The Reserve on Dorrance Reviews

I love The Dorrance. The owners and their staff did a phenomenal job organizing my wedding. I didn't realize how much of a one stop shop it would be and how responsive and genuinely kind they are. I have been bragging about them every since! Thank you so much, The Dorrance!

The choice to have our wedding ceremony and reception at the Dorrance in September 2018 was hands down the best wedding planning decision we had made.

There has been a common theme in our guests feedback - the building was gorgeous, the food and drinks were delicious and the service was fantastic. No one waited hungry during the cocktail hour, everyone loved their dinner and the bartenders kept drinks flowing.

The quality of the food and drinks far exceeded any “typical” wedding fare. The menu to choose from is expansive and was able to be customized to fit all of our requests and needs.

From a brides perspective, Lindsay was my lifeline in the time leading up to our wedding. I must have emailed her a million times and she always replied expediently and fully answered every question I could think of. She coordinated everything from the ceremony and reception timeline, day of details like table numbers/place cards, and all the vendors coming in which was so amazing- I didn’t receive a single call with questions the day of because it was all handled. You are in such good hands with Lindsay as manager, I can’t sing her praises enough. Thank you so much for all your hard work Lindsay!

Jean felt like my bridal fairy godmother day of. She helped me collect my emotions right before walking down the aisle and managed us throughout the night making sure we could eat and enjoy whatever food or drinks that we wanted. She told me that I’d have nothing to worry about on the day of and made good on that promise. We were going to Uber back to our hotel at the end of the night but Jean took the time to pack up her car and drive us- we can’t thank her enough!

The team they have working at the Dorrance is so top notch. By the time we left it honestly felt like we had been working with family. The beauty of the venue speaks for itself but the people inside it are what made our wedding as special as it was. You will not regret booking with the Dorrance.

The Dorrance was the most amazing venue we could have wished for. Besides the fact that it's stunning inside, the food is to die for (definitely not what you think of when you get "wedding food") and the service is amazing. Lindsay, the manager, was amazing every step of the way. They took care to ensure my groom and I had time to eat, spend time together, and fully enjoy our day!

The Dorrance could not have been any more perfect for the Moscovitz-Vescera Wedding November 14, 2014. You were able to provide the perfect atmosphere in your upstairs dining area and a superb meal. The venue space allowed us to comfortably socialize while enjoying wonderful appetizers and drinks and the dinner set-up from table decorations to dinner was amazing. We can not thank you enough for a wonderful experience and we know we will dine with you again in your restaurant.

My husband and I held our ceremony and reception at The Dorrance in October 2014. The staff was fantastic leading up to the wedding and on the day-of. Everything was perfectly coordinated and we and our guests had a fantastic time. Obviously, The Dorrance is in a beautiful building, which provides a perfect & easy backdrop for a wedding. The food and drinks were wonderful, as always. I would absolutely recommend The Dorrance to anyone looking for a beautiful, warm, personal, and elegant venue!

i fell in Love with this place the moment I set eyes on. It's this beautiful old building, used to be a federal reserve bank. ITs just gorgeous the details inside, the walls, ceilings, everything. Perfect space for a wedding, the food was amazing, I didnt have one complaint and the service was awesome. Jean Lester the owner, helped me with everything from start to end, with a lot of patience :)

The staff at the Dorrance was spectacular! Lindsay answered all my many questions in the months leading up to our wedding. On the day of the wedding, they took my decor and did a beautiful job setting up (beyond what I was imagining). They also did a superb job at coordinating the event and keeping us on schedule. The food was incredible with seriously generous portion sizes. I cannot say enough good things about this venue!!

We loved our wedding reception at the Dorrance. The atmosphere was spectacular and food was incredible. The staff was very responsive and the cocktails were very popular. We wanted a memorable wedding and our guests raved about the Dorrance.

I had my wedding here and it was really perfect and everything I could have wanted. I had fallen in love with The Dorrance while there one night for drinks and knew right away it was the place I was going to get married. The owner, Jean, and the wedding coordinator, Lindsay, were both fabulous in helping me plan my perfect day. Lindsay especially was extremely helpful and responsive to my many questions! I told them what I wanted and they gave me some recommendations and we ended up with a great plan for the day. I had my wedding on a Sunday hoping to save some money, but it still ended up costing quite a bit and it had to end earlier than usual, so my only regret is not having it on a Friday or Saturday instead. Other than that, it was great and I couldn't be happier with this venue for my wedding location.

We had our ceremony and reception at The Dorrance on 9/26 and it was even better than I had imagined it would be.
The Dorrance was our last stop after looking at close to 10 venues in Boston, Newport and Providence. We instantly fell in love with how beautiful the space is and knew it was "the one."
Regina and Lindsay were so helpful leading up to the big day.
Co-owner Jean was in charge of us the night of the wedding and she really knows her stuff. She runs a tight ship, which is great because she made sure we ate and were where we needed to be. It's easy to lose track of time and miss things, but Jean made sure we were right on schedule the entire night.
A few small complaints:
1. The cake and coffee weren't served; they were placed in the corner of the other side of room, where cocktail hour displays were set up earlier. A lot of guests didn't know it was there (the band announced it later), and it was also difficult for people to juggle cake and coffee through the dance floor back to their seats. We paid a lot of money for our cake, and a lot of it went to waste. There was an entire tier of vanilla cake that I didn't even see sliced and they didn't give us any left over to take home (besides our top tier of course)We were also charged an additional $3 per person for "coffee service" and there's no way that we went through over $300 worth of coffee (there were just 2 carafes left by the cake, and again, most guests didn't know it was there). Cake and coffee should be served to guests!
2. We paid extra per person for a "late night pizza" snack. I was told by Regina that these would be passed by servers, but they ended up sticking them in the same corner that they stuck the cake. Again, not many people knew it was there, and by the time the band announced it, the pizza was cold.
3. By consumption bar works in their favor not yours. Open bar tab was definitely padded by the bartenders.
Overall, a great venue!

Our vintage inspired intimate wedding at the Dorrance was absolutely perfect. The venue is absolutely beautiful and the food was amazing. The food is most certainly not what you expect when thinking of wedding food. We were given 4 entree choices for our guests along with 3 separate options for kids. The price was perfectly reasonable given then quality of the food and the wait service. The wait staff was very kind and professional. We even had a waitress that waited on myself and my husband all night. She served us champagne and appetizers while we waited to make our big entrance and remained our server throughout the evening. Everything was set up for us and our guests were allowed in slightly early as they began to arrive. There was complimentary valet as well which was a huge plus.

With all of this being said, I didn't give the Dorrance a 5 star review simply because of the lack of professionalism by the manager and owner during our wedding reception. My husband and I opted for an intimate wedding with only 60 guests. Because we had a small wedding, we were situated on the mezzanine level for dinner and regular restaurant business was going on downstairs. This was ok with us because the mezzanine is private and it even has its own private restrooms. You do not notice the guests downstairs. Our one concern with this was music. While we weren't going to have much dancing, we wanted to make sure we could still play music during dinner and also play a game or two to have some entertainment for our guests. My step-father is a wedding DJ so he did the entertainment for us. Months before the wedding, I expressed my concerns to the manager and she assured me that she had never asked a bride and groom to turn down the music and would also allow us to play some Portuguese music as my husband and his family are from the Azores. She assured me that there would be no issues at all and that they would be flexible with us. It was because of this conversation that we decided to keep our reception at the Dorrance instead of looking for a different venue like we had been thinking of doing.

Well during our reception, we were playing the "shoe game" with all of our guests standing and looking at us. Both the manager and owner came running up the stairs and began speaking angrily with my step dad right in front of all of our guests. My step dad had to turn off his mic even though we only had a speaker upstairs and not downstairs where customers could hear. My step dad proceeded on with the game and then started back up with music as he had already been playing for hours. All of a sudden, we were asked to stop playing the Portuguese songs that we had been mixing in throughout the night and were told that we should have played them earlier in the evening. Now this was upsetting because it is music that means a lot to my husband and his family and also we were specifically told that it would be ok to play. We were not told that it could only be played up until a certain time. We were also never told we couldn't use a mic. I was asked multiple times by the manager if and when we would be using one. I advised we would use it for our introduction and introductions to the parents dances. When asked if we would use them for toasts, I advised the manager to double check with my step-father as he would be following up with her to discuss the details before the wedding (which he did). At no point was I told that the mic would not be allowed for toasts but apparently this was an issue with them during the reception.

The manager and owner were aggressive with my step dad multiple times throughout the night. This is no way to treat a vendor, never mind a valued GUEST at the wedding. It was almost as if the two were forgetting that the DJ was also the bride's step-father,an invited guest and member of the wedding party. My dad was upset by the lack of professionalism and opted to have a conversation with the owner which turned into a loud argument. Not ok. All of the information given to me regarding music and mics was given via email and I still have it all in writing. Both the manager and owner were extremely kind and helpful throughout the entire planning process but acted entirely differently during the reception.

I will mention that thanks to my amazing family, all of this was kept hidden from me and my husband until the next morning. The only thing we saw for ourselves was when the manager and owner ran up the stairs and interrupted our game and a couple of side conversations between them and my stepdad.

As I said, overall our wedding was absolutely perfect but the serious lack of professionalism was extremely upsetting. My husband and I paid a lot for our "small" wedding at the Dorrance and it is the only wedding we will ever have. That should never be rudely interrupted and we should have been treated like valued customers rather than a nuisance. Any issues should be discussed privately and in a professional manner. Maybe the Dorrance should reconsidering their willingness to host weddings on the mezzanine if noise is an issue for their regular customers. This however is something that should be considered on the business level and should not affect their paying customers.

The only thing wrong with my entire wedding was Jean. She was very unprofessional. If you choose this venue make sure you ask a lot of questions up front and get everything you can in writing. She uses the valet as a selling point but failed to mention that we had to pay for it. She claims you have the venue all day but wouldn't let our guest in more than 1/2 hour before the ceremony. If I would have know that upfront I would have plained the limo differently having paid to have it drop off guest 45 minutes ahead of time. She was rude to one of my guest and rude to my other venders. She tends to take over as if it was her wedding. NOTE this is not a place to get married if you have a lot of children going to the wedding.
However with that said I would still get married here and suggest anyone else the same. The place itself was absolutely beautiful. The prices were very reasonable and the rest of the staff was amazing! My guest had a wonderful time and the food was awesome. We were able to walk to waterfire after the ceremony and get pictures there. Its only 10 minute drive to India Point Park and we were able to get pictures there. Its near 7 hotels so take your pick and since your downtown Providence there are plenty of cabs and buses. I think the conveience and the beauty of the building out weighted any negatives.