Gray Gables Estate

hey were able to have a taste of their menu and go over everything with Samantha before they left to go back to Boston. During the last year, they put everything in place with Samantha guiding them the entire way. The wedding day was gorgeous and the gardens were the perfect setting for the guests to wander in before the wedding. The ceremony was held outside and the reception in the stunning reception hall. EVERYTHING went like clockwork! They guys had a great time before the wedding in the groom's room and I visited the bride in the beautiful rooms in the old house. The buffet was delicious, so many of the guests commented on the great food, and especially the service of the staff. All we had to do was get ourselves ready - Samantha and her staff took care of everything else! We could not have imagined a more perfect day, beyond anything I was expecting - we just relaxed and enjoyed family and friends, just the way it should be! Thank you, Samantha and your staff, you are exceptional...

easons we loved Gray Gables for our wedding (1) Samantha, wedding coordinator extraordinaire. We planned our wedding in 4 months, and Sam was always ready and available to help and guide us. In short, she’s the worlds best wedding Sherpa. She worked seamlessly with our outside vendors and her in house team flawlessly executed the services GG offers. (2) The beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces. This natural beauty and landscaping, and classy indoor decor, was ideal for our weddings for two reasons. The first, we had a great indoor backup plan option for the ceremony in the case of rain (it’s Portland). Secondly, we only needed to provide minimal decor and some flowers to make it wedding ready. (3) The food was incredible. This is not only my opinion - this was the resounding opinion of all our our guests. We selected comfort foods (ravioli, chicken, mashed potatoes, fried mac and cheese) and through a combination of talent and magic, the chef and gray gables team made the presentation of comfort food beautiful and remarkable (I literally heard remarks about this).

with excellent service. The venue was so beautiful. I cannot wait to see the photographs from the wedding. You will not be disappointed with Grey Gables. I would give 10 stars if I could. The wedding was everything my daughter dreamed of.

my guests had a fabulous time.

to get ready in, beautiful grounds that are naturally set up with plenty of outdoor and indoor charm, and somewhere with a day of coordinator who helps you with the venue plan the whole way through. Jennifer was our point-person and we were thoroughly impressed with her willingness to answer all of our questions, her patience and understanding while wedding planning during a pandemic, and just being overall fun to work with! Gray Gables is the complete package. Catering is in house, which some may count as a negative, but the food was fantastic and they even worked with us on a custom menu. The bar is already set up on site so that was super easy. Forte Floral is next door and associated with Gray Gables which was another added bonus. Even with COVID throwing obstacles leading to the big day, on the day of our wedding everything turned out better than we could have hoped for. We are so happy we chose Gray Gables and had the opportunity to work with Jennifer. Highly recommended!

of our wedding day.

out to them to see what can be done. The Venue is not canceling or giving any refunds. They told me to wait six weeks before my wedding, which I can't do that as everyone is coming for another state and Country all 90 guests. During this pandemic, they are not even allowed to book any travel, so don't know how I'm going to have a Wedding that no one can come to. They wouldn't also let me postpone as an option. There was no act of God clause in the contract, so I still lose out. You would think they would want to work with their brides. I guess not. Don't book here; trust me on this. I've spoken with other local Venues, and they are letting their brides postpone some have even given them their deposits back.

f is amazing, the communication is great. I never had to worry about anything. Cannot recommend them enough!

GE). Besides swiping yes to my future husband, choosing GGE to be our spot was the best decision I could have made! The venue itself is breathtakingly gorgeous, serene and just beautiful. We wanted everything outdoors - and it worked magically. But - the very BEST thing about GGE was Samantha. She is the owner and wedding coordinator, and by the end of our wedding, I wanted to marry her instead! She was flawless in every step, she knew what myself and my bridal party needed before we even asked. She literally anticipated every single thing you could imagine. She facilitated all the rentals we would need, so that I only had to work with her. She suggested tons of great ideas which were all perfect. She was accommodating to my random requests (brought in baby goats!) and politely dealt with some unruly groomsmen during rehearsal. Day of wedding was so stress free for me, and all because of Sam! She wrangled the cake delivery, musicians arriving, DJ coming, GOATS!, photo booth, and allll the rental deliveries! I was able to relax with my girls in the awesome house and just enjoyed every minute of my day. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND CHOOSE GRAY GABLES ESTATE FOR YOUR WEDDING!!!

incredibly helpful. This review will cover 3 different pieces of what came with the venue: Samantha (and staff), the food, and the venue itself. Samantha & Staff: At our first venue visit, Samantha walked us through the property, (which is naturally gorgeous, by the way) and did an amazing job at explaining how the flowers and trees would look at the time of our wedding (nearly a year before the actual wedding date). This was the best "pitch" we had heard throughout our 10 different venue tours, and was a big selling point for us. Over the months after signing our contract, Samantha held wedding planning meetings with us every other month to keep us on track and to ensure that we had considered everything we needed. Samantha refers to herself as a day-of coordinator, but really, she did a lot of planning with us along the way. We, unfortunately, did not get to interact with the other staff members much throughout our wedding, however, we were receiving raving reviews from our guests all night of the servers and the bartenders. In fact, I'm still hearing about how wonderful everyone was. I also appreciated that the servers brought the passed appetizers over to the area where family photos were being taken (something I hadn't even thought to ask for, but greatly appreciated). The Food: Gray Gables requires you to use their in-house catering menu. The food here is ridiculously good - this isn't an exaggeration. We served beef short ribs and salmon to nearly 150 people via a buffet and not a single portion was dry or underseasoned. The chefs at Gray Gables really know what they're doing. In addition to the raving reviews we've received from our guests about the staff, the reviews have been even more complimentary to the food we chose for dinner and the appetizers during our cocktail hour. The Venue: We were initially floored by how gorgeous the venue was during our first tour. There was lots of greenery, flowers, and beautiful spaces for outdoor photos. The venue is also decorated with twinkle-lights which add a soft romantic vibe to the entire property. The lights are permanent fixtures and you are not charged extra for these. The groom's room is the best groom's room that we saw while touring venues. It's a separate house (not a coat closet) and even has a full-size pool table! The bridal suite was also stunning. It's in the main manor house and has a full bathroom, space for hair and makeup (with LOTS of natural lighting) and comfortable couches and chairs for the downtime before the ceremony. We held our reception in the ballroom, which is adorned with breathtaking crystal chandeliers. The venue is very flexible when it comes to softening the space with long, draped chiffon. We chose to have this hung along the back wall of the venue space and it was perfect. The venue also coordinates all linen rentals, which was super helpful for us. All in all, we were obsessed with our venue before the wedding, but we're even more obsessed after. Thank you SO much to the wonderful staff at Gray Gables for giving us our dream wedding day!

other than that everything was amazing and we can't think Gray gables enough for all they did for our amazing day!

day of seemed to go flawlessly. I recommend her and this venue times a million. Thank you so so much, Victoria and Cory September 2018.

also manages the day of-this place had it all! Even the grounds are so spectacular that I saved money on decorations (didn’t need them)... As a bride, I felt like once I got all my helpers working on set up, I was able to just focus on myself and enjoying my special day with my husband-to-be... I absolutely credit Gray Gables with providing everything we needed to enjoy the heck out of our special day. Professional, courteous, helpful-a class act all the way! Can’t thank Jennifer and Bryce enough...

was gorgeous! Jennifer is so easy to work with and amazing! I highly recommend this venue to any bride to be that wants a beautiful and elegant location for their perfect special day.

ill talking about how great the food was! Gray Gables was the perfect venue for our wedding.

st (Abernathy Center) cancelled on us via email (even though we had spoken with us over the phone) while we were already on the road. Now having 3 hours to kill we called Gray Gables to see if we could move our appointment up. Jennifer Agard was very sweet & flexible. She said she could meet us in 30 minutes. She gave us a tour of the venue which was gorgeous even covered in ice and snow. Jennifer gave us cool insights into the history of the venue and pointed out small details that she knew from having her own wedding there. (Like the fact that you can see guests arriving from the bridal getting ready room, but they can't see you.) We booked on the spot and it was best decision. Jennifer was so on top of everything, but still calm and collected. She was made for this job. She set the expectations for when we would need to meet again, and what details we needed to think about. Gray Gables does their own catering. The rate is pretty competitive for what we found in Portland, and the food is AMAZING! Our guests are still raving about the dinner we served. They rent all their own linens which was super convenient. They also coordinated our sparkler exit, and it was beautiful. Jennifer clearly knows what she's doing, she guided us when setting up the timeline of the wedding day and sure enough it went flawlessly. On our wedding day, she was right there guiding us from one thing to the next without being in the way or drawing any attention to herself. She was the invisible orchestrator that made the day seamless. On top of it all the venue is just absolutely gorgeous. It is conveniently located for guests staying in downtown Portland. It has an enchanting feel to it, and it made our wedding feel so intimate. The little lights in every bush and tree on the property just felt magical. You may end up paying a little more for this venue, but it's worth every penny for the beautiful venue, the amazing food, and the kind & competent staff.

any compliments from our guests about how good the service was and how stunning the venue itself was. With the elegant ballroom with its sparkly, crystal chandeliers and the garden with its lush greenery and twinkling lights, it was truly a fairy tale wedding, we couldn't have imagined anything more perfect.

wedding day went smoothly. The grounds are filled with a variety of photo opportunities. The food for our chosen buffet dinner was AMAZING! Finally all the vendors Sam helped us select were easy to work with and on point with my wedding vision. The day goes by so fast but Gray Gables makes sure you get to enjoy all of it. I'm a happy bride!

oom and bride to get ready. We worked with Samantha and she was so easy to work with, answered questions quickly and patiently, and was very professional. Our entire wedding process went smoothly and was even better than I envisioned it. Samantha worked hard the day of making sure everything was set up properly, looked nice, and made sure things were perfect for our special day. She went above and beyond our expectations. I highly recommend this venue!

t any hiccups. The staff was outstanding and quickly accommodated any need for any individual. I have only praise for Gray Gables Estate and absolutely no complaints. I would recommend this venue to any person looking to have a beautiful stress free wedding.

on their website but from my first communication with Gray Gables, I could tell their customer service and professionalism was lacking. I emailed back and forth a couple times with a nameless person and scheduled a Saturday morning appointment a month in advance. I then reached out a week or two later for some additional budgeting information and was asked to again book a visit. I was less than thrilled that they didn't know I had an appointment scheduled but took it as an opportunity to confirm our meeting day and time. I then flew from Raleigh, NC to Portland, OR to visit my finance's and my top three venue choices. On the day of our scheduled appointment we showed up to find no one at the venue. We walked around the grounds in the pouring down rain to try to find the person who we were certain had "just lost track of time and not stepped out to meet us", to no avail. My fiancé called and left a voicemail, as no one answered on an early Saturday morning. After waiting nearly 40 minutes, hoping someone would show up, we finally left. I received a call 36 hours later saying they didn't have the appointment on the calendar but would love to reschedule, but by that point I was headed back to the East Coast and would prefer to not waste any more of my time. Needless to say my experience with Gray Gables was excessively poor and very disappointing. We will obviously not be getting married here and from my experience, I would encourage you to look else where for a wedding venue in the Portland area!

polite and friendly service Sam provided to both myself and our guests was outstanding. I do not have a single complaint and I highly recommend Gray Gables and Samantha for your wedding needs. Thank you for a truly beautiful and memorable evening!