Weddings At Casa Porteno

Not to be confused by Porteno Restaurant, Casa Porteno is a purpose built venue specifically for hosting events only. The restaurant, owned by the Porteno Group, is found on Holt St, Surry Hills. Porteno weddings are held at the Cleveland Street, Surry Hills address.

With its siganture American-Argentinian exterior architecture and stylist interior decor, this is a favourite Sydney wedding venue of ours.

Essential Information

Can we have our wedding ceremony here?

Yes. Whilst most couples choose to have their wedding ceremony elsewhere, Casa Porteno (otherwise known as Porteno Events) can accommodate an indoor wedding ceremony.

Can we have our wedding reception here?

Yes.

How many guests can Porteno cater for?

Main dining floor: 130 pax (banquet) or 180 pax (cocktail setting).

Upstairs bar: 50 pax (seated) or 150 pax (cocktail).

What is the exact address of Casa Porteno ?

Casa Porteno (where wedding ceremonies and receptions are held) is located at 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills NSW 2010.

Porteno Restaurant vs Casa Porteno: what's the difference?

For starters, the restaurant is at a different address (50 Holt Street, Surry Hills) while Casa Porteno is found along Cleveland Street. Porteno Restaurant serves lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sundays and has dinner service Tuesday through to Saturday.

Casa Porteno / Porteno Events is a private event space that is not open to the public. An event booking is required.

At one time, Casa Porteno was the former home to Porteno Restaurant - hence the confusion.

Does venue hire come with exclusive venue hire?

Both the main dining floor and the upstairs bar space may be booked individually, or together for exclusive use of the entire event space.

Is there a bar curfew?

The venue is licensed until 2am.

Is there on-site parking?

Not really. Like most Surry Hills venues, there is limited street parking available.

Porteno Weddings: A Wedding Stylists Perspective

There are two disctinct areas that you may hire for use: the first is the main dining floor (pictured aboe) and then there is the upstairs space (pictured below).

Depending on the size of your wedding, you may hire either space or both upstairs and downstairs areas for exclusive venue hire.

One of the features of Casa Porteno are the really high ceiling with glass panelled roof. What this does is fill the main dining floor with gorgeous natural light whilst creating a sense of depth and grandeur. At night time, the included fairy lights accentuates the already romantic vibe that the South American architecture and decor brings.

From experience, the upstairs space can be used as a dance floor or canapés area. Or even as a standalone bridal room. We can already picture you and your bridal party, chilling in this space with your very own whisky bar, delicious nibbes and private tunes. Or perhaps you can use the upstairs bar space as your 'getting ready' headquarters.

For the couple who wants to celebrate their special day in style, we've got you covered.

Imagine your designer wedding dress hanging on the wall with you and your bridesmaids getting pampered. Can you picture it? Or perhaps this could be the ideal spot for the groom and his groomsmen to get ready.

Either way, you'll get amazing memories from your wedding photographer due to the lighting and decor of the event space.

Here are a few quick ideas to help you build out your wedding day:

• In terms of reception layout, consider placing the bridal table on the elevatored platform with guest tables (round or long) in front an dbehind the arch wall. This way, you can have an raised view and see what's going on (although, you'll probably spend most of the night walking around and away from your seat).

• There is an option to have your wedding ceremony in the same space, however, this will limit the wedding styling as there is only 1-hour allowed for bump-in. Even if we hired a bigger team, the limited turnaround time would still be a bottleneck. For this reason, most couples choose to exchange their vows off-site and reserve Porteno Events as their reception venue.

• If you do decide to have your wedding ceremony at Porteno, it is best to keep guest numbers under 50 as there is limited space. The best spot to stand as you exchange vows will be where the small set of steps are. There is a false door built into the wall and this acts as a natural ceremony backdrop. Consider having a floral arch that outlines the silhoutte of the false door. Contrasting blooms and foliage against the cream colour wall is advised.

• The best way to utilise this small space underneath the glass ceiling is to use the short side of the room as the backdrop of your ceremony.

• Some wedding ceremonies take place on the elevated platform. In our opinion, this isn't a great use of the space as there is a railing that blocks the view and creates a sense that guests are sectioned off.

• Speaking of the railing, we recommend adding florals along the length of the railing as well as on the staircase.