to get hitched. And about a year filled with emotional grief and loss of much currency to get unhitched.
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And I agree - it was there own darn fault for not picking someone who got decent reviews. I bet Angies List might have been a prudent thing to spend some cash on to do a bit of research with.
@Dirtman Ouch dude is that you're picture no wonder lol
Hmmm, spending $6000 on food, and not researching it? Sounds to me like poor planning. There are multiples of good caterers around town. If I were in that position, I'd be asking friends and people I know for referrals, and then after narrowing it to 3-5 vendors, then doing my own research. I'm hoping they didn't pay the $6000 in advance, if they did, then I guess a lesson is learned.
 @pdxd Exactly, Dave Ramsey would call it a "stupid tax".
 @Owt_Raged When they have their anniversary party, I'll offer to cater it for $5000, and create a cake out of VooDoo donuts, and get 25 buckets of KFC.....
 @pdxd I LOVE Voodoo doughnuts! But I think Chinese take out might be better... Of course you'd have to make it a short party so people don't want to eat again in 30 minutes! LOL
I know this sounds harsh but really? This is the perfect example of "first world problems." I got married in Vegas to a wonderful man. We chose to do it cheaply so that we could pool our resources in other directions like a house and raising a family. The average US wedding is farcical. If having your catered dinner ruined and having to resort to pizza is the worst thing that has happened in your collective lives? You, Lindsey and your husband should count yourselves lucky. How about focusing on the meaning of the wedding vs. the trappings?
You know, I am pretty tired of people blaming others for their lack of research.
If you didn't do your homework, follow up with references, check reviews, go to other events they were catering before yours, you should expect to get ripped off.
 @Owt_Raged EXACTLY! I looked up Unique Catering. A crappy website with hardly any info and no reviews ANYWHERE!  I was married in August of this year and looked up reviews for EVERY vendor I used. Despite the unexpected 100 degrees everything was flawless and I was happy with all of my vendors. Easy to understand why their reviews were so high.Â
 @Fitness_22 I know! I did a simple internet search and was able to find the guy's mugshots, yes plural. That should have been their first clue that perhaps there just MIGHT be a problem...
You think that the goofs fixing the roads work hard???? LOL - I guess "hard labor" doesn't mean chain gangs and road crews anymore! Except in Arizona with Sheriff Joe, maybe.
 @FreedomRocks While you are correct, the guy should have never been able to freely roam the streets, it just doesn't excuse someone from doing their homework to find reliable help. I don't really want the government to step into these types of business dealings. I am hoping that people will start thinking for themselves again. (I know, wishful thinking)
 @Owt_Raged  @Fitness_22 While I agree 100% with your comments it still bothers me that our legal system is so damn wimpy that guys like this are allowed to roam the streets and rip people off...
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He should be put into a hard labor camp fixing our roads until he earns enough to pay back the people he scammed just like all other criminals who commit non-violent crimes. You sentence is the amount of time doing hard labor required to pay back the damages...
Yeah, it sucks that the guy is a loser and didn't deliver on his promises. But 'ruined your wedding day'? Really? If you have any sense of perspective, you'll look back on this and smile, because here's a news flash. Your life as a couple will be full of ups and downs and ups and downs and more of both forever. This is just a minor bump in the road.
This is why it is absolutely crucial to hire a wedding planner! Brides and Grooms please educate yourselves. Wedding planners not only save you money, time, and your sanity, they act as a troubleshooter when issues arise.
My hubby and I went to Vegas to get married. Planned it and paid for it all months ahead of time and sent out wedding announcements afterwards and invited everyone to a special dinner at a local restaurant after we got back. It was wonderful and memorable without the high price tag or headaches
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