Everett West

pe of wedding to plan) -- Artemis Catering offered a great tasting experience and an amazing buffet the day of the wedding! The star of this experience was the delicious food and professional catering staff more than the Everett West venue they own and Arden rentals they partner with!! The buffet worked out very well--tons of compliments regarding the food--chicken piccata and stuffed squash both amazingly delicious! Not ordinary wedding food!! Their venue Everett West--urban setting in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon were great accommodations for a wedding with a bridal suite and beautiful bathrooms! What was nice is with a space this size we were allowed extra time before the wedding to decorate (in exchange for not getting rehearsal time). We were able to hang a huge flower chandelier, spheres with candles from the ceiling and all the other usual wedding decor with time to breathe before the wedding! We appreciated this extra time. The only thing holding us from giving a 5 star review is how busy they were the month prior to our daughter's wedding--communication was slow which led to tension!! We did not get to do our rehearsal of the ceremony at the venue because they booked a trade show. We were charged shipping for a cake plate that their catering staff took and packed up by mistake and the rental company Arden was not communicating well the week before the wedding regarding delivery of the rentals. We ended up calling Arden- since Everett West was so busy- to check on rental delivery schedule thinking we would take a task off their list --Arden gave us an 8 am delivery which we thought was amazing but then got charged for the early delivery! Arden claims we requested a specific time--thus the $100 extra charge --total charge $350 when they are just a few miles away. Everything goes through Everett West usually however we had to schedule appointments with Arden--meet with them separately etc -- the all in one stop shop is a great idea but there are lots of up-charges and extra charges. Even drinks were the price you see at restaurants which we were not expecting at the proposal time but felt the food was amazing enough to overlook this! All in all--we let some things go and had a wonderful time! Almost perfect!

We loved that the food was local and seasonal. Really showed off NW flavors to our visiting East Coast family members. Finally Lauren was wonderful to work with. We had to move our date several times due to the pandemic and she was so flexible and gracious. From the beginning everything was well planned and laid out, and the wedding itself went flawlessly. I would hire them again and recommend them to anyone. -Susannah + Pat

hoping for too!! Incredible! The food was lovely and tasty and there was plenty of it. They were able to accommodate our gluten free groom and help us keep other guests with food restrictions happy and safe! The only disappointments were: the vegan quinoa dish we tried at the tasting was way different and less pleasing at the actual event, and I felt bad for our vegan guests that we didn't have the good entree for them that we thought we had. Also, despite asking beforehand and our wedding coordinator also communicating during the event that we would like the leftovers saved they were thrown away. There was so much food leftover after dinner at the reception and this was such an expensive meal that hearing we didn't get to take home the leftovers really broke our hearts. However, we know we couldn't have had such a nice day without the help of Artemis and staff and we wish them the best as they return to catering big events!!

there was outdoor space attached. I will say the worst thing that happened was that our main point of contact at Everett West from the time of booking and early planning to the time of solidifying and having the wedding changed. That cause a lot of confusion and stress around tasting availability and scheduling for the bar service, general what's allowed and what's not in the space, additional (unknown/ not discussed/not in our contract) fees that we had to negotiate, and rehearsal scheduling conflicts. The venue itself is in a central location right in the middle of the Pearl District which is #1 why we chose it. It made it entirely easy for us to invite family and friends from out of state, giving them a handful of great, new hotel options nearby, and then simply having them walk over to Everett for the wedding. #2, as mentioned, we chose this space due to its location but also because it had outdoor space, too. Because of this, we were able to host our ceremony in the Everett courtyard and the reception indoors. The space is ENTIRELY what you make of it (blank slate) for all your ideas to come alive which was really fun to plan and see on the day of the wedding. My advice would be to: 1. read every line of your contract, 2. build into your contract (if not already there) clear expectations as to when you can schedule your pre-wedding day walk-throughs to finalize details and to hold your rehearsal, 3. meet with the on-site point of contact to simply make sure you meet and have exchanged eye contact (know who to look for on your wedding night if you have any reason to). Also, a few things to note about this space: you don't need to secure city permits for vendors, there are loading and unloading zones available for vendors around the venue, don't get married outside if there will be rain (the tent doesn't photo beautifully and depending on your wedding size, the balance of seats may be off or "tilted" in photos), USE the dressing room (but see if the venue will take their storage out of the closet so you can put suits, wedding dresses, etc. in there), don't have 300 people at your wedding at this venue (they will say they can fit that many but you won't want that unless you're having an all standing event). OH, and lastly, bar service has to be through Artemis Catering. This was a little frustrating as we really wanted to use our food caterers. While the drinks turned out great by Artemis, the bar service itself was simply OK. Also, somehow we consumed 3 bottles of champagne even though it wasn't on the bar menu for guests.