Maine

Experiences with Portland Reception Sites

I've lived in Portland for several years, but have never been to the following venues for a wedding reception.  Has anyone been to or had a wedding at the following places??  I'd love any feedback!  My fiance and I are looking at several places this weekend and would love to hear personal experiences!

Holiday Inn By the Bay
Mariners Church & Banquet Center
Italian Heritage

Also looking in to Blue Elephant Catering if we were to rent a space.

Thank you so much!!!

Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites

  • I've never been to a wedding at any of those places, but I have been to a reception for a conference I was attending at MC&BC.  I fell in love with the place...the food was great and the view was amazing.  We considered it for our reception but decided to go with Seasons Event and Conference Center instead. 

    My only worry about having it at Mariners Church was having a bunch of our guests leave our reception to go play pool instead. 
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  • ems27ems27 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    I considered all three of these venues.  I never visited Mariners because I fell in love with a different venue.

    My concerns with Holiday Inn and Italian Heritage:

    Holiday Inn- if you're not having a huge wedding (to use all the ballroom), there could be other events going on at the same time; I was worried about mix-ups with linens, etc, and noise from other events.  This could be totally moot point, but just my thoughts.

    Italian Heritage Center- they don't guarantee that yours will be the only even that day.  So if you have an evening wedding, they might have an afternoon wedding scheduled in there as well, so then you would have limited time to get family/friends in to help with setup, etc.  It was just an added stress I didn't really want, but probably isn't a huge concern if you're not as Type A as I am :-)

    Other places to consider:
    Dimillos, Portland Club (catered by Black Tie, a little pricier but very nice), Portland Masonic Temple, Harbours Edge (near the Comedy Connection), Regency Hotel (they have their own menu but it is GREAT value and super nice),  Ocean Gateway, Portland Company
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  • Thanks - all VERY helpful!  I actually was going to look at the Portland Masonic Temple, which is why I was curious about Blue Elephant Catering.

    If you don't mind me asking - what venue are you using?

  • ems27ems27 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maine_experiences-with-portland-reception-sites?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:98Discussion:7c12e584-de27-41b9-894f-830d66d13a37Post:fee33cae-66e7-43ef-9a3f-d7a168aa414f">Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites</a>:
    [QUOTE]Thanks - all VERY helpful!  I actually was going to look at the Portland Masonic Temple, which is why I was curious about Blue Elephant Catering. If you don't mind me asking - what venue are you using?
    Posted by Ketley30[/QUOTE]

    I went with Dunegrass Golf Club in OOB- I was looking between that and Landing at Pine Point, I wanted a venue with a stellar outdoor space for the cocktail hour if there was nice weather :-)  Landing was tres expensive, though, Dunegrass was reasonable for my budget.  I was really bummed that the Eastland is closed for renovations until at least next fall, that was my original choice since they had a great priced menu.

    What "feel" are you going for? I might be able to help narrow down the list of suggestions, I visited a couple and got lots of information from others :-)
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maine_experiences-with-portland-reception-sites?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:98Discussion:7c12e584-de27-41b9-894f-830d66d13a37Post:c363cd53-5266-4eb7-9453-dca54c268788">Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites : I went with Dunegrass Golf Club in OOB- I was looking between that and Landing at Pine Point, I wanted a venue with a stellar outdoor space for the cocktail hour if there was nice weather :-)  Landing was tres expensive, though, Dunegrass was reasonable for my budget.  I was really bummed that the Eastland is closed for renovations until at least next fall, that was my original choice since they had a great priced menu. What "feel" are you going for? I might be able to help narrow down the list of suggestions, I visited a couple and got lots of information from others :-)
    Posted by ems27[/QUOTE]

    We actually considered Dunegrass (and it's generally within our budget) and do love the idea of the indoor/outdoor set up, but aren't even going to see it because it's not ideal for our guest list.  My fiance's family and friends all live in PA & VA, so we'll have a lot of out of state guests.  With that in mind, we wanted something convenient for those coming from out of state - either by air or car, but also where they could experience Maine (shops, coast, food, etc) - which is why we've limited ourselves to Portland.  Anything on the midcoast would be too far and I'm not crazy about anything on the Southern Coast of Maine either.  We are looking at a couple places in Portsmouth too.  At the end of the day, we know our guests will have a good time, regardless of where we have the reception, but do want it to be a nice atmosphere as well.

    I really appreciate your help!!  Dunegrass will be a beautiful place!!
  • ems27ems27 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maine_experiences-with-portland-reception-sites?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:98Discussion:7c12e584-de27-41b9-894f-830d66d13a37Post:1899dd84-b3ec-45d4-b8f3-6d4f8385507f">Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: Experiences with Portland Reception Sites : We actually considered Dunegrass (and it's generally within our budget) and do love the idea of the indoor/outdoor set up, but aren't even going to see it because it's not ideal for our guest list.  My fiance's family and friends all live in PA & VA, so we'll have a lot of out of state guests.  With that in mind, we wanted something convenient for those coming from out of state - either by air or car, but also where they could experience Maine (shops, coast, food, etc) - which is why we've limited ourselves to Portland.  Anything on the midcoast would be too far and I'm not crazy about anything on the Southern Coast of Maine either.  We are looking at a couple places in Portsmouth too.  At the end of the day, we know our guests will have a good time, regardless of where we have the reception, but do want it to be a nice atmosphere as well. I really appreciate your help!!  Dunegrass will be a beautiful place!!
    Posted by Ketley30[/QUOTE]

    Thanks!

    Yeah we're arranging some transportation/setting up room blocks that have shuttles, since half our guest list is from the UK :-) But those who come are making a week out of it, so they can go do Maine-y things other days- plus the pier at OOB is right up the street.  I liked the big, light airy venue for us.  

    I'd say Portland Club/Regency/Masonic Temple have similar vibes, Mariners/Dimillos/Harbours Edge/Ocean Gateway are pretty similar, and then Portland Company is sort of on its own a bit. 

    Gorgeous but way expensive is Grace Restaurant... we would have done that and stayed in Portland if it was in budget! 
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  • We're having our reception at Mariner's and I know quite a few people who used it for theirs. Ive heard nothing but good things and the prices are VERY reasonable compared to a lot of others we looked at! 
  • We're going with the Marriott Sable Oaks.  Given that most of our guests are from out of town, we're able to get a deal with the Holiday Inn Express (the Marriott owns them) where we can get a reduced rate for them to stay.  We also looked at the MC&BC (my fiance and I actually met downstairs at the Old Port Tavern during a theology lecture - it was a weeknight and it was completely empty except for the people who were attending the lecture!) and really liked it, but were concerned about parking. 

  • Whichever works for you just stay away from Season event center next to howard johnson.  Had my wedding on 8/18  the reception told people there was no wedding there and since we were in church they started looking away from it and got lost since they were from out of town and anybody they called was not answering coz it was during service.  And also other details that did not go well with the planning. it sounds reasonable on the surface but it stresses you in the end for things being added for you last week to wedding and please do not do drink tickets
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