Popular wedding weekends start to book up 9 to 12 months prior to the event.  To check our availability, contact us with your desired date, location, expected guest range, length of reception, and a description of your desired menu and service style. Our top priority is for your event to be a success, so we recommend booking early as we are careful not to overbook our resources.

After the ceremony, typical wedding receptions start with an 45 minute to 90 minute passed hors d'oeuvre and beverage period. This time period allows guests to mingle and chat with distant friends and family. Often the bride and groom use this period for photos or to get away to a private space after the ceremony.  Meal service can range from a basic buffet to a family-style sit down dinner to a formal plated meal depending upon the feel you want for your event and your budget.  Other typical activities include formal toasts and speeches, cake cutting ceremony, and dancing. While there is a traditional order to these events, we are pleased to guide our brides and grooms to do it their way! Please note that there is never any cake cutting fee with Voila Catering!

After confirming our availability, we are pleased to schedule a complimentary consultation to understand your specific event desires, share our experiences, and then develop a custom proposal. You want your wedding to be special and unique, so all menus are custom designed by Executive Chef Tamara Kay for your event, location, theme, season, and budget. Unlike other catering companies, we do not limit your selection from a few standard menu choices. Because the details matter and we want your event to be surprise-free, Voilà Catering provides a multiple page spreadsheet detailing food quantities and portions, event schedule and staffing levels, breakdown of every rental item, and expected beverage costs.

Contact Voilà Catering at 503-806-6658 or e-mail to events@voila-catering.com to check availability and schedule a free consultation for your event.

Twenty-Three Important Questions to ask your caterer for your wedding:

What types of services do you provide?

Voilà Catering provides full service catering from a simple self-serve buffet to an on-site cooked, plated and served multiple-course meal with wine pairings. Your budget, party size, and event site greatly influence the services that would be most appropriate for your special occasion.  We are pleased to assist you in selecting the best menu and services for your event.

The basic level of service is Buffet Service. Guests take a plate from the beginning of the buffet and serve themselves from a selection of salads, hot entrees, sides, and breads. Our servers refresh the buffet as guests remove the food. Voilà Catering always provides detailed proposals assuring adequate portions sizes and quantities. As guests always want to sample all the delicious food offerings, we always recommend having enough portions of each item for every guest.  As this style of service required the fewest servers and is usually the most cost effective.

Very popular at family gatherings such as weddings, Family-Style service is a definite step up from Buffet Service.  Often the guests sit down to a plated salad or first course.  When complete, our service staff removes the salad plate and salad fork revealing the dinner plate. Our professional chefs plate each course on large china platters which are brought to the tables by our uniformed servers.  The serving platter with appropriate serving utensil is passed from guest to guest, each taking their desired amount of food.  If we are providing several courses, we recommend informing your guests of the coming courses with a menu card.  Family-style service encourages interaction at the table and keeps the guests all eating at the same pace together.  For medium and large events, Family style provides more elegance than a buffet at a cost less than a fully individually plated and served meal.

The ultimate in service, the individually Plated and served meal provides restaurant elegance at your event.  Each course is artfully and individually plated by our staff of chefs and served by uniformed professional servers.  The number of chefs and servers is determined by the complexity of the menu, the size of the event, and the level of luxury desired. In addition to delicious food, we can also makerecommendations for pairing wines with each course.

Voilà Catering is pleased to provide professional rental management, cocktail bartending, event management, site set-up, and site tear down services to ensure that your event is a success. If your event required heavy custodial or equipment moving services, we are please to contract those activities to an appropriate service.

How much do your services cost?

Your event cost will depend upon the number of guests, the length of your event, the cost of your food selection, the rentals required for your event site, and the beverages consumed by your guests.

Most catering companies charge about the same for rentals and hourly service wages. Food cost and quality varies greatly.

We believe that your gourmet menu does not have to be expensive just because it is served at a wedding. As an example, Suzanna and Michael's Family Style Menu, see below, cost under $18 per person for 100 guests:

• Plated Organic Wild Greens Salad with Blackberries, Candied Hazelnuts, Chevre Cheese and a fresh Thyme Vinaigrette
• First Course of Salmon Filet sauced with Tarragon Creme Fraiche and served with Sautéed Summer Green and Wax Beans
• Second Course of Apricot and Rosemary Glazed Pork Loin and served with Roasted Fennel and Red Potatoes
• Grand Central Breads and Fresh Butter

Laura and Ty's buffet menu at David Hill was under $17 per person for their 200 guest event:

• Organic Wild Greens with Fresh Grape halves, Bleu Cheese Crumbles and a Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Red Potato, Cherry Tomato, and Fresh Corn Salad with creamy Fresh Basil Dressing
• Asparagus Soba Noodle Salad
• Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Roasted Salmon Filet
• Blackberry Chicken Breast with Summer Fresh Oregon Marionberry
• Grand Central Breads and Fresh Butter

What type of food do you provide?

Voilà Catering can provide classic Continental/European, traditional American, Californian, Northwest, Asian, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Italian, Spanish, and Southern foods. All menus are custom prepared for you under the direction of Executive Chef Tamara and our professional chefs use only fresh seasonal ingredients to maximize food quality.

Voilà Catering does not use pre-made frozen appetizers, frozen soups, frozen lasagnas or tortellini, pre-made salad dressings or marinades, or packaged mixes. With no exceptions, all menu items are made from scratch in our commercial kitchen. Voilà Catering wants your wedding day to be special and unique. Voilà Catering is proud to offer gourmet alternatives to the typical fruit & cheese platters, veggie dip trays, and build-your-own sandwich stations which your guests will greatly appreciate.

Voilà Catering is not your average catering company. We know we can not meet every person's exact desires and accept that we may not be the perfect fit for every event. For quality resons, there are some foods and menus that are offered by other catering companies which do not meet our standards and we chose not to offer. In consideration of your wedding guests, we do not typically offer messy BBQs or meat choices that have difficult-to-eat-around bones. We do not offer pasta buffets at large events for quality resons. Without specialty cooking equipment it is impossible to keep the pasta from getting gummy. We are pleased to develop a menu around your desires which your guests will rave about for years!

As all menus are custom designed for your event, special dietary needs can be accommodated. Low fat, vegan, vegetarian, low cholesterol, sugar free, wheat-free, peanut-free and gluten-free menu ideas are available. If you have a few guests that have special needs, we would be pleased to provide alternative selections for them.

How and where do you prepare the food and how do you transport it?

"Its all about the Food!"

All our food preparation occurs at our licensed commercial kitchen. For optimal food quality, we usually cook your hot menu items at the event site with our portable commercial ovens and propane burners. Food that is just cooked is infinately better than food that has been holding in a warming container for hours. Regardless of cold or hot, all our food is transported in special insulated commercial containers for high quality and food safety. For buffets, hot foods are presented in hot water chafing dishes to maintain proper temperature.

We are very proud of our commercial kitchen and we encourage you to visit our kitchen and staff and see how and where your food will be prepared.  Call us to schedule a visit at our commercial kitchen!

How will the food be plated or displayed?  Do you have pictures of previous events?

As appearance is as important as taste, Voilà Catering has a variety of modern display serviceware for buffet service. Voilà Catering’s buffet service ware is always china, stainless steel, pottery, or other natural products…never plastic! At buffets to keep hot food hot, Voilà Catering always provides hot water chafing dishes at no extra charge.

Because your wedding is a special once-in-a-life event, Voilà Catering does not serve on paper plates or with plastic utensils.

Visit the Wedding Photos page, the Locations pages, and the Photo pages for pictures

Do you provide linens?

Voilà Catering will rent, deliver, set-up, tear-down, and return all needed linens.   All linens are guaranteed to match in color and be free from soil and runs.

Do you have a broad range of linen color selection?

Voilà Catering provides a selection of 42 standard linen colors plus many specialty fabric and pattered linens.

Do you supply glasses, plates, and silverware?

Voilà Catering will rent our own beer glasses, white wine glasses, red wine glasses, water glasses, elegant champagne flutes, china appetizer plates, china dinner plates, china dessert plates, and stainless steel flatware. If you are having a full bar or just a specialty cocktail, we can also provide cosmopolitan, rocks, martini, and high-ball glasses. In addition, our preferred rental company has a wide range of china patterns, glassware, flatware, and gold and silver-plated flatware that Voilà Catering can manage for your event.

Do you handle all rental equipment such as tables, chairs, decorations, and tents?

Voilà Catering owns many of our own chairs, tables, lighting, and other typical event rentals. Our rates are competitive with rental companies.

Voilà Catering can manage all aspects of rental equipment including delivery, set-up, clean-up and return. Voilà Catering does not markup the rental company's standard rates and does not require pre-payment for the rentals. Setup by the rental company is included in the cost of the dancefloor and canopy tents.

Who will be responsible for the servers and manage the event?

Voilà Catering provides a professional on-site manager who is responsible for all aspects of your event from pre-planning to clean-up. Voilà Catering provides all our own professional servers in our own crisp clean uniforms.

If you do not have an wedding coordinator, our Event Manager will be pleased to guide you and your guests through the reception and make sure your activities occur in you desired fashion.

Do you make arrangements for flowers and decorations?

Voilà Catering works with a few selected florists.  We would be pleased to share with you our expertise and make arrangements for flowers and other decorations using our preferred suppliers.

Do you provide the wedding cake?

Voilà Catering is not a bakery and does not provide wedding cakes. We have seen cakes from many different bakeries and Voilà Catering is pleased to recommend the best bakeries. Voilà Catering can also provide other desserts to compliment your cake and provide dessert alternatives for your guests.

Is there a cake-cutting fee?

Voilà Catering does not charge a fee cutting your wedding cake.

Do you provide beer, wine, champagne, and liquor?

Voilà Catering provides a full range of beverage services with professional licensed servers and the peace-of-mind of $1 Million in liability insurance.  Voilà Catering believes that beverages can be an integral part of a menu and will assist in selecting beverages that will compliment your food selection.

According to OLCC law and responsible business practices, Voilà Catering will only serve alcoholic beverages when substantial food and non-alcoholic beverages are available for the guests. Voilà Catering will require age verification for any guest who appears under 30 and will not serve to individuals who appear intoxicated.

Is it cheaper if we provide our own alcoholic beverages?

For large weddings and events, Voilà Catering is pleased to serve only our own alcoholic beverages for reasons of event quality and your own guests safety.

Voilà Catering purchases alcoholic beverages at the same prices as every other licensed store and re-seller in Oregon and we are competitive with most every other retail source. Our beverage offerings range from our own non-alcoholic iced tea infusions to innovative and elegant cocktails. Northwest wines sold based upon consumption start at only $9.75 per bottle and Northwest Microbeers at $2 per bottle consumed.  There is no minimum and beverage service includes pre-chilling beverages, ice, elegant display containers, and off-site recycling of empty containers.

Unlike buying the alcoholic beverages yourself, as you only pay for those that are consumed, you do not have to pay for the extra bottles that are left over at the end of the party. After doing hundreds of events, we can provide an fairly accurate estimate of your beverage cost before the event.

Do you charge a corkage fee if we provide our own champagne or wine?

Voilà Catering does not charge a corkage fee and would be pleased to open a special bottle at no charge.

How do we know what we will be getting for our money?

Voilà Catering will provide exact portion size information for each menu item and will breakdown our quotation for food, service, and rentals.  Voilà Catering will let you specify the portion sizes of your entrees so you know exactly how much food your guests will be getting. Our objective is for you to not have any unexpected surprises in any aspect of your event.

In our quotation, we will specify a cost per person for a range of guest attendance. Prior to a final count, if your attendance changes outside of that range, we will provide a new quotation.

Do you automatically add a gratuity and are there additional service charges?

Voilà Catering does not have a required or expected gratuity. We pay an above average wage to our professional staff and it is our standard expectation that the service at your event will be excellent.

Voilà Catering will provide a detailed proposal for your event with all the expected costs. We do not add on any "customary" service charges or fees.

If there is any breakage, damage, or missing items at the event by the guests, it will be charged at our cost. It is rare that there are any replacement fees.

Do you require a deposit and what is your payment policy?

Voilà Catering requires a $200 deposit to hold your date that is refundable up to three months before your date. Three months before the event, we request a non-refundable deposit of 25% of the anticipated cost. The balance of the cost is due the week before the start of the event.  To keep our prices reasonable for all, we accept only cash and checks.

When do you need a final attendance count?

Generally, a final count is only required two weeks before the event. If your menu requires exotic meats or other special order items, a final count may be required earlier.

Do you offer food tasting and references?

After narrowing your menu, Voilà Catering can prepare specific food items for tasting at our commercial kitchen. As all the food is made from scratch, we will have three to four hours of Chef preparation time to get ready for a tasting. To offset this cost, we charge between $75 and $150 for a tasting depending upon ingredients and menu items.

Voilà Catering also proudly operates Cafe Voilà at 901A SW Washington in downtown Portland. The Cafe features our everyday gourmet lunch food and can be tried at anytime. We are proud of our newspaper and magazine reviews on our Cafe Voilà page.

Please visit our References Page for detailed client feedback on our events.  Additional contact information can be made available upon request.

Will you pack a to-go box for the bride and groom?

With all the excitement of the reception, sometimes it is difficult for the bride and groom to relax and enjoy the food, so Voilà Catering is pleased to pack a special package of excess food for the newlyweds.

What will be done with the extra food?

At catered events there is undoubtedly some extra food, Voilà Catering allows the customer to take the extra food. We strongly recommend prompt refrigeration and appropriate storage of all food products taken from the event.

As part of our Company mission to be a responsible community member, Voilà Catering will also take extra food from your event to a local charity for donation whenever possible.

Why should I choose Voilà Catering?

• A Gourmet Custom Menu, designed just for You!

• Professional Reliable Event Management and Professional Uniformed Servers.

• No additional Charge for Rental Management.

• No Required or Expected Gratuity, No Cake Cutting Fees, No Corkage Fees.

• Wonderful Food and Service with No Surprises!

   

How do I contact Voilà Catering for my Special Day?

Please contact our Events Planner, by phone at 503-806-6658, our office at 503-788-5094, or by email at events@voila-catering.com.  We would be pleased to arrange a meeting at our commercial kitchen or at our Cafe Voila to discuss your event, propose some menu and service options, and help you plan your special day.