If you are looking for some great ways to save money during the wedding planning process, look no further. Here are a couple of deals from some of our favorite local vendors.
Vibrant Table is offering two deals to new bookings. If you decide to use Vibrant Table as your caterer they will include a complimentary champagne toast or they will provide their Loft on Belmont for the rehearsal dinner.
One of our favorite Lake Oswego venues, The Foundry at Oswego Pointe, is currently offering a 20% discount for all remaining 2014 dates! Here's a photo from a wedding ceremony we did recently there:
If you haven't decided on your venue or caterer yet, make sure to keep these deals in mind! We're always finding out about more of these for our wedding clients, so bookmark us and check back soon; or contact us at [email protected].
For so many couples, the food is the THE most important part of the wedding celebration. I often hear from them: "The food HAS to be good"..."We like the Portland food scene and want to integrate it into our wedding"..."We want to give our guests a taste of Portland and the Pacific Northwest". Often, they already have a caterer in mind when they start their venue search, and are challenged when they keep running into venues that have strict exclusive lists.
That got me to thinking. What Portland wedding and event venues allow outside catering? Here are just a few. Know any others? Please share in the comments below!
The Eliot Center - The Eliot Center is the "fellowship hall" aspect of the downtown First Unitarian Church. Not only are they able to seat up to 160 in their conference center for a reception, the adjoining Historic Eliot Chapel can seat up to 250 in a beautiful, elegant chapel setting for a wedding ceremony. They allow self-catering, outside caterers, and alcohol service in accordance with their policies.
Multnomah Arts Center - Located in SW Portland just a few minutes from downtown, the MAC is a Portland Parks and Recreation community center venue with a large auditorium and stage for indoor wedding ceremonies that can be changed over to a reception during a cocktail hour. Mingle areas include a dance studio and an outdoor plaza, which can also be used for ceremonies. All rental rooms, including the auditorium stage, and bathrooms are ADA-accessible and air-conditioned. In addition, most spaces have free Wi-Fi access.
The Glenn and Viola Walters Arts and Cultural Center is near and dear to our hearts, as one of our favorite recent weddings just took place there. The site features a large auditorium for ceremony and reception, downstairs classrooms to use as changing areas, a ground-floor lobby and an upstairs art gallery where guests can mingle during a room changeover. The kitchen facility is well-appointed and convenient for self-catering or your own caterer. The outdoor plaza can also be used for ceremonies.
The Laurelhurst Club - A 100-year-old property adjoining Laurelhurst park in SE Portland, this venue features an historic ballroom, mezzanine bar, kitchen facilities, bride's and grooms rooms, and outdoor ceremony lawn.
NW Events & Environments - By far the largest open catering venue we have seen, NW Events & Environments can accommodate 650 in a banquet setting and over 1000 if using multiple rooms in a reception-style flow. They do not allow outside alcohol, and kitchen facilities may have limitations.
Thanks for reading - if you found this post about Portland wedding and event venues helpful, you might also like:
For the environmentally-aware bride and groom, finding a caterer who fits their expectations can be a challenge. Our friends at Crave Catering are concerned with sustainability and have provided a list of questions to ask a caterer when determining whether or not they will be the right fit for one's wedding. You can find this list here!
Even though Cinco de Mayo is a minor regional holiday in Mexico proper, its significance in the US is that of a major cultural celebration similar to St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, or Chinese Lunar New Year1.
Don't confuse Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, with Mexican Independence Day
(Sept. 16th), however. The 5th of May marks the anniversary of the
Battle of Puebla, where Mexican forces defeated French invaders seeking
to install a French emperor of Mexico.
What does any of this have
to do with Portland weddings? I just want to acknowledge the
all-important Mexican-American contribution to the summer wedding menu:
the Margarita. No matter what food is on the menu, a freshly-squeezed,
hand-shaken Margarita lends an easy festivity to any wedding.
In
honor of the holiday today, I thought I would share with you one of
my favorite Margarita recipes from Texas, as well as one of my favorite
variants, the Mexican Martini. For both recipes, all your juices should
be fresh-squeezed, and the tequila should be light or Silver. (I
recommend Herradura, Patrón, Yéyo, or 123 Tequilas.)
Macaron Day 2013 just passed, and it just reminded me how much I love these little cookies and how fun they are to offer at weddings. Whether they are used in a wedding cake, as wedding favors, or in guest welcome bags, macarons are a delightful little addition to a Portland wedding weekend. BONUS: Many versions of macarons are almond-based, and are often flourless or gluten-free. Check with your baker.
Food carts, onsite pizza ovens, Texas barbecue, "the guy who brings a giant paella pan to your house" -- the trend in wedding catering is to use interesting, untraditional caterers for your wedding or rehearsal dinner. It's wonderful to have so many choices, but what about you and your guests' expectations about what a caterer does? Here's a list of a few questions you must ask your caterer, especially if they don't bill themselves as a full-service caterer or one that specializes in weddings.
- Do you set up and take down ceremony chairs? What about the tables and chairs that guests will sit at to eat?
- Will you lay down the linens/tablecloths and/or set the table with silverware, napkins, and the glassware that we rent?
- Do your waiters bus the tables? (You'd be surprised how many caterers do not include picking up dirty dishes, taking them to a busing station, scraping and putting away -- as one of their duties. Especially if they did not rent or bring the dishes.)
- Do you remove the trash and recycling from the site? Do you recycle bottles and cans? What about liquid waste such as ice and unfinished drinks? (Venues don't appreciate these items being tossed in the bushes or on the lawn.)
- If you provide a bartender, is that person licensed and legal to serve at our wedding venue? Will that person be prepared to serve all of the drinks that we bring? (Now is a good time to let your bartender know if you were planning on having an appletini, mojito, or other specialized drink. I have had so-called bartenders show up who did not even know how to open champagne!)
The divide between what your caterer does and what you expect to have happen is called the service gap, and the time to figure out what resources you need to fill that gap is well before your wedding. Find out about wedding coordinators; waiter, bartender, and janitorial services EARLY, and what they can do to make sure that everything happens the way you envision.
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