Portland Wedding Coordinator

{ Local Love } Deals & Discounts on Portland Wedding Venues

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.

Loft on Belmont - Vibrant Table

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:

The Foundry at Oswego Pointe

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].

 

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{ Local Love } Pearl District Party Location - Andina and Tupai

It's certianly not hard to love Andina, but many people are not aware that they offer a private dining option Tupai, as well.  This is a great location to be able to enjoy amazing food in a beautiful setting for your next event.

Tupai set for a seated reception

    "They offer a variety of rooms that would be great for bachelor/bachelorette dinners, showers, rehearsal dinners and receptions. Their dedicated special events team is committed to tailoring every aspect of each event, weaving together spectacular fare, extraordinary cocktails and an award-winning wine program, to ensure that every experience is memorable beyond compare. They offer a variety of menus and packages that will allow guests to take pleasure in the cuisine and hospitality for which Andina is renowned. Andina is also a great option for those looking to add a little destination element to an otherwise local wedding!"

Tupai is their largest event space, with room for up to 65 guests at a seated dinner and 100 guests for a standing cocktail reception.

"Tupai is located above Andina and offers a full bar and kitchen, mezzanine space for live music, natural light and wooden beams. The menu will feature Andina’s NovoAndean cuisine, which combines traditional flavors and ingredients native to Peru with a global reach that draws from Spanish, Japanese and Cantonese culinary influences. Dishes are prepared using modern technique and presented with finesse and flair. The full bar will deliver both Andina’s classic and NovoAndean cocktails – from the Pisco Sour and Caipirinha to the Sacsayhuamán and Margarita de Manzanita. Wines may be chosen from Andina’s award-winning list with the help of wine director Caryn Benke."

Wedding Reception at Tupai

If you haven't tried Andina yet make sure to go; and keep Tupai in mind for your next event!

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{ Local Love } Fun rehearsal dinners and small party venues in Portland

Today's installment of Local Love features the amazing Dayna McErlean's sister restaurants on NE Killingsworth - DOC and Yakuza. As different as different can be, DOC is an Italian kitchen with a changing set 4- or 5- course menu each night; while Yakuza is a Japanese-izakaya-influenced lounge.

What I love about each restaurant: DOC's homey, long-tables, family-style service that makes you feel as if you walked into your Italian grandmother's kitchen, even if you don't have an Italian grandmother. What the wedding planner in me loves is the reasonable, afforable rates for buying out the restaurant on a Friday night for a rehearsal dinner.

At Yakuza, I really enjoyed the Asian fusion menu items, including a Wasabi Martini and a Pear Jalapeno sushi roll, but what really wowed me was the secret hot tub in the backyard. I think it would be so fun to rent out the restaurant for an over-the-top bridesmaids luncheon or couples shower.

McErlean also owns The Colony St. Johns for weddings and larger events, and Dash Commercial Kitchen, so within her culinary empire you have lots of interesting choices.

 

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{ Working with Caterers } The Service Gap, or, "If I Didn't Bring It, I Won't Touch It"

Image by Jihan Abdalla Photography via WeddingChicks.com

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.

{ Sanity Saver } Don't have the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.

It's Friday night, and we are preparing for Becca and Ryan's wedding day tomorrow! They, on the other hand, are relaxing leisurely at their hotel the night before the wedding. How are they so un-stressed? One reason: they held their rehearsal dinner last night, rather than tonight.

The major advantage to this: giving yourself a free day the day before the wedding, rather than piling one big event after another. The major con? Not all of your wedding party may be able to take off work and make it into town a day early.

However, if your wedding party and family are flexible, you may love the idea of having your rehearsal dinner two days before, and making your "wedding-day-eve" a lot less hectic.

Hotel DeLuxe, chic Hollywood style

On Wednesday, we were so lucky to be invited over for lunch with Hillary, the catering manager at Hotel DeLuxe.  Long a Portland historic landmark as the Hotel Mallory, the hotel underwent a massive and stunningly beautiful renovation in 2006, transforming it into the elegant-chic venue we know today.  The pictures don't tell the whole story; the entire hotel just oozes with Old Hollywood glamour and romance.

The four event spaces, Gracie's (also a restaurant), The Screening Room, The Editing Room, and The Green Room offer a wide range of sizes for everything from a bridal luncheon or shower, to rehearsal dinner, to reception.  Anywhere from 15 people to 150!  They even will allow rental of "all space" so you can have a Screening Room ceremony, Gracie's for dinner, and back to the Screening Room for dancing. Just from walking the halls with Hillary, I found myself quoting classic movies like Casablanca and It's a Wonderful Life -- there's just something about the place that takes you to another time.

How to Create a Seating Chart « The Wedding Lens - Blog

How to Create a Seating Chart « The Wedding Lens - Blog.

Here's a blog post from our Twitter friends at The Wedding Lens that I always wanted to write!  I have additional thoughts about this topic, that I might send out in a special e-zine.  Of course, my mind goes more in the technical sense of how to actually do this in Excel, merge it to your cards, and that kind of thing.  But this post covers, and links to, some great thoughts about whether or not you should assign seats and whom to seat next to whom.

tupai at andina!

So right after our last post about rehearsal dinner ideas, we were lucky enough to wind up at Andina for the Oregon ABC monthly meeting.  This recent Restaurant of the Year winner (2005, Willamette Week) now has developed several private dining spaces and is ready for bridal luncheons, pre-wedding parties, rehearsal dinners, or even small weddings.  We were so charmed by the place we had to let you know about it.

fun rehearsal dinner ideas!

Yesterday we were lucky enough to host a little birthday get together (for Andrea of August Veils and Sara of Love, June!) at the newly renovated Grand Central Bowl on SE Morrison, and we must say, the new owners at Concept Entertainment have done a nice job renovating this facility.