Mariner's Church Banquet Center

Priest: "How many people are you expecting?" Me: "We both have huge Catholic families -- we're inviting over 200." Priest: "You know, the folks at the Mariner's Center really do a nice job. I've been there for a number of large receptions. It's right in the Old Port." Me: "Oh that's so great to hear -- we've already booked with them!" Our reception at the Mariner's Center was fabulous. The Mariner's Center was not the first venue I looked at. I really made the rounds and comparison shopped in the beginning, but it was hands down the right choice for us. The dinner was excellent and brought up efficiently as possible -- no one left hungry. The space is incredibly versatile, as the photos on the Facebook page and home page will show you. (Also, have you seen how "in" teal is this year (2016)? I wasn't super excited for the teal at first, but I embraced it, and I was rewarded. We did pink flowers, silver candelabras with white tapers, navy napkins, white linens, and a few little teal/aqua/turquoise accents. It looked good, if I may be so bold as to say, but I’ve seen other color schemes in there look great, too). The price was right -- for 176 guests, full formal plated dinner (because the groom was anti-buffet), and a drink ticket redeemable for one drink (wine, beer, well or soda) in lieu of a party favor for all guests, the bill did not exceed $9,000. That price does not include cake or decorations, but does include service and linens. There were no sneaky fees (cake cutting fees, bottle opening fees, etc.). They were very transparent about costs. In addition, the Mariner's Center staff did a wonderful job. Sarah Campbell, the banquet manager is really sharp and gave me great advice about how to plan and what vendors to work with. Devin the assistant manager also a great job managing the day, and helping me with bustling my gown, bringing us snacks while we waited in the Billiard's Room downstairs before being announced, and making sure things moved along. Also, not to cast shade on any of other venues in Southern Maine, but not many venues in the area have the abundance of natural light that the Mariner's Center offers (not even some pricey ones, let alone the more affordable ones). The windows at the Mariner's Centers are huge and they are on 3/4 of the walls in the space. If you add some candles on the table (they allow open flames -- we had candelabras with three 12" tapers on each table), your pictures will look gorgeous. We married in late April and so we had great light until almost 8 PM, which was quitting time for our photographers. I could not have asked for a venue or better overall experience.

When searching for the perfect venue in Portland, we stumbled upon Mariner's Church Banquet Center by chance and were definitely not disappointed with our choice! From the initial phone call and meeting to the tasting and wedding day itself, Sarah was absolutely amazing to work with! Short of screwing anything into the walls, the venue really lets you make it your own and offers amazing suggestions for local vendors. Sarah was available every step of the way, including last minute damage control when I was freaking out about something :) We held our ceremony upstairs in the banquet center, moved into the pool hall for our cocktail hour while the upstairs was reset, then returned to the banquet center for our reception. Our guests (almost all out-of-state) appreciated not having to travel to different locations, and it allowed us to spend more time with them. The food was also delicious and it was convenient not to have to book a caterer too. Prices there were extremely reasonable and allowed us to stay right on budget. I would HIGHLY recommend Mariner's Church as a venue for your whole wedding day!

Sarah was AMAZING on the day of my wedding!!! Not only did she take care of me (met us at the limo, carried my things, got my flip flops before I could even get the words "I need to get my flip flops" out of my mouth, made sure we ATE, etc. etc.), but she also took great care of the guests (made sure everyone knew when to eat, and that they could go up multiple times since it was a heavy app/buffet). Sarah is SO on top of things, and she and her staff run like a well-oiled machine! Sarah can be somewhat difficult to get a hold of, but keep on her and be patient. She's worth it! Also, Sarah is super laid back. Sounds great unless you are an absolute stress case like me - Sarah sees the big picture, while I wanted to iron out little details (I'd never planned a wedding before, so I could have used a little bit more detailed direction with the reception planning). That being said, Sarah is very accommodating (she let us come in the day before to set up!!), and was super helpful with helping me plan the menu. A word of advice - if you are doing a heavy app reception, ask Sarah to use dinner plates, not little appetizer plates. I didn't foresee this, so I didn't think to ask. The venue itself is beautiful and super affordable! I'm know I'm forgetting stuff, but I would definitely recommend Sarah and Mariner's Church Banquet Center!!!! Thank you Sarah!!

We had an amazing wedding at Mariner's Church! Sarah, the coordinator was great! She answered every question in a timely manner. She had great suggestions and encourage anything out of the ordinary that we wanted to do. The huge windows that look out onto cobblestone streets was the perfect Old Port venue. Everyone loved the food and service!

The Mariner's Church provided the open concept that I was looking for, the city views and location that my fiancee requested and the ability to create our own custom menu, a must. Each piece of the menu, from lemonade at the bar to the range of colored napkins on the tables, was hand picked by my fiancee and myself. I loved decorating the sweeping ceilings and high arches over the dance floor and the city lights in the floor to ceiling windows lent a romantic backdrop to the night. The food was excellent, time to set up and wind down was flexible and we loved the venue.

The Mariner's Church was affordable, the food was delicious and the space itself was really nice. But we had a few issues with the service. Initially they lost our deposit check, they were very slow to respond to our phone and email inquiries (it once took them two weeks to call me back), they ordered us the wrong soup (still delicious though), and they tried charging me for something they weren't up front about. Overall they just seemed to be very unorganized. Our guests never new the difference, but it caused us quite a bit of undue stress. I would say that a laid back bride could handle having her reception at this venue, but if you want things perfect and organize and completely professional you may want to book elsewhere.