Castaway Portland

nue. Like many couples, we sadly had our plans dashed due to the pandemic. Castaway's staff and management were incredibly helpful and supportive as the pandemic unfolded and completely supported our decision to cancel our reserved date and instead hold a small ceremony at home with immediate family. The Castaway venue is a special place and is managed by a group of dedicated people who care about making sure their clients have an incredible experience. I highly recommend it for any future events, large or small.

e and had all the answers!

elt crowded and had plenty of room to mingle and dance. The interior is already so beautiful, it doesn't need much decor which was great. The team at Castaway was so accommodating and easy to work with. Street parking for our guests was super easy, and there are tons of great places for photos around the area - we did our first look in the nursery next door and it was amazing. I'd highly recommend Castaway as a wedding venue!

nd met with us as many times as we needed to make sure all of the details were ironed out before the big day. There was a scheduling overlap with another wedding at Block House so we couldn’t take photos in the nursery at the time we wanted to originally, but Castaway was very helpful in making sure our timeline would work out and we could still take pictures there- one of the reasons I chose the venue! The nursery is gorgeous, but it is a separate business and you have to get permission to take photos there as well as pay a fee. That’s the only thing I wish I would have known more about beforehand! The Castaway staff was very helpful the day of the wedding. Everything was so beautiful and we had an amazing day! Our guests loved the venue. So happy we chose Castaway for the best day of our lives!

e flexible on the date and took our 2nd choice date in order to book the venue. The space has a ton of character with the paned windows, exposed beams, and string lights. Because we wanted a simple, romantic look, the additional décor that we needed to bring in was minimal. The space was a great size for our group, which ended up being just around 100 – we were able to have both the ceremony and reception setup in advance so that there was no need to flip the space and our guests were able to immediately move from one side of the room to the other for our cocktail hour. They have a preferred caterer list that you will need to choose from, otherwise you would have to pay an outside catering fee. They can recommend which caterers on the list may work based on your budget. The green room was a good size and comfortable space for our wedding party to get ready. Tables and chairs were included, which made our rental needs very simple and minimal. There is pretty open street parking around the venue for guests (you can rent a nearby lot if needed, but we didn’t need to) and we appreciated the small lot in the back patio area for our wedding party and family. Paige was very knowledgeable and ready with recommendations for us (especially regarding catering and floor plan), and responsive and available for questions. Early on, I had one conference call with her, we had an in person meeting, and she was onsite all afternoon to coordinate vendor setup along with our outside day-of coordinator. Because our wedding was in the low season (March 2019), the price point was a great fit with our budget. We had a wonderful time and would recommend Castaway as a beautiful, unique venue with a lot of character and charm!

e windows that let in lots of natural light. The back patio was the cherry on top as we were looking for an indoor/outdoor venue. We worked with Paige as we were planning our wedding, and she made wedding planning easy for us. At our first meeting, she was able to whip up a floor plan as we were talking and even altered it several times for us leading up to the wedding. She was such a pleasure and joy to work with and made the day seamless. The best part of Castaway - the outdoor space was the perfect place to surprise our guests with the Wedding Llamas! The blue wall is the perfect backdrop and we couldn't have imagined a more perfect wedding at Castaway.

outside. We did our cocktail hour outside on the patio which worked perfectly and fit our 200 guests easily. We went back inside for the reception where there was plenty of space for everyone but not too large to where there was a lot of open area. We didn't need to decorate much because the venue is so gorgeous already! We also rented the nursery next door for first look pictures and they turned out beautiful! We did the rest of our photos against the brick building next door which turned out perfect and we got to stand in the shade and not walk all over the place. It made photos super easy. Everyone at Castaway was really easy to work with (especially Emily) and let me come tour the venue multiple times. I live in Seattle and they made planning from afar really easy. We also had the wedding llamas come to our cocktail hour, after seeing pictures of them in the Castaway wedding book, which was a hit! Thank you for being so amazing!

ered all of my questions.

the knot!

our guests could walk from their hotels to the venue. The Castaway staff were great and made the entire process really smooth, easy and low stress.

if something went wrong, we didn't know about it because they were so on top of things. Though their preferred vendor list initially made us wary, it ended up pointing us towards some other amazing vendors that we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Along with all of that, the space is gorgeous and all of our photos are beautiful, even though it was pouring outside for much of the day. Get married here, they're great.

different plans for the space to figure out what would work best for our needs. We were very happy with our experience here.

pace. We toured multiple venues in the Portland metro area and chose Castaway based on its size, location, and the opportunity to have both an indoor/outdoor experience. You have some unique options when you book the venue, including renting the adjacent nursery for cocktail hour (bonus: tent is already there and included in rental price!) which is a great option given how unpredictable weather is in Portland. Huge windows, allowing for really pretty portraits, and a large "getting ready space" is included in the rental rate. My only gripes are that it's fairly pricey compared to other venues we toured, and the requirement to choose from a pre-selected list of caterers further limits your ability to be flexible with budget allocated towards venue/food (though the options are all great and reputable names). Thanks again for making our wedding so special!

closely, was extremely responsive and helpful. We really feel she went above and beyond in terms of answering questions and making herself and the space available to us at anytime. We utilized the new space, Block House, for our pre-wedding family and wedding party photos/hang out area. It was beautiful with a really pretty outdoor patio space. It also has a beautiful entrance between Pomarius Nursery and Versailles Gardens. Our ceremeny and cocktail hour were hosted in the 'back parking lot' which was completley transformed into a beautiful and spacious area. Our party moved inside for dinner and dancing, then back outside where our dessert food trucks pulled into the parking lot area. We ended the night back inside with a lot more dancing and late night activities. The inside of Castaway has a very industrial feel, but the space is open to create whatever you want. We loved that the openness and simplicity of the design allowed us to really dream up our wedding. Emily consistently guided us in the right direction and made sure that our ideas were in line with what she has seen work well. We will forever recommend Castaway and working with Emily/Sara on your event.

there is abundant parking, and there are so many rentals that come with the space. When we were looking for venues, so many open event spaces like Castaway added $$ for every little thing. Castaway charges for obvious stuff like adding the patio, adding the garden, etc, but for the most part what you see is what you get when you reserve Castaway. The cafe lights that hang in the building are so beautiful and provide just enough light for a great evening wedding ambience. The outdoor patio was a hit with my guests. It was great to be able to step outside to cool off after dancing. There's almost no end to the things you could do to customize the Castaway space, but we left it pretty bare. So happy we decided to get married at Castaway--it was simply perfect.

ghout the year that we were engaged regarding us meeting up with her, checking out the space for the 5th time or asking any questions. She was super helpful with recommendations, layout, and misc questions that come about. She was prompt with responses to emails and I felt that she was honest in every way (which I definitely didn’t get from every venue we looked at). The Castaway in itself is beautiful, industrial, parking is pretty easy, nice that it’s in the Pearl and close to downtown and hotels. You can dress it down or up and either way is elegant. A huge bonus for us was the rental included tables and chairs, which accommodated our wedding of around 200 people. Very pleased with our decision and would recommend it to anyone.

nd easily available. The venue holds 150-200 people comfortably. I give 4 stars because of the price (they charge to add items you would expect to be included) and they do not allow you to use an outside caterer without a large fee. Overall, I would recommend.

s super responsive, very helpful in communicating with the caterer when I ran into major frustrations with them and proactive in informing us of any changes in the venue. There was some construction going on at a property adjacent to Castaway and Emily was great about letting us know well in advance so that we could make some changes to the layout of how/where we wanted our cocktail hour on the patio. Emily was super flexible about allowing us to do walk-throughs with my parents, my husband’s parents, the caterer and our wedding coordinator on separate occasions. Why we chose Castaway: We were looking for a city venue that was handicap accessible and provided an indoor-outdoor option. We wanted to make sure that our guests didn’t have to drive or be transported too far from hotels or the church where we were married (St. Andrew’s at NE 8th and Alberta). We also have several family members in wheelchairs and it was important to us that they feel comfortable and not burdened with trying to navigate across lawn, gravel, etc. I really wanted our guests to be able to be outside on a beautiful Oregon summer night – the patio space allowed guests to enjoy the beautiful 80 degree weather. But we also knew that summer weather has been really unpredictable recently (crazy heat, rain, etc) and it gave us such peace of mind to know that our guests would be totally fine indoors if need be. The big beautiful windows still make you feel close to the outdoors! Many of the venues we looked at in the Portland area don’t have AC and we felt like this was a must if we were asking my husband’s 96 year old grandparents to come endure what could have been unbearably hot weather. Even in the 80 degree weather, many elderly guests went inside early to find their spot for dinner which was a great option for them. We had our cocktail hour on the patio in Versailles and dinner and dancing inside. I love the character of the space – the exposed beams, the beautiful old windows, the cement floor. The fact that the whole indoor space was open made it feel like there was plenty of room for our 260 guests to be seated or at the bar, at the buffet or mingling. I also loved that the space was a blank canvas for us to be able to add whatever color and décor details we wanted. At one point I looked up from the dance floor and just thought “everything looks so beautiful!” -- from the market lights hanging from the beams to the way the table linens, flowers and people added warmth and personality. We had about 20 kids at our wedding and it was fun for them to be able to go in and out from the patio to the indoor space. It was also nice for me to step outside and take a break from dancing to hang out with people after dinner. I had many friends plan weddings on outdoor property where everything had to be brought in – bathrooms, tents, tables, chairs, bar, etc. They ended up spending so much more money than we did because so much was included in the Castaway package. As much as its tempting to try have a wedding in the most picturesque view of Oregon’s forests, mountains or other natural beauty, its often so impractical. Once we decided to have a city wedding, Castaway was really perfect.

derful to work with. The space is truly beautiful and so simple to decorate. The only downsides: sound system was a bit of a struggle, we brought in our own since their's can't handle dance music volume, but then the AV system was a bit rough too. then, you have to pay for more than 12 hrs in the venue. It isn't feasible without a whole wedding setup team who won't attend the wedding, to get the reception set up done before an afternoon/early evening wedding. Things always go wrong and there is very little leeway to get things fixed in that amount of time. Caterers also like to be there a bit earlier in my experience. So adding a few hours to the package would be excellent.

a few months ahead of our wedding, we were stoked to see that it exactly matched everything we had seen online. No photoshopping or doctored pics as far as we could tell. A clean, modern, industrial space with an awesome garden area right next door. The full kitchen and greenroom kind of thing were great amenities that just gave us a few more options for our catering and bridal party. For our actual wedding and reception, there was plenty of space (restrooms, seating, etc.) for our ~100 guests and everything went as smoothly as we ever could have hoped for. I do not have one negative thing to say about the space or the people that put everything together for us. The staff of Castaway make the venue more than just a place to have a wedding. Emily took over for the previous coordinator and did not miss a beat with anything. She is a real professional that asked all the right questions and got everything perfectly aligned for us.

ided to do a destination wedding but we still had 150+ guests and needed a large enough venue to accommodate all of our friends and family which castaway is perfect for! Emily was great to work with and was very helpful with coordinating with our caterer. The venue has easy access for your venders to load and unload plus there's a very nice green room that can be used by the wedding party. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 for service only because two of my guests sunglasses were missing from the table and no one at the venue was willing to help them. Granted this may have been more of a catering staff issue but overall the venue is one that I would strongly recommend utilizing, especially if your going to have a large guest count.

(FYI-if you haven't started researching rental costs, this is one of the biggest). We had a ton of out of town guests, so this location was really fun for those people who were seeing Portland for the first time. Photos were also great with a mix of the Pearl District, Industrial, and the bridges in the background. I would highly recommend this venue!