I was looking for a good hotel to get married at. I know that sounds weird, but we wanted to find a place that was rather all-inclusive since I'd be planning this wedding from LA and that would be hard enough. I also know that typical Portland weather in October would not allow for an outdoor wedding.

Heard about The Nines, came and saw The Nines, and fell in love. The Tiffany blue that is included in the lot of the interior decorating happens to be my favorite and I was sold.

Planning the wedding was pretty easy. Since I was such a big fan of Urban Farmer, I knew the catering would be great and it did not disappoint. Most of our guests raved that it was the best food they'd ever had at a wedding, and some said it was the best food ever. The beef medallions were so tender you could cut them with a butter knife. Not bad, eh?

Kristina was our catering manager and she set up all of our catering orders, as well as the room and venue for the ceremony and reception. The only hiccup here was that about 15 minutes before our ceremony, there was a massage chair convention going on next to our ballroom and several guests got a glimpse of a large shirtless man while they filed into the ceremony area. Awesome. Had I witnessed this firsthand I would have FLIPPED. Luckily I was told about this later so the flipping out was postponed. Still working this part out with the management...

We had bocked off several rooms for our guests, as well as a junior suite for us. When we arrived at the hotel, the reservations were all screwed up, which included us not having a reservation for our suite. Again, almost flipped out here as well. I spent weeks working with the sales office making sure the right rooms were with the right people. They had me staying with my brother-in-law and even after I corrected this error with them prior to the wedding, I still arrived at the hotel and was still booked as staying with my brother-in-law, and even after correcting it then they sent a bottle of champagne to my brother in law's room to apologize for the mix up!

The staff told me that in addition to signing a contract for the rooms and providing my credit card information to reserve the rooms, I had to make a reservation. I'm not quite sure what that even means, considering you couldn't even book the suite online. Other guests were able to book their rooms using the contract, so I don't see what else I could have done. Alas, the staff worked it out and we got the room of our choice at the rate agreed upon in the contract for the nights we wanted. They were very apologetic and we appreciated that. Now, some of our other guests arrived and their rooms weren't available either. One of them travels more often than not and I'm sure he reserved the room for the proper number of nights. The staff was again apologetic and offered to put him up at the Benson for one night. They said everything would be taken care of with the Benson. When he arrived: no reservation. He had to walk around Portland at midnight in a town he was unfamiliar with and eventually stayed at the Westin. I wasn't happy about this either.

So, overall, this is a great hotel, but I'd double check and triple check your reservations, especially if it's for an important event. Print out your confirmation emails. My problems could have ben due to the fact that the hotel was totally booked that weekend but that's still not great. Again, the food was beyond amazing and our wedding was great.

We had our ceremony up on the rooftop terrace and reception in the ballroom. Food and service were wonderful.

The Nines is a gorgeous venue and just what we were looking for. The wait staff was slightly rude to a few of our guests who had brought flasks inside. The coordinator did not follow up with me after our reception and a few of my personal items went missing including the cake topper. I had to get up at 7am the next morning to go meet the manager on duty to claim my items. Organization fell through. Other than that, the food was incredible, and the atmosphere absolutely perfect. The front desk, restaurant staff, and bellman are wonderful.