Blackhawk Country Club Reviews

Blackhawk Country Club in Stratford ,CT did a wonderful job for my daughter's bridal shower on June 9, 2024. The white linens and blue napkins ,and centerpieces that I choose looked so beautiful. There was plenty of room for a cookie table, a display table, a gift table and an activity table. We had about 40 guests in attendance. Blackhawk also place several high top tables in the room to fill in the spaces. These tables came in handy and were used to put the place cards and our fruit kabobs on . The general manager and staff were polite, professional and friendly, attending to all our needs. The food was delicious and everyone had a super ,nice time. The view out the window of the surrounding golf course was pretty.

I can't say enough about Kelsey and Xavier at Blackhawk. They were both so helpful in planning the baby shower. Blackhawk Country Club is absolutely beautiful and you can't beat the delicious food and wonderful service!!

The wedding venue was one of the things that we started researching early on in the wedding planning.
There were so many gorgeous venues to choose from here in CT. We made initial contacts to our top choices and began scheduling walk throughs.
Even though the many of the venues we visited were amazing, everything just wasn’t adding up. They couldn’t accommodate our time(brunch wedding), commute to the venue would be too far, was too expensive, or the actual reception space wasn’t really giving us the vibe we wanted.
I became a bit discouraged but continue my internet search. It was then I came up on Oronoque Country Club. I was blown away by the picturesque grounds and they could accommodate the date, time and most of all our brunch menu. My fiancé instantly dubbed Oronoque “God sent”.
We sent an email and Mr. Nels Nelson promptly responded and set up a walk through. We were sold on everything and left there with a contract saying that we would “sleep on it” and get back to him with a deposit.
During the time when I found Oronoque, I had also found a few more venues that I was thinking of checking out. When we got home from our walk through at Oronoque I reminded my fiancé that we had a few more walk through scheduled for that week. He told me to cancel them as we are going with “God sent”!
I am happy that I listened to my husband. Nels was nothing short of amazing from our first walk through right up to when I walked down the aisle and beyond. He is a man with many hats, he was there to help us with the rehearsals, added finishing touches to the room decor, there on our wedding day to calm my husband down when his bride was 30 minutes late and then came up to the bridal suite to calm me down because I was worried that I was running late.
Our day was “the best day ever”. Thanks to Oronoque and the Amazing Nels Nelson!

Wedding planning went smoothly, the people were very nice to us. They never harassed us about the payments, and always payed attention when we had ideas for the reception. The wedding reception itself went perfect, I couldn't have imagined it going any other way.

Our Wedding Day could not go any smoother! Kate was very good to both my husband and I. She was very attentive and detail oriented. We picked the perfect place for our ceremony and reception! The food was outstanding as well. I can't say enough great things about how wonderful everything was!

Words cannot describe our satisfaction and praise towards Kate, Liz, Jason and the rest of the staff at Oronoque. We had our wedding ceremony as well as the reception this past memorial day weekend. We were a bit nervous when we found out that Liz had changed positions and that a new catering manager would be taking over until we met Kate. Kate was absolutely fantastic. She was willing to work with us even though we were located 8 hours away in Pittsburgh. She was patient, caring and willing to make the small details that meant so much to us possible without any worries. She was there for us and timely for all of our meetings and was very understanding of last minute changes. We highly recommend her. They had planned a renovation between our tasting and the day of our event and the venue looked terrific. What really stood out about the management at Oronoque was that they invested so much time towards making our big day a success. Liz and Kate did a wonderful job at transitioning the planning process. Nothing was overlooked. Kate and Jason were on hand during the big day hours before and hours into our celebration. They both provided great suggestions without forcing us to make decisions that we were uncomfortable with. We never at any time felt nickel and dimed about charges. Everything felt so honest and it proved to be. The food was great and the landscape and surroundings beautiful. If you are looking to be able to truly enjoy your big day with the focus being you and your significant other then Oronoque is the top choice. It is intimate but spacious with great leadership and service. Thank you so much to the three mentioned above. I hope that we get the chance to visit Oronoque in the near future. You guys are the best. Not all couples are able to expect the perfect wedding and leave saying that it was even greater than ever imagined.

Zack and Michelle Gent

It’s hard to know where to start in expressing just how amazing both Liz Shaw and the rest of the staff at Oronoque Country Club were to us, and how immensely happy we were with how our wedding day turned out thanks to their hard work!! Liz was a pleasure to work with from Day 1 - we live out of state, and she was always very responsive to my emails and phone calls, and went out of her way to accommodate us whenever we did get up to CT and wanted to meet. She was not just extremely talented at what she does, but also a genuinely warm and caring person - she always made me feel like she truly cared about our wedding day being special, despite ours being just one of the many they do a year. Wedding weekend was when Liz and her staff really rose above and beyond what we could’ve ever hoped for in taking care of us and dealing with some rather major issues that arose. I’ll never forget the image from our rehearsal the night before of Liz taking her heels off and SPRINTING up the hill in her dress to grab zip ties from inside as we tried in vain to make our chuppah stand upright and in one piece. And on the day itself - the weather was threatening and it had started to drizzle, but she was never pushy about calling the ceremony, she was patient and gentle with us - in the end we did do it inside, and her staff pulled it together so beautifully in the ballroom, in such a short amount of time, that many of our guests never even knew that the setup indoors was our Plan B. We got SO MANY compliments from our guests about how delicious the food was, and how gorgeous the venue was - it was the best possible experience we could’ve had!!! You will not find anyone more genuinely engaged in your wedding day being exactly what you want it to be than Liz Shaw, nor a venue that provides such a high quality experience in every possible way - I would choose Liz and Oronoque a hundred times over, they were absolutely phenomenal :).

Liz is very easy to working with. She was very accommodating! Everything was amazing! She is the person you want when planning a wedding.

We had the most wonderful experience at Oronoque ever! Liz was fantastic! She was very professional, and very easy to work with! She was very patient with some of our last minute changes, and made us as the bride and groom and the entire wedding party, families and all guests feel at ease and were able to fully enjoy the evening!!!
We spoke with the band we had playing our wedding a few days after the wedding, and they too said Liz and the Oronoque staff were terrific!
We cannot say enough positive things of our experience at Oronoque!!! This club came highly recommended to us by a friend who had an event there, and I too have been singing its praises since!!

Loved everything! Everyone there was so helpful and amazing, especially Liz. Totally recommend Oronoque for everything! The food was amazing too! All of my guests are still raving about how good it all was :)

Liz, you and your whole team at Oronoque were just sensational. We cannot thank you enough for all that you did for us on our wedding day! Cannot rcommend Liz and the Oronoque team highly enough!

This was a great venue! Liz was awesome and she went over everything with us. She was able to do whatever we wanted. She helped us plan everything from the cocktail hour to the cake cutting.
You CANNOT bet the price either. Tax and tip are included in the per plate price but it is still very reasonable. Not to mention...the free cake from Luigi's!

You won't really find this venue in many of the magazines or on the websites but you HAVE to go give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

Liz made this venue absolutely amazing. She responded to every special request and panicked phone call or email with such calm and professionalism. She made me feel like there was nothing that they could not do for me. She set up the event in exactly the way I requested and even added some flair that I hadn't thought of but loved! She added her ideas where I needed some help and really made my day incredible. She handled the guests with a smile and such grace. I can't even explain how great Liz Shaw was to work with.

In addition to the outstanding service, the food was delicious. We were invited to a tasting so that we could make our meal selections. They offered an extremely affordable package that included cocktail hour, champagne toast, 4 entree options, an open bar, cake and a chocolate fountain. All of which tasted spectacular. I couldn't find a package like this for this price ANYWHERE else. The venue also had a lovely rustic feel with high wood beamed ceilings. I would do another event here in a second.

My Husband and I could not have been happier with the guidance and service provided to us by Oronoque country Club. Our wedding was fabulous, once we met Liz Shaw the event manager we knew this was our place. She could not have been more accommodating. We truly felt she really cared about our day and the attention to detail was terrific!

Oronoque Country Club, and more specifically Liz Shaw the coordinator, made our wedding the greatest and the most hassle free reception we could have ever dreamed of. The service was phenomenal, the food was spectacular, and the price was extremely reasonable. I would recommend this venue to anyone looking to have any kind of event with a large amount of people. All of our guests were beyond pleased - the staff at Oronoque helped create lasting happy memories of our wedding night. Thank you, Oronoque and Liz for all of your hard work :)

my wedding at Oronoque was absolutely amazing!! the food was delicious and staff were so helpful and friendly. Liz Shaw is the absolute best, she was so helpful throughout the whole process i could not have picked a better place.

Liz and OCC were AMAZING to work with. Liz was sooo accomodating and worked with whatever I wanted. I got so many compliments on the food as well as how nicely the room was decorated. If i could get married again their is no doubt in my mind that it would be at OCC!

They did a great job, they listen to me, they provide great services from start to finish.

Liz was amazing. My husband and I had such a wonderful wedding and it's largely because of Liz. She made sure everything ran smoothly, and had the most positive attitude! I'm just very thankful we were able to have her on our team.

My husband & i have been married for 20 years but never had a wedding. We decided on our 20 year anniversary i could have the wedding of my dreams. I called around to several venues & wasn't happy with what was being offered to me. My girlfriend told me about Oronoque Country Club. I called the next day & spoke with Liz Shaw who is in charge of weddings & events. By the time we hung up I knew that Oronoque was where my dream was about to come true. . I met with Liz & she provided me with many options of food,colors for the tables,centerpieces,& options on the location of my vow renewals. I booked my wedding,walked out of her office & cried...my dream was going to be a reality. Liz must have answered a hundred emails & phone calls from me during the next 8 months...always with the perfect answer. My wedding was on a beautiful day in Sept so I was able to do the ceremony outside on the golf course...while we were taking pictures my family & friends were enjoying a cocktail hour in a private area. They were then led into the reception area waiting for us to be announced. As I was dancing my 1st dance I looked around & was amazed on how beautiful it looked..the lighting, the colors, the chair covers..everything was PERFECT & beyond anything I could ever imagine. The food was cooked just right & the staff was extremely proffesional. Liz was on hand the entire time to make sure everything went smooth. I am so thankful to Liz Shaw & the entire staff of Oronoque Country Club for making my dream come true.
Pauline Edwards

This venue provided us with everything we needed. Our vision was made a reality. No detail was overlooked, the hostess and staff catered to every need. Thank you for making our day, even better than we could dream.

OCC was the perfect venue for our wedding; we had perfect weather and a fantastic day! The ceremony went well and the following cocktail hour was great. The food was delicious and everyone had plenty to eat and drink. My husband and I only had issue with a few small, nit picky things; our toasting flutes weren't on our table with champagne and we weren't told when our meals were delivered to our table. We also thought we would have been given the boxed meals of the few guests that didn't show. Those were a few small issues, but over all the day was as close to perfect as it could have been. I would recommend OCC without reservation!

Kate and everyone at Oronoque helped to make our day special and memorable. They helped to accommodate our requests, made sure everything ran smoothly, and made sure every detail was taken care of. The food was delicious and we had a number of our guests come up to us to tell us as well. We had our cocktail hour outside and it was beautiful with the landscaping and they were able to make a special signature cocktail for the guests which everyone loved. The room for our reception was great and all of our special details were set up just how we wanted them. The staff was very friendly and really took care of us that evening. Overall we had a fantastic experience having our wedding at Oronoque.

I feel the coordinator has a lot on her plate. The place is beautiful and the people who help prepare for the day are fantastic however the servers on the day of were not great and the coordinator did not stay the whole night to oversee her workers.

I want to document my unfortunate experience to hopefully steer others clear of this venue. Now if covid wasn't a factor maybe this all would have happened differently but in my experience businesses show their true colors during this time, good or bad. We (husband and I) had such an awful experience with Oronoque. We booked our wedding for 9/5/20 with Ashley who was the coordinator at the time, no problems there. Ashley left the company and we were transferred over to Stephanie which is where our problems began. In the beginning she was responsive to emails, phone calls- especially when those communications involved us making payments towards the wedding, but slowly she began drifting away and eventually it was impossible to get in touch with her. For a bride this is very stressful as there are certain questions you have that need answers in a timely manner like when can my hairdresser arrive to start getting my bridesmaids ready etc. Then covid hit. We hadn't heard anything about oronoque and would drive by and the parking lot was always packed. We would call and no one would ever call back so we assumed our wedding was still going to happen as they were definitely still open and accepting business, if not they would surely call us. June came around and I started to worry that we still hadn't heard anything. I decided to go on Instagram to connect with other brides from oronoque that the previous coordinator had introduced me to. The brides then informed me that oronoque had cancelled all weddings for 2020. And guess what! They "forgot" to tell us. Now being blindsided with this info we began again trying to contact Anyone, Someone at Oronoque who had information on this. In response we received a generic email, yes this is true and you will be refunded. But when will we be refunded? In the mail maybe around August. Now in panic mode- we started looking into other venues with availability, In order to move forward with another venue on such short notice we needed the money we had paid Oronoque for a deposit on another venue, which fell on deaf ears, This did not happen. August rolled around and still nothing. We would call and leave messages, emails etc. Finally we got so fed up my husband decided to just go there during the day and talk to SOMEONE. Finally he found the new coordinator who had been there the whole time! She claimed she didn't have a way to contact us and she needed a signature to refund our payments. (All of our contact info was on our contract as well as the numerous emails and phone messages left.) All in all I can say, steer clear of this place, the prices are good for a reason- it may be affordable but you get what you pay for in professionalism. I'm actually so happy things worked out and we didn't end up getting married here because I feel that it would have been such a stressful day and instead our day was stress-free. If you do pick oronoque keep in mind they can hold your money as long as they want to.. also you may think you are being responsible by making payments ahead of time. Do not do it! Make the minimum payments so you have the least amount of money tied up with them just in case! Also my advice, hire a wedding coordinator not affiliated with oronoque! What a shame such a beautiful affordable venue could treat couples so horribly!