If you are getting married in wine country near McMinville, Rogue is hands-down the best bar and…read morecatering option available.
I got married this past Saturday at the Evergreen Air & Space Museum and my guests (and husband) won't stop talking about how much they loved the food. I'd originally contacted a bunch of Portland-based catering companies who had tons of stellar reviews, but their quotes were totally absurd for what they were offering. I work in hospitality and have worked plenty of events, so I thought I'd had a reasonable budget for food and beverage -- but literally NO catering company came close. My reception was during peak July wedding season; they could afford to quote ludicrous prices because SOMEONE would eventually pay.
I finally got Rogue through my contact at the Falls/Evergreen Museum. Aside from actually quoting me a reasonable price, here are a few of the MANY other reasons Rogue is amazing:
- They're local to McMinville, so they know almost all the venues there and won't charge for gas/transportation like Portland-based companies
- Janet (the co-owner and my primary contact) responded to all my emails quickly and in a straightforward way. No form emails. No glossy sales pitch requiring a "consultation call" and time-wasting handoffs through a disorganized event contact. I was literally like, "Here's what I want, and here's my budget. Is this possible?" She responded, "Yeah, we can make that happen, let me send you a proposal/menus for that price point." I'd had calls with 5 other companies and not ONE of them would give me this straight up info. Leading up to the reception we had tons of emails about menu adjustments I wanted and stuff, and Janet was always really on top of it. She's also extremely practical, no-nonsense, and organized... Honestly, that's a rarity in the events industry, where event planners tend to be all charm but can't remember all the glorious promises they made you on the day of your event.
- I had a lot of specific things I needed for my menu due to some, ahem, "discerning" guests. I wanted some dishes pescatarian, some vegan, etc. And I personally wanted all of them to be local and sustainable. As an added difficulty, the Space Museum doesn't have any facilities for prep - or even running water. Everything had to be prepped and brought in from off-site. Janet handled all of those requests with aplomb. She even thought of things I hadn't. And everything tasted really, really good!
- On the day of the event, her team was super on top of everything. They were very professional and everything was set up on schedule. There isn't a single thing I could criticize about their execution. We even had some last-minute challenges on our end, like the wine we brought for them to serve wasn't chilled because someone on our end dropped the ball, but they were totally adaptable and made everything work.
Janet and her chef-husband also operate a restaurant called Subterra in the area, and they've been in the catering industry for a long time. They know what the heck they're doing!
If you're where I was this time last year, overhwelmed by catering options and wondering whether planning your own wedding was a tragic mistake and maybe you should just elope so you don't have to deal with the stress of it all, just TRUST ME... Get Rogue on board. Tell Janet what you want and what your budget is (she'll have no problem telling you if it's not feasible... and probably figure out something that IS feasible for you). You won't regret it and this will make everything way easier. I survived planning my wedding reception, and you can, too! Go get 'em, tiger bride-slash-groom!
