Since my wife and I opted to have an Indo-Western wedding, a celebration of not only our love of one another but of the Indian culture and their incredibly intricate, colorful, and joyous marriage ceremony and traditions, it was imperative to us both that we source the food for our reception from our favorite Portland area Indian restaurant: Swagath. With that in mind, our wonderful venue, West End Ballroom, directed us to one of their partners, Catering Beyond Borders, a full-service caterer that specialize in working with local ethnic restaurants.
We were not an overly-particular couple outside of ensuring that our guests have the very best food and drinks that we could provide; knowing good times tend to stem from that, not usually the from the quality or china of the fold of a knapkin. From our first meeting with Esther, Richard, and Michael, we knew immediately that their focus was similar to ours and that we'd found our catering partner. In time, we came to realize we'd found much more than that. Richard and Esther made developing our menu, choosing complimentary items, and catering to even our most stubborn, bland, and particular palates a complete breeze. They even met with us for dinner at another Indian restaurant partner of theirs to have us try some different variations of dishes we'd chosen and some of their favorites that we ultimately added to our menu. Michael, being a wine connoisseur like my wife and I and having previously run a wine shop, was a huge help in rounding out not only our wine and beer selections and directing us to the best local distributors, but refining our chosen His and Hers cocktails and making sure we didn't end up buying far too much of anything. We also have them to thank for connecting us with our florist, Red's Creations, who perfectly captured our vision for the ceremony and reception with his gorgeous arch, our Mala (garlands), and the centerpieces for our reception.
Esther, Richard, and Michael were amazing about working within our budget and money always seemed like the very last concern or topic during our meetings and communications. We were never once made to feel like customers and, over the months that we worked together to ensure all the details were correct, they ultimately ended up even closer to us than friends, feeling like extensions of our family. Embracing the three of them as the night came to a close was bittersweet, knowing we wouldn't see each other nearly as often, but we could feel their happiness and pride not just at having put together an event that exceeded even our wildest dreams, but at witnessing our union and seeing the two of us deliriously happy together. read more