McMenamins Kennedy School

Great experience, beautiful venue, very helpful coordinator!

These people absolutely know what they are doing. I loved that so many random little items were available to us just because it is also a hotel and has so many bars/restaurants/weddings all the time. They even made a special lavender simple syrup just for our signature drink! No rental fee, just a food and beverage minimum. If you book far enough in advance, your guests can all stay right there on-site for a kind of "camp wedding" feel for the couple of days surrounding your event. Amanda was our coordinator and she was so helpful and amazing. Everything from your ceremony chairs to your choice of colored linens is included with the rental, which again is literally just a minimum food and beverage order for 12 hours of rent time and wait staff who do ALL of your setup. Such a wonderful space, really unique and charming as they brew beer onsite. We don't love Mcmemanin's beer, but we love that they preserve so many great Portland buildings and this one was especially fitting since I also work with children and husband and I met/dated in middle school :D I do wish we had our own bathroom, and that there had been more people working the bar. It took a VERY long time to get drinks, but we have a pretty party-friendly crowd. I've been to other weddings there where there was no wait time at all, so it depends on your group. The lighting during the day is a little bit too bright for the party atmosphere we had hoped for, but everyone drank their way through it and the sun set soon enough. Our wedding was in August and our ceremony was at 4:30, so if you have a wedding when it gets dark a bit earlier, you'll probably be happier. However, with how much we got for how little we spent, I was really happy!

My mother-in-law lives across the country and had to plan our rehearsal dinner in OR from AL. The Kennedy School was very good about working with her long-distance. We lived in Portland for 8 years before moving away and always enjoyed spending an evening in one of the several locations. The food is mediocre but the atmosphere is great. Overall we were very happy with the venue. It would have been nice to have the venue either for another hour or have the available reservation hours be more flexible. The great thing was that, once we had to leave the reserved room, we were able to move into one of the several bars in the Kennedy School to continue hanging out and partying.

We first overlooked Kennedy School because of the capacity cap (it was too small), we shopped around, discovered the pricetag associated with the size of the wedding we thought we wanted and quickly came back to McMenamin properties. They do require their onsite catering and bar, making planning easier. The room rental fee is also waived as long as a catering price point is met. Linens, reception table and chairs are included. Rentals for the outdoor ceremony space is seamless as they work closely with Interstate Rentals. The service from the initial walk through to the 'big day' was perfect. Our contact was quick to respond to emails and her suggestions were spot on. I could focus on my other vendors knowing my venue was well taken care of. I loved being able to be onsite getting ready with the ceremony and reception area just down the hall. I did a lot of DIY, but kept it simple because of the quirky and unique touches already in the room (so very mcmenamin). If I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing!