Fireside Catering

Short version: Fireside is the exclusive caterer to the Bradley Estate where we got married last month. Heather was our contact person/​catering manager through Fireside, as the venue itself does not have a contact person. Unfortunately we had a bad experience overall. The 2 stars are for the excellent waitstaff, the food during cocktail hour (including an amazing raw bar) and the chef’s easy ability to safely accommodate our guests with food allergies.
Planning was challenging with Heather. I often felt more organized than her. She was unresponsive at times (once she didn’t respond to an email of mine after 10 days) and often disorganized. When we first met Heather she appeared very competent and confident in her skills as a wedding planner which contributed to why we ultimately decided to get married in this year instead of next year — we planned our wedding in 4 months which felt doable and Heather agreed. Things went down hill from there but only with Fireside — we did not have issues with any other vendors. (As an aside: I highly recommend planning a wedding in 4 – 6 months.) Overall communication was a huge problem. Day-​of there were also issues with the quality of food and communication with folks other than Heather.
Longer version with some examples:
–Fireside only does group tastings for weddings in the winter which meant we wouldn’t be able to do a tasting. Fine if that’s your policy but we weren’t informed about this until after making the deposit. It was a big disappointment.
–The week before the wedding there was a fee in the contract in the $ 700 range that I could not account for elsewhere. When I asked Heather about it she said nothing just returned the contract with that $ 700 fee in the $ 400 range without explanation or apology. (Despite my repeated requests for the contract to be itemized, she never delivered this info.)
Just two examples but there are plenty more. If there were only one or two miscommunications/​instances of poor communication I would chalk it up to a busy employee or just normal human error but in our experience there was a clear pattern of miscommunication. At one point in the planning, we thought about canceling and losing our deposit so that we could work with another caterer at another venue because it really was that bad. If there was the option to use another caterer and stay at our chosen venue we absolutely would have taken that action regardless of the non-​refundable deposit.
Day of the wedding, Heather was only present through the ceremony and Julie was the go-​to person who Heather said was «the best of the best.» Julie never greeted my husband or I. We had a huge issue with the ice cream cake delivery (it was late and frozen solid — not Fireside’s fault) but Julie never once came out to give me an update about what was going on. There was nothing Julie could have done about this but since the rest of the evening’s schedule was dramatically impacted (an entire set of music was cut out because of lost time), it was upsetting to not be in the loop at an event I spent so much time, money and energy planning.
Other issues:
–The food during the reception was inconsistent. My meal was just ok but another person with my meal choice loved theirs.
–One of the bartenders yelled at my brother in law during the reception.
–The bartenders told guests one type of beer was completely out yet nearly a case and a half of that beer was returned to the liquor store.
–The caterer returned one of our coolers disgusting and covered inside and out in spilled soda.
–We also looked at Moraine Farms as another venue for our wedding. I contacted them three times (email and phone) and never heard back. When I later earned that Fireside is also to exclusive caterer for Moraine I was not surprised.

Fireside just did our wedding and I cannot say enough good things about them. Food quality was of utmost importance and they delivered. They helped us plan our menu and had excellent options for our gluten-​free and vegan guests (the vegan samosas were loved by everyone!)
the staff was phenomenal. They dealt very gracefully with our baby and child friendly guest list (the poor guys passing the appetizers were swarmed by children at times.) They helped with every aspect of the party and made my life so easy during the breakdown, helping us carry things to cars and recover lost items. My guests commented about how great the staff was during and after the event — no one seemed like they were there just to collect a paycheck. they all behaved like they were happy to be there at our party and just wanted to make sure our every need was met.
We couldn’t have pulled off our wedding without Maura’s assistance. She asked all the right questions and helped us prepare for all occasions. We just couldn’t be happier!

When planning for our wedding, food quality was at the top of our list. We try our best to eat local, organic ingredients at home, and wanted to come as close to that as possible for that day. Additionally, many of our guests are extremely health conscious, and we needed a caterer who could accommodate that. From the minute I spoke with Maura McCarthy at Fireside, and learned about the company and how they source their food from both their farm in Groton as well as other local farms, I knew we would be booking with them.
We had a daytime brunch-​inspired menu that nicely paired indulgent choices like mini pancake muffins and nutella crepes, with healthy options like roasted chicken, kale salad, and yogurt parfaits! Most importantly, Maura made me feel comfortable and completely cared for from day one. She rocks, the food was delicious, and you can feel good about what you’re feeding your guests. Book them!

My husband and I got married this past October at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. The team at Fireside Catering (particularly Maura McCarthy) was amazing. My husband and I love cooking and eating and so the wedding food was one of the most important aspects of the celebration for us. We did a lot of research to find a caterer who would make use of the bounty of amazing local produce, meats, and cheeses, as well as providing excellent food. We worked poor Maura hard, really wanting to get the menu as good as it could be. All along, the team was open to our suggestions and engaged in the process, making great suggestions. In addition to our high maintenance desires for the meal, we had a lot of dietary restrictions and needs that had to be catered to for the meal. I, the bride, have a wheat allergy, several guests had nut allergies, and a number of individuals were vegan or vegetarian. Fireside Catering met all of our needs happily. Though there were a few minor miscommunications (more to do probably with our nit-​picking than anything else), but these were quickly cleared up.
The tasting experience was a dream, just as good as going to a nice restaurant for a meal.
We had a large wedding and were totally mobbed by guests almost the whole time. I’ve often heard brides and grooms say they didn’t get a bite of food all night — I can’t sympathize even a little bit. The Fireside team dedicated a special waiter just to my husband and I, who followed my husband and I around all evening making sure we had plenty of food. She even fended off guests who tried to take something from our tray! They did a number of other things to make sure that we were well and fully fed. While the food, of course, wasn’t as amazing as the tasting (where they were cooking just for two), it was the best wedding food we’ve ever tasted. We both HIGHLY recommend Fireside Catering.

I got married this summer at Moraine Farm and Amy and the whole Fireside Catering team were fantastic! My wedding was better than I could have imagined and friends are telling me it’s one of the best weddings they’ve ever been to.
During the planning process Amy’s history of wedding planning made my own naïveté a non-​issue, she knew how to arrange the whole day so it flowed smoothly. On the day of the Fireside staff were fantastic — they were all so lovely, warm, kind, and professional. Guests kept telling us how they felt so well cared for, and how the whole evening seemed to flow seamlessly without ever feeling forced.
The food was to die for, equal in quality to some of the nicest restaurants in Boston — it was also the first time I’ve known the bridal party to get the passed hors d’oeuvres and wine during pictures in the (gorgeous!) formal gardens. Great staff, great food, great location — a perfect night!

Fireside catered our wedding and everything was absolutely perfect. The food was amazing and the staff was professional and totally on top of everything. They helped with the timeline of the evening and the set up of the room, and totally exceeded our expectations.
People are still raving about the food!

Totally great experience having Fireside cater our wedding. The staff is incredibly kind, thoughtful, patient and capable. We got lots of excellent feedback on the food, and the chef and staff were totally open to our input about where to source things from locally. Anne was endlessly patient with us, and remained pretty darn cool-​headed in the high-​pressure days leading up to the event.
The price was also totally reasonable for the quality of the food, both in taste and in responsible sourcing. The chef was really laid back about special dietary accommodations (I had a vegan guest and someone who was vegan and with a gluten sensitivity, both were accommodated). I would highly recommend Fireside.