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Russell Morin vs Blackstone?

Lollip1515Lollip1515
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in Rhode Island
Hi,
We visited both Russell Morin and Blackstone today. We were wondering if anyone had any rants/raves about the two companies. In our meetings we came out liking one a tad bit more than the other but I was wondering if any brides had experience with either? Thanks for the help!!!!
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Re: Russell Morin vs Blackstone?

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    jonnysbride2010jonnysbride2010
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    edited December 2011
    I am a Russell Morin's bride and I just adore them! I have been to several weddings that they catered and everytime they are professional and delicious! They include an event planner when you book with them and seriously she does everything! I can call them with any questions I have. I know they are expensive but you get what you pay for!
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    KB_RIKB_RI
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    edited December 2011
    Russell Morin gets a lot of raves on here , so I don't think you can go wrong either way, but we work with Blackstone a lot at my work and they're phenomenal. We have budgetary issues (who doesn't, these days?!) and they have worked with us and given us discounts, etc. Had we not gone with a clambake co. for our wedding, I think they would have had our business.
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    eacosta1120eacosta1120
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I met with and spoke with both on the phone a few times. My first call with Blackstone turned me off slightly. The woman I spoke with badmouthed other caterers that I was considering-Morins included. I thought that was very unprofessional. She also just seemed a bit too hoity toity for me. Their menu looks great but also was a bit more fancy that my fiance and I wanted. Morin's was really great from the beginning. They were very accomodating with me being an out of state bride and Liza has taken incredibly good care of me since day one and has been really honest about what they can do and what we can do to cut costs. We are also having them make some of our fav recipes for our reception and they're very open to and excited to do it.
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    pmpkn219pmpkn219 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I was a Morin's bride, and I've never used catering before, so this is just an anecdote- but I Loved them. I can't imagine anyone could've helped me pull the day off any smoother than Ashley and the Morin's staff. I have heard good things abotu Blackstone too, but I have no personal story to draw from, so it is what it is!

    They helped me out so much, from putting out all my DIY nonsense (exactly as I asked!), making sure we (B&G) got fed, keeping on top of all the guests' needs without being in their face. I heard tons of compliments over how things were handled from the guest perspective, and I had no problems at all from the bride perspective ;)

    Spinning off eacosta I will mention- we had a variety of eaters, from the super picky, allergic, foodies, to the strictly "meat and potatoes, give me simple" kind. Everyone (including you Know those guests that always have some hang-up), enjoyed their meal and found something (or several things) they wanted. I think the food is super important at a wedding, so I wanted to make sure our guests could eat! I found Morin's was willing to work within a range of fancy "couture" foods and the basic, familiar stuff presented in a pretty way.

    I'd use them again in a heartbeat.
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    kathanddavekathanddave member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Definately Russell Morin-I have had the best experience with them.  Just had my tasting two weeks ago and was blown away by their professionalism.  I haven't heard a bad thing about them.
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    aliciaandbrianaliciaandbrian member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Russell Morins bride here!!  We LOVED them and can not say enough good things about them - the coordinator I had, Laura went so far above and beyond my expectations - The food was to die for!! Good luck!
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    meggetmegget member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm a little late with responding but I checked both of them out and like eacosta, blackstone really turned me off with their "we're so much better than everyone else" talk (she literally said that!)...I've also been hearing lately that blackstone's coordinating and food have been going down the tubes the past few years and they're kinda just banking on their name these days...the "blackstone of today isn't the blackstone of the past" is a quote from one vendor I talked to...

    RM however majorly impressed me between our coordinator Liza to the food we got to try at the cocktail party they threw for all 2010 couples! we got some free stuff too by attending which was just icing on the cake!!! we signed them but just recently had to change our venue and now can't use them--I want to CRY!!!!

    who were you leaning more towards???
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    Lollip1515Lollip1515
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi Everyone!! Thank you so much for your opinions...we were leaning towards Blackstone...and I actually think we are going to go with them. They seem to have a new coordinator because she never ever talked about other caterers at all. What it came down to basically as:
     1. price -Blackstone gave us a better quote
    2. free insentives
    3. vision-when we went and met at RM the sales rep just did not see our vision for our wedding and kept bringing things out to show us that had nothing to do with what we wanted. We were also rushed out of our appointment, (she left the room and went to tend to another couple who just arrived) when the women at Blackstone made us feel like her best friend and gave us ideas we could actually use within our budget. I also feel like the women at RM did not listen to us when we were talking to her--example--we told her we are not having children at our wedding and one of the things she included for "free" in our quote was 10 free kids meals?!
    I have also asked around to people who have used Blackstone and read other reviews and all said the food was great.
    Thank you so much and I highly value everyones input and opinion!!!
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    sg123sg123 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    oooh, I just met with Karen from Blackstone the other day and she was fabulous!  She was so hospitable and very in tune to what we are envisioning!  I am actually sending my contract in this week.  Granted, I have not seen the finish product but now that I think of it, I went to a wedding last September where Blackstone was the caterer, at the Towers in Narragansett and the food was AMAZING! That was actually why we called them in the first place.  Good luck with this!
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    rfrairfrai member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I got married in August at Blithewold and had Blackstone cater the wedding.  I can't even begin to describe how amazing the food was - people raved and raved about it.  And the service was also over-the-top.  I worked with Danielle throughout the planning and seriously every time I came up with some new idea she took it in stride and went with it.

    It seems to me that most of the people that have said negative things about Blackstone didn't actually use Blackstone to cater their wedding...I did use them and could not give any higher praise.  I'm sure Russel Morin is also good - I had a hard time deciding as well - but I am 100% happy with Blackstone and highly recommend!

    I actually haven't been on this site at all since my wedding - looked today on a whim and even battled this new format to post.
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    rfrairfrai member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Oh, and one more thing - 

    I was an out of state bride and planned my wedding in less than 7 months while starting a new and stressful job.  So, I was a bit scatterbrained with the planning.  I'm telling you, between the venue (Blithewold), the caterer (Blackstone) and Florist (Toni Chandler) the wedding looked like I had been planning as a full-time job for over a year.  I don't know who to give the most credit to, because they all helped, but Blackstone set the tables and they looked amazing!
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