Castaway Portland — Attraction in Portland

Castaway Portland was everything we were looking for in a reception venue and more. After a friend in the events industry recommended checking out venues by Cast + Co, we toured Blockhouse first, but with our guest count, we needed something a bit bigger. The moment we saw Castaway, we fell in love. The space felt modern, clean, and open, with that perfect industrial-chic aesthetic and beautiful natural light streaming in from every angle. Even the surrounding area was quiet and tidy, which made everything feel that much more elevated.

We only rented the indoor space, but we had full access to the balcony, and kept the large warehouse-style door open throughout the reception, a lovely touch that made the whole evening feel breezy.

Working with the Castaway team was a great experience from start to finish. We communicated most with Manda Valeri (General Manager) and Olivia Kline (Venue Coordinator), and both were professional, responsive, and incredibly helpful. Everything felt organized and stress-free. Our vendors had no trouble with setup or teardown, and my partner and I didn’t have to get involved at all. We just got to enjoy the day.

The layout of the space worked beautifully for our event. There were no awkward transitions or bottlenecks; dinner, dancing, and everything in between flowed naturally. Guests kept commenting on how smooth and drama-free the whole night felt.

Some standout features for us: the natural lighting (absolutely gorgeous), the tasteful up-lighting, and the live greenery included with the venue. These little design elements meant we didn’t have to over-decorate. The space already had so much personality. We also really appreciated having all-day access to the bridal suite. It was roomy enough for getting ready with my bridesmaids, peaceful when we needed a quick breather, and even cozy enough for our cat to hang out during the reception! One of my favorite memories is sneaking away with my husband to practice our first dance in that room right before we did it in front of our guests.

Honestly, I can’t think of a single drawback. Castaway was the perfect setting for our celebration — stylish, easy to work with, and full of thoughtful details. I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to any couple looking for a unique and polished venue...

We had our wedding at Castaway and working with Manda was horrible. The amount of additional rules that we weren’t told about upfront or were not listed in our contract was frustrating and made for a very stressful experience overall. All of their preferred caterers have astronomical prices for food and alcohol. If you opt to go outside of their caterer list you have to pay an additional fee that they won’t even state upfront what that dollar amount is. To this day I still don’t know for certain how they came up with the $1,500 for us using a different caterer, my assumption is 15% of the total venue cost but again it was never made clear as I thought it was supposed to be 14% of the price of our caterer. Additionally, we were told our mariachi couldn’t perform on the patio at the last minute because they have the blockhouse next door booked at the same time as our reception and they consider mariachi “amplified noise” even though they do not use mics or speakers of any kind. I could go on about the various ways working with Manda and Castaway was a nightmare but I’ll leave it with this. If you are happy to throw an unlimited amount of money at any issue they bring up, maybe this venue is right for you. But if you are money conscious and don’t want to throw money at whatever new request they have that wasn’t stated in the contract or from the beginning, avoid this place and find a place that wants to work with you and not against you on...

Castaway was the first venue we toured when looking for wedding venues, and it was love at first sight. We loved the openness and the ability to make the space our own and the large windows that let in lots of natural light. The back patio was the cherry on top as we were looking for an indoor/outdoor venue.

We worked with Paige as we were planning our wedding, and she made wedding planning easy for us. At our first meeting, she was able to whip up a floor plan as we were talking and even altered it several times for us leading up to the wedding. She was such a pleasure and joy to work with and made the day seamless.

The best part of Castaway - the outdoor space was the perfect place to surprise our guests with the Wedding Llamas! The blue wall is the perfect backdrop and we couldn't have imagined a more perfect wedding...