Anna A. Sent on 11/18/2023

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Want food that everyone will love on your wedding day? Hire Bowl of Cherries

When looking for a caterer we wanted to find a company that did not do the "standard" wedding food and provided an all encompassing service from servers to bartenders. We first met Barb a year and a half before our wedding. We went to her house for a tasting and boy was it delicious! She was open to customizing the meal and working with us to find options for our gluten free, vegan and lactose intolerant friends. She was so helpful in the last few months before our wedding. She helped us think about the flow of the event and even helped us identify how much alcohol to buy. Our wedding day was perfect and everyone raved about the food. Honestly I am going to keep hiring bowl of cherries for every event I have in the future. Worth every penny as it brings quality service and a nice person to work with.

Jane C. Sent on 10/26/2022

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Delicious food, great team

It was important to us to have a customized menu that was the right fit for a beachfront wedding reception on the Chesapeake Bay and that would work for many palate's and preferences. Barb and her team knocked it out of the park with a menu that included many Maryland favorites and that was cooked on the grill right on site. One of our guests summed it up perfectly: "I don't often remember food at weddings, and I will remember this food. It is amazing!" There was basically NO food left at the end of the night because people kept coming back for more.

Barb also brought a stellar team with her. People were not only impressed with the efficiency and professionalism of the team, but many comments on how much they enjoyed talking to them since they were so personable.

People were truly transported during the event, in large part thanks to the amazing work of Bowl of Cherries. We are so appreciate of the hard work they did to make our event just right for us.

Laura R. Sent on 11/08/2019

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Fantastic!

The food was delicious. Sometimes wedding food is kind of blah, but Barb did a great job. She was really easy to work with, and her staff did a great job on our wedding day. Can’t recommend her enough!

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank you Laura!
What a pleasure it was for me to work with you and Rohit! I loved the addition of the Indian cuisine. Many thanks and Happy New Year!

Danielle W. Sent on 01/03/2020

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Bowl of Cherries was perfect

I am so glad we worked with Barb and her team at Bowl of Cherries. Barb worked with me to make sure our menu was exactly what we wanted and within our budget. All the food came out amazing & looked so wonderful too. I mean, just look at the pictures.

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Hi Danielle!
Thanks again, so nice of you to send this :)) I hope you and Chris are settling into your happily ever after... Very Happy New Year!
❤️

Holly Sent on 09/18/2018

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Barb catered our wedding at the Annapolis Maritime Museum and we could have not had our perfect day without her help! Not only did she create a fantastic menu that had all our guests raving, but her experience with the venue and other local vendors was absolutely invaluable. For anyone looking for a truly great wedding experience brought to you by true professionals, look no further!!

Melissa Sent on 12/05/2017

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Barb catered my December reception at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. The Museum provides a list of their preferred caterers and after some research, narrowed it down to the ones that seemed most geared to my tastes and budget, with a preference for the small and local options. I reached out to a few, and Barb was instantly responsive and sent over several sample menus. I was impressed with her proactiveness and after exchanging a few emails, felt she was the one. I could not have made a better decision!

Barb struck the perfect balance of providing me with enough of her own ideas but also listening to my tastes and preferences to come up with the perfect menu for our event. She also met with my parents and me to walk through the venue and show us how she envisioned everything being set up. As we got closer to the date, she held a tasting at her house for my husband, his family, and me so we could try everything on the menu. Unsurprisingly, it was all delicious and I don't know that we made a single change after that!

We wanted a healthy, fresh menu with a local flair that was also seasonal, so some highlights included: crab dip; a raw bar; rockfish; steak; tons of roasted vegetables; a butternut squash, arugula, and quinoa salad; and a hot chocolate/coffee bar! My only regret from my event is that I never had the opportunity to check out the appetizer and dessert spread as I was too busy chatting with guests but these got rave reviews. I really did not want the food to feel like standard wedding fare and Barb really accomplished this -- my plate of food felt like it was cooked just for me, not for 130 other people.

Beyond just the food, Barb also was "basically a wedding planner" to use my husband's words. She coordinated the rental equipment, advised us on alcohol amounts, brought all the mixers, helped us with our timeline, and generally made us feel at ease during a stressful time. I highly recommend Barb and her team to cater your next event!

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank you Melissa! It was my pleasure to work with you and Woody and your families - I loved it!! I wish you two many years of wedded bliss ❤️ barb

Jason Sent on 12/27/2017

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Choosing a caterer for our wedding was tough (two great people), and we could not have been more happy with Barb and her team. We wanted a menu with a New Orleans theme, and Barb created an incredible set of appetizers and a really delicious meal that people raved about. I would work with her again in a heartbeat!

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank You Jason!! You and Scott were really fun and easy to work with - loved your theme, music and your lego cake topper :)) I am so glad that I had the opportunity! Many thanks and very best wishes!

Sarah Sent on 09/24/2017

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I can admit that I was not the kind of bride who dreamt about her wedding or had strong opinions about many of the details that went into our wedding day. The one thing my husband and I did know was, as foodies, we wanted to have delicious food at our wedding. Not only did we want delicious food, we wanted a diverse range of food that really represented our tastes and backgrounds. We are SO LUCKY we hired Barb at Bowl of Cherries because she checked off all of those boxes and more! I can't begin to tell you how many compliments we received about our food.

First of all, because Bowl of Cherries is Barb's own company, she is extremely flexible. She literally will make anything you want for your wedding! So if you are looking for a menu that is different from any other wedding you have been to, Barb should be your choice. We described to Barb that we wanted a lot of Mediterranean options for our cocktail hour in addition to lots of seafood (because this is MD and that's what MD does right?!) We also discussed our desire to do a buffet, and she suggested that she could rent a grill and grill right on site. So our buffet could be filled with freshly grilled delicacies!

When we went to her house for the tasting, we were blown away. Each item she presented was more delicious than the last and we knew right then we wanted to hire her. (We went to one of the bigger Baltimore caterers just the day before for a tasting and they could not even come close to Barb in terms of taste! Her food is simply amazing!) From there, Barb really acted as a mentor throughout our entire wedding process. This was invaluable since my husband and I live in Chicago and were planning our wedding from afar.

The day of, Barb's staff took care of everything! Her "chief of staff" acted as a day of event planner and made sure our entire day went without a hitch. We really can't recommend Barb and Bowl of Cherries enough!

Suzanne Sent on 02/04/2016

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I am so excited to have met Barb! My fiancé and I just had a tasting with her for our wedding in October, and we love her food! She made us feel like family! We definitely are selecting her to cater our wedding. The process of planning a wedding can be overwhelming at times, but I know that Barb's professionalism and experience will make this smooth.

Barb listened to our vision and is working with us to make sure everything is exactly how we had envisioned! When October comes, I'll be glad to have Barb and her team at our wedding!

Lindsey Sent on 09/02/2016

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Barb absolutely made my wedding perfect. I couldn’t have done it without her. She was prompt and responsive, always returning my calls and replying to emails quickly, which was important to me as a long-distance bride. The food was amazing, the staff was wonderful, and I got so many compliments on all of it.

She was very accommodating and made my vision for the food a reality. We went for a “Maryland in the summer” theme, with crab dip (of course!), local seafood, and local fresh veggies. She made an amazing thin-sliced steak for us that was perfectly cooked and seasoned. It was so incredibly opposite of all the wedding food I’ve ever had, where it’s overcooked, bland, un-inspiring options. She even made us a spaghetti squash martini bar, with all sorts of excellent toppings! (Seriously – get that, my veggie-hating, meat-loving husband said it was his favorite thing that night.) She even designed mini ice cream sandwiches with local Annapolis Ice Cream Co. ice cream to be passed instead of desserts. Mmm, I’m hungry just thinking about all that great food!

She was very reasonably priced, which is amazing for the quality of food and service she provided. She did a last-minute walk-through with us two days before, and she diagrammed the whole venue so that we could see exactly what it would look like. She coordinated all of the event rentals (but let us pay directly and took no surcharge), the drinks deliveries, and even returned the spare alcohol at the end of the night! Her staff even made sure that my husband and I got enough food to eat. We hid out during cocktail hour and they brought us a meal-sized tray of appetizers (yum!) then prepared us plates so that we could sit and eat them while everyone else got dinner. I cannot recommend Barb highly enough – I had so many amazing compliments about the food, the setup, the staff – and it was honestly the best meal I’ve eaten in a very long time.

David Sent on 09/25/2016

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Barb catered not only our wedding, but also our rehearsal dinner. The quality of her food, coupled with a beautiful presentation can't be topped. She was with us from the early stages of planning all the way to our big day. We did several taste tests, but as soon as we tried Barb's food we had our answer. She really personalizes the food, is very mindful of your budget and is super creative. Everyone complimented the food at the wedding. If you're getting married in Annapolis, look no further.

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank you David and Alice ! I loved working with you - fun! ❤️ Best wishes - happily ever after!

Alan B. Sent on 10/19/2019

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Fantastic food

Bowl of Cherries with Barb Duvall was a delight to work with from beginning to end. After sampling and viewing the food deftly prepared by Barb in her kitchen, we knew she was the caterer we wanted for our son’s rehearsal dinner. All the food was fresh, local and delicious. Our rehearsal dinner was at White Hall, a venue where generators, electricity, plumbing.,,EVERYTHING, had to be brought in. This was a real challenge, but Bowl of Cherries accomplished the job beautifully. We enjoyed a delicious charcuterie selection, freshly shucked oysters, mini crab cakes for appetizers, and at a beautiful long table under the trees, were treated to a family style dinner of caprese salad, flank steak, rockfish and accompaniments. Our guests loved it and we were very happy, too.

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank you Nancy! You and your family are a pleasure to work with! I am so happy that we connected! b

Jessica Sent on 12/11/2015

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Bowl of Cherries was one of the preferred vendors at my venue, and ended up being the only caterer I contacted, because I loved the website, and Barb Duvall won me over from the first meeting. She liked my ideas, which included dishes from regions as different as Iran and Afghanistan and Denmark, along with more seasonal American cuisine, and she was able to turn them into something cohesive and beautiful. Barb was also very good at communicating with me throughout the process, whether by phone or e-mail, and she also met with me on several occasions with the site coordinator and helped me with the rentals.

I had guests who said that they usually think of wedding food as boring, but what Barb prepared was anything but. It was also delicious, and the presentation was just beautiful and fit perfectly with our theme and decor. And the beverages!!! We are teetotalers, so we had spa and fairy waters, that were heavenly the way that she made them, and teas.

The bottom line is, I would highly recommend Bowl of Cherries, because Barb will work with your ideas and work with your price range, and because she really knows her field and will give you incredible results, even if she is doing something new for you.

Molly Sent on 10/17/2015

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Barb was amazing throughout the entire process of planning our wedding. She listened to what we wanted and what we could afford and came up with a great menu. She met with us plenty of times leading up to our wedding, coming out to my family's farm (where we were married), and generally just making me feel like everything would work out perfectly (which it did). Our food was not just the standard chicken/fish that you see at most weddings. It was seasonal, local, and fresh just like we wanted. Everything was delicious!

Bailey Sent on 12/22/2014

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Barb and her team at Bowl of Cherries were absolutely phenomenal for my November wedding. She is the absolute epitome of above and beyond service! The food was phenomenal (my entire family told me they were the best crab cakes they had ever had, they were literally fighting over them) and she was so amazing to work with. I had consulted with her initially and told her I wanted to keep my reception costs under $10k for 120 people. She was magnificent in this capacity and worked extremely hard to honor my budget, and we ended up coming under it in the end which was amazing. The food was absolutely incredible; we had stations of rockfish and flank steak, shrimp and grits and pulled pork sliders, and the best hors d'ouevres ever. She also did a raw bar and a coffee bar, which my guests raved about the entire night. The service staff was absolutely incredible, especially with our often rowdy group of friends. Immediately after my first tasting with Barb I knew she was the right person for my wedding. Not only was the food delicious, but I just had a really good feeling about her. She is extremely sweet but furiously hard working and does so much more than anyone would expect of a caterer (she even brought decorations from her home to my reception!) I would absolutely recommend her to anyone - she's amazing!

Erica M. Sent on 10/15/2019

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Unorganized and Not What We Expected

arb was great in the beginning but brought unneeded stress to the day of. Working in the event planning business previously, I was very disappointed that the items I paid for were not displayed as discussed or worse not displayed at all. Food - Our crab cake sliders were on saltine crackers not on rolls...not sure where the disconnect on that one was. They were on slider buns at our tasting and living in Annapolis all my life i've never had a crab cake served on a saltine cracker. - 2/4 desserts that were on the list were displayed. There were no chocolate peanut butter ganache bars - instead chocolate chip cookies were displayed. - The displayed food wasn't ready to go at the start of the reception. It also was displayed for about 50 people when we had 200. Staff - With the staff she had hired - they ran out of limes at the bars within 5 minutes. - They dumped out our bowl of matches that were to be displayed so that they could use to bowl as a tip jar. Very unprofessional. - They never cut our cheese wheel cake which was supposed to be displayed with dessert. I noticed it 30 minutes before the reception ended and now have $550 worth of cheese in my fridge that no one got to eat. My biggest heartache was the line at the bars. I specifically asked that servers be there to greet guests with beer and wine on trays to help with the first rush after the ceremony. Instead the bars were still being set up with boxes and ice everywhere when the ceremony ended. They were not prepared which caused lines for the first 45 minutes of the reception. Another pain point was plates. On my way to my first look I got a call that plates were not ordered. I met with Barb twice and told her I would be doing the utensils because I wanted them wrapped in a napkin and tied with twine. At one of our meetings we even looked online at the plates she was going to order because I wanted bamboo plates that were enviro-friendly. In the end no plates were ordered and someone had to run to Sams Club to get plastic plates. This was not a call I wanted to receive 30 minutes before go time. Overall I was very disappointed with how everything turned out.

Bowl of Cherries's reply:

Thank you Erica -
Thank you for your comments. We take all comments, compliment or criticism, very seriously and to heart. Of course, we are deeply sorry that you are not happy.

Normally, we are known for our attention to detail and we regret that we missed the mark here.

I am genuinely sorry and look forward to communicating independently with you about this.

Sincerely,
Barb
Bowl of Cherries

To any brides out there stumbling upon this... We like to provide a very creative, flexible and customized approach to our catering product. In order to ensure that all experiences are positive, we are implementing a new, very detailed contract format and planning schedule. If we are planning the most important event of your life, it is critical that we meet to conduct the planning. After all, life is a Bowl of Cherries! We want everyone to by happy and satisfied 🍒

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