Caterer Advice: Blackstone vs Russel Morin's

Ven&Radio

Hi ladies, I was hoping some of you could share your experiences with these two caterers.  My DOC assures me that they're both wonderful and she's gotten me proposals from both.  I love the Blackstone proposal - it fits our budget and they worked with our suggestions/preferences to create a menu we both think sounds great.  The Morins proposal is 25 pages long and reads like they just took pages out of their offerings and put them together with prices per item.  They gave us a "cost estimate" based on the cheapest options and didn't even include dinner wine in the estimate.  My overall feeling on Morins is they're trying to upsell me and I don't like that at all.  We're setting up tastings with both before we make a final decision.  Anyhow, I'd love to hear some first hand experiences with each one... I'm hoping it will help give me a more well-rounded view of each one before the tastings, rather than just my opinion of their proposals.  Thanks!

i2012do

I too was torn between both places and ended up using Blackstone.
I can say this :the food was outstanding at both. we went to the tasting at Morin's at one of the open houses, we went for a tasting at Blackstone before booking.
I am working with Danielle at Blackstone and she is AMAZING. Hands down, she is one of my favorite vendors so far. Wheneer I email her she gets back to me within 24 hrs. She has made great suggestsions and even organzied a second tasting for us so that my dad could be included, which is not something they typically do.

Also my dad used blackstone back in the day for events for the bank-so he felt like he had a good realtionship with them years ago (we are talking 15-20 yrs ago) and felt comfortable working with them.

I was working with Anne (annie?) at Morin's. I believe at the time she was going out on sick leave or something was going on so I didn't get that great of a response.
My boss is a well known figure in Providence and uses Morin's all the time (I mean 2-3 times a month!) and so I had contacted the person that is her usual contact there who she loves (Maggie). Anyway, I guess I shouldn't have done that because Anne worked on my proposal and I think I caused an issue, so then I felt embarassed to go back to them- and in all honesty they never emailed me back again. Plus i didn't want the whole thing to get back to my boss and make her think I was using her name to get anything out of Morins (other than better service!!). Obvisously this was an isolated incident and not something that happens to everyone.

the main differences we found in our pricing is that 1. Blackstone doesnt charge any "hidden fees"... they don't charge for cake cutting or a corkage charge if you want to bring your own wine, as Morin's did.

Morin's food was spectacular though but as I said we are very happy with Blackstone's food.
As far as they go, your DOC is right, neither is a bad choice and I don't think you can go wrong either way. Both are very professional companies that have been around for ages.


If you want more specific represntations of how each compared in our quotes I am happy to email you that info. I really broke it down apples to apples to compare which I suggest you do as well...
If you want more info email me at Jcorvese at gmail dot com

musictchr25

I'm using Morins for my wedding.  Originally, Morins will give you an estimate based on their cheapest offerings, and dinner wine is not considered a standard, it is an add-on, which is why it was not included in your original estimate.  You would have had to tell them that you were interested in specific dinner wines in order for them to include that in your cost estimate.  You can also chat with your coordinator about adding and removing things from your proposal to help get you the best feel for what your catering package would include.  And just so you know, Morins will not do tastings until after you have booked with them.

I have had nothing but great things to say about Morins, and my experience with them has been great so far.  Let me know if you want more information.

I did consider Blackstone for our wedding also, but they did not communicate well in my opinion. It took their coordinator more than 3 weeks to return my emails, and at that point, I was already so far ahead in my communication with other caterers that I removed them from consideration.

getaclue44

I have gone to a number of weddings where Blackstone was the caterer and they were fabulous.  One of my friends said that they were so easy to work with.  If we had needed a caterer they were going to be our first choice.

I have not had any dealings with Morins.  With that said--go with your gut.  If your gut is saying Blackstone then go with that.  I went with the venue that I felt most comfortable with and that I felt understood what I was looking for.  I haven't regretted it yet.  

JandA7406

I, too felt like Morins upsells a lot and they are extremely expensive, at least in my opinion.  I alos didn't know that don't do tastings before bookings and that would completely turn me off.  I dind't look into to Blackstone beacuse my fiance had worked an event for them and just didn't love their handling of things, not necessarily the food.

We are most likely going with Glorious Affairs in Middletown, we have our tasting this weekend.

lusciouslips

I used Russell Morins for our wedding a few weeks ago and I couldn't have been happier. I never met with Blackstone, but have heard great things about them, so I don't think you can go wrong with either. I worked with Maggie from Russell Morins in the beginning, but she moved over to corporate catering, and then I worked with Alicia who was fabulous. I know they usually do tastings after you book with them, but Maggie did not object to my fiance's wish to book a tasting before we signed anything. The food was delicious, everyone raved about it! The great thing about Morins is that they put an inventive twists on favorites and they turn something ordinary to extraordinary. I understand your thought that they were trying to upsell you with the long proposal, but I took it as options. I didn't feel pushed into adding anything. Actually, we decided to get our own liquor since I had a business relationship with a few distributors already. There were so many details that Morins made great. I could email you more if you would like, but the first one that comes to mind is that they took cared of a guest of mine who could not walk well. We had a stations dinner, and the waitress took cared of her drinks, food, and kept making sure she was okay. Hope that helps.

TowersBride

We have hired Morins and have had nothing but excellent service from them.  However, what really solidified our selection was whenever a vendor we were interviewing asked who we are using for catering, and we told them Russel Morin's, the response was consistently the same: "They're the Best in the Business".  

Newport2013

I have booked Morin's as the caterer for my wedding next year-I am working with Kathleen in the Newport office but have interected with Alicia and Elizabeth as well.  I have worked with Morin's on events before my wedding and could not be happier.  Thefood is to die for, service is top notch, and they will seriously personalize everything with you.  If your wedding is more than 4 months from now you are probably going to change your mind a few times about the actual food you want to serve.  I felt Morin's proposal was more of a guideline-it gives you a spectrum of pricing based on many options.  If you 100% want wine service (or any other items) just tell them and I'm sure they would be happy to rework the proposal for you.

I have not worked with Blackstone btu have attended events that they have done.  I have never been disappointed but have also never been blown away.

i2012do

I just wanted to add a cavaet. Depending on when you are booking them Morin's does an open house. That's when we met with them. We went to their open house and were ableto have a tasting well before we decided whom to book with.
As a PP said, go with your gut. I really think a lot of it depends on how it works out for you.

In my case, I had poor communication with Morin's and excellent but as another bride said she had completely the opposite...so I think it also depends on who you are working with, when you call, and a bit of the luck of the draw.

Ven&Radio

Thanks for all of your input.  My fiancee and I feel pretty strongly about needing to taste before we sign anything.  Neither of us have been to events catered by either of these companies before and although they have great reputations, we don't feel confident spending a very large chunk of our budget on something we've never had firsthand experience with.

glamorous0813

I've heard that blackstone is better.  Also, have you tried plantation catering, I heard such wonderful things about them and a friend of mine is having them at her wedding.  She said she tried all 3 and that plantation was def. the best and most delicious.