The West End Ballroom Reviews
Reviews
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![Hannah]()
Hannah Sent on 01/12/2021Beautiful venue, professional and friendly staff
This venue is gorgeous! There are so many options for a wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception within the many spaces and rooms. The small side alley is super unique as well. Natalia, and Meagan on the catering side, have been very helpful, friendly, and communicative throughout our planning process and postponement. Our initial wedding date was June 2020, and Natalia made the shift to a new date extremely smooth. -
Liz Sent on 10/11/2020
Everything I hoped for!
The West End Ballroom was a fabulous venue for our January wedding. We wanted a wedding downtown Portland, with a warm and elegant feel and I could not have been more pleased with the venue and the staff! Natalia was fabulous and was very attentive and so easy to work with. Meagan with Pearl Catering was very organized and wonderful to work with as well. Her execution the day of the wedding was outstanding. The food and set up were phenomenal. Our guests were very complimentary and some said the best wedding food they have ever had. My family and I cannot be more grateful for their expertise and desire to make our wedding so special. It truly was “The best day ever”. Thank you West End Ballroom and Pearl Catering for being part of our Wedding Team!
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![Lindsay]()
Lindsay Sent on 10/02/2020Amazing historic venue with outstanding staff!
I am professional wedding photographer in Portland, and I LOVE shooting at the West End Ballroom. The historic building is photo worthy itself, but when you add a love story it becomes pure magic! I have been photographing at the West End for years, and it has truly transformed. While it has always been beautiful, the recent renovations have made this venue one of my favorite places to photograph weddings. There are so many options with this space to fit a variety of weddings, big to small. From the fireplace room, to the grand ballroom and back alley way, this is one of the most visually inspiring venues I have photographed in my career.
Aside from my love of the venue, the outstanding staff is what really makes the West End stand out. I have been privileged to work with Natalia Barwegen many times over the years and the experience is always memorable. She is the perfect balance between professional and FUN, which has put my couples at ease for their big day. I can’t recommend the West End Ballroom enough! -
![Brenda]()
Brenda Sent on 09/12/2020SO flexible and easy to work with
We unfortunately had to cancel our May 2020 wedding and change to a wedding celebration in June of 2021, but Natalia and Meagan have both been incredibly flexible with allowing us to change dates without any hassle at all. We have greatly appreciated them in making this switch as easy as possible and can't wait to celebrate at this gorgeous location! -
![Madeline]()
Madeline Sent on 03/03/2020Such a wonderful venue!
I just wanted to thank you again for all you did for our wedding. We had so many compliments about the venue and the service and everything that The West End provided. You guys were all beyond great and Logan and I can't thank you enough for making our day so memorable. And thank you so much for working so hard on the bridal suite! It was a perfect set up for the day and we had a blast getting ready in there! Thank you again for everything and making this planning process go so smoothly! -
![Noel]()
Noel Sent on 06/29/2019The West End Ballroom is so beautiful and unique
We had our wedding reception at the West End Ballroom on April 26th 2018 and it was amazing!!!. Working with Natalia was great!! She kept the lines of communication open so that we could have the wedding of our dreams. We used the bottom space as our cocktail hour and the upstairs ballroom as our reception area. The whole building was gorgeous and elegant we could not have asked for a more beautiful space. The included up lighting really set the ambiance and lit up marquee was so unique and charming. Natalia and the West End ballroom were flexible and willing to accommodate our ideas and make this wedding awesome. During the night of the wedding Natalia was present and attentive making sure everything went well. We are so grateful for the awesome wedding and the great experience we had. -
![Amy]()
Amy Sent on 12/19/2018Classic Meets Modern
I have had the pleasure to coordinate a Wedding at The West End Ballroom. Their team is extremely professional, detail oriented and efficient. The West End Ballroom is versatile, with a blend of classic Portland architecture, but can seamlessly transform into a modern wedding and event space. Its location is perfectly situated in the heart of Portland's vibrant downtown culture. With a marvelous staff, stunning space and amazing location, The West End Ballroom is a phenomenal choice. -
Matthew Sent on 10/14/2017From our initial tour of the venue through to our wedding day, Jennifer, Amber, and Lauren with West End Ballroom were nothing short of amazing. They guided my wife and I through every stage of the process, including connecting us with Susan at the Portland Clinic across the street to rent their lot for our guests, and we can't thank them enough for connecting us with our incredible caterers, Catering Beyond Borders, and Powers Photography Studios, easily the best photography studio in Portland!
The venue itself is stunning both inside and out, and, being a former movie theatre, suited both our guest count and our Bollywood theme perfectly. We had been committed to having our ceremony outdoors, only utilizing one of West End's two ballrooms for our reception but, after the confusing, convoluted nightmare of working with Portland Parks and Recreation and their long list of nonsensical rules and regulations, we opted to have our ceremony there, as well, and Lauren and her team were happy to accommodate us at no additional cost.
They were beyond kind, even going so far as to stay camped at the front door the whole evening to ensure no uninvited guests wandered in and helping us, our family, guests, and caterers clean up at the end of the evening. We couldn't have been happier with our experience at the West End Ballroom and thank them for hosting our wedding and making it even better than we could have imagined! -
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![Katie]()
Katie Sent on 11/18/2016I had my wedding here almost a month ago and let me tell you I am so happy I did. We originally weren’t looking to get married in downtown (we specifically tried to stay away thanks to parking and older guests who have problems with directions) but when we found this place all that went out the window. Not only is it pretty darn easy to get to, there are 3 different parking lots surrounding it as well as plenty of on street parking. Though the outside is semi unassuming, the ballroom is beautiful and the ceremony space (while kind of flat looking initially) is beautiful and full of potential. The alleyway is adorable and a nice place to have a quite cute moment with your new spouse and the side room is awesome if your bridal party needs to throw their stuff some place, plus there’s a tv in there so you could go or route and hook up a PS3 so you have an escape from all your guests if need be.
Lauren was our point person for the space and I cannot say enough wonderful things about her. Not only did she keep me on track when I kept forgetting payments or due dates for info, she was patient and sweet and a calming presence day of. When we got there and realized catering had forgotten a table she was totally chill about making sure it got put up. I never felt like there was something I couldn’t ask nor did I ever feel like I needed to push for things. Without Lauren I would have been a chicken without my head.
All in all, this venue wasn’t what we were looking for at all, but it was exactly what we needed and I couldn’t be happier we picked it. Definitely at least a look if you are planning a wedding! -
![Jessica]()
Jessica Sent on 11/06/2016Once we saw the West End Ballroom, we knew we had found our venue! Our wedding was 10/29/2016 and you never know what the weather may be like at the end of October so we loved that everything was inside as well as that the ceremony and reception space was in the same place. The venue has a very classy elegance by itself so it doesn’t need much decoration but it is also neutral enough that you could do whatever theme/decorations you wanted in the space.
Our venue coordinator Lauren was wonderful! She answered all my emails completely and in a very timely manner and always had suggestions if I was a little lost for some of our decisions.
Everything turned out perfect the day of the wedding and I can’t say thank you enough!!
The only downside to the venue is that it is not ADA accessible. Bonus though – we were able to rent out the parking lot across the street (the parking lot for the Portland Clinic) so that our guests did not have to worry about trying to park downtown Portland on a Saturday night.
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Leah Sent on 11/18/2017Our wedding at the West End was more beautiful than we could have ever imagaimed. From our first meeting to the dress rehearsal, the ladies at the West End were so helpful and responsive. They made sure we had everything we needed and responded to our endless emails in a very timely manner. The people and the venue are hands down amazing. We feel we made the best choice choosing the West End and our guests also thought very highly of the venue. The venue allows you to decorate it the way you want which makes every wedding there unique and special!
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![Elsa]()
Elsa Sent on 08/21/2021Wedding Venue
The West End Ballroom was the perfect size for our wedding - we had about 110 attendees. There was definitely room for more if you have a larger party, but with our size we were able to keep the dance floor open for the whole event, so there was no need to shuffle a bunch of tables and chairs around.
Natalia was professional and responsive when coordinating times to view the venue before the event and arranging the day-of coordination. My only complaint was something I learned about after the event: apparently a wedding from the previous night had left candle wax on the floor in the room where we were holding the ceremony. My aunt and the groomsmen were on their hands and knees scraping up candle wax so they could start decorating for my wedding. In theory, people who host events are supposed to clean up after themselves, and that did not happen in this case. Otherwise, the event went off without a hitch - they even offered to transport our wedding arch from the ceremony room to the upstairs ballroom for us. -
![Danielle]()
Danielle Sent on 11/11/2015We had our wedding at the West End Ballroom in September and it was a great space. We visited 12 wedding venues and researched another 12 looking for something that would fit our needs. What I loved most about the West End was the two ballrooms - no flipping the space. Our guests loved the alley way. For the price you can't beat the West End - two ballrooms, dedicated doorman, chairs for both the lower and upper ballroom and tables are all included in rental price. They also have 12 preferred caterers that you can select from - the most that we found at any venue. We rented the parking lot across the street for our guests so there was easy parking in the downtown setting. -
![PortlandBride]()
Caroline Sent on 07/09/2011I am so glad I chose West End Theatre as my reception venue. Its a fun space, and worked out really well. -
![Krista]()
Krista Sent on 02/04/2014We were married at West End, and overall it was a great venue. My husband really enjoyed the fact that it's a historical building and they have not made many changes from the old theater it once was. Lauren is a sweetheart, and was very prompt in getting back to us when we had a question.
There are a few things that we think they can work on, but overall with a newer venue there will be hiccups. It's a wedding, nothing will ever be 100%. Note to winter brides, make sure they have the fireplace turned on in time. We were married on the coldest day of the year in 2013, and only had two hours to heat the place. It was freezing, grandparents were sitting with blankets on their laps. If you choose to use an outside vendor, it's not recommended. You will have a pretty hefty charge to bring in someone not on the preferred list. Also, we were told you have the whole day to decorate, etc. A whole day doesn't really mean a whole day. It's an 8 hour period only, which to them I can see would be considered a whole work day. If you want to allow your vendors to come in the night before to set up, it was a very spendy charge for an hour, which we could not justify.
The only other thing we had a problem with was we didn't get to work with our coordinator Lauren. We had been working with her for almost a year, and were told on our final walk through the company was taking everyone on vacation the week of our wedding, and we would be in the hands of another person. We were pretty put off by that, and didn't like working with someone we hadn't built a relationship with. Our advice to the company would be to not take the whole staff on vacation when you know you have weddings that weekend. Maybe close the venue down for the time you will be gone. Then brides won't be left in a panic =)
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