Catering by Uptown

Where do I even begin?! From start to finish, Catering by Uptown and Anne Portell were absolutely amazing! My wedding day was so much more than I ever dreamed of-- in large part, because of Anne and her awesome team! I am so grateful for all of the hard work, professionalism, and amazing service, provided by Catering by Uptown, and of course, Anne! All of our guests are still talking about how awesome our food was. We couldn't be happier with the outcome of our wedding day.

-Taylor

I would use this company again. My planner and coordinator Shandra was super I recommend her to anyone using uptown catering

-Constance

Just had to share my dream wedding reception and amazing experience all thanks to the knowledgeable and caring staff of Catering by Uptown. We had our reception at the waterfront Anchor Inn.

From the planning process to the actual day of event everything was perfect.Anne was my day of coordinator and she was truly like a fairy Godmother. She made sure every aspect of our reception was perfect! She literally catered to my every need. The food was absolutely delicious. The wait staff was professional and attentive. Every guest commented at how professional and courteous they were. Our bartender was sweet, cheerful and fun! It was truly the perfect package.

I was pretty upset the week leading up to the wedding as the weather forecast called for rain all day and night the day of my wedding. I was so upset as I had dreamt about having beautiful photos on the pier. Anne assured me even if we did get bad weather we would still be able to get beautiful pictures as one deck is covered and she helped me see my day would still be perfect. We dropped off all of our supplies and Anne took care of making sure my mini pumpkin place settings were taken care of and looked fantastic (she went that extra mile and I am beyond touched). Luckily the day of it rained while we were at the church but stopped as soon as we got to the venue. When we arrived at the Anchor Inn, Anne was waiting there for me with a glass of wine and a hug, she told me I looked beautiful and reassured me that this night was going to be perfect. She made sure every guest was catered to as if they were royalty.

I don't have a single bad thing to say about Catering by Uptown or my venue, The Anchor Inn. It was truly a perfect day. day. I have and will continue to recommend Catering by Uptown and The Anchor Inn to any bride who is looking for their perfect venue with an all inclusive venue.

And be sure to ask for Anne, she will make you feel like a princess!
Thank you Anne, and everyone at CBU!

-Amanda

This company is AMAZING. They are a family own catering company that has many contracted venues throughout MD. They have so much versatility and customization that every wedding they do is different and special. They put the bride and her people first and have amazing service! They really care about your wishes and ideas and will help make anything on any budget possible. PICK THEM!!

Chesapeake Bay, but you can also hire them to cater any venue of your choosing. We chose Celebrations at the Bay before we realized that we would get Catering by Uptown along with it! Best decision we made for our wedding! The food tasting within itself took up an entire evening and included tasting all the hor d'oeuvres they made along with a dual entree to try. It was all extremely delicious, that wasn't even everything they had to offer! We received a big booklet containing every single option they had (we went with the filet and cake) and we and our guests were not disappointed! Everyone and I mean EVERYONE absolutely LOVED the food! To this day they keep talking about how amazing everything tasted.

They even have wedding coordinators who are on point! They helped to make sure our dream wedding come to life! Sandra was our coordinator, and she was AH-MAZING! I am a very particular person and was an extremely particular bride, I had a vision and Sandra helped bring it to life! She even hand-picked the staff so that our day would run as smoothly as possible. Thank you Catering by Uptown and Sandra for providing the best food and service that we could have asked for on our wedding day!

-Kendall

My husband and I were beyond impressed by the professionalism and attention to detail by the CBU staff the day of our wedding at Celebrations at the Bay. Even with some last minute changes (like a crazy thunderstorm in the middle of a planned outdoor ceremony!), Aimee our day-of coordinator was fantastic at keeping us both on the same page, and was both available and approachable the entire night. She even brought me and my maids some wine to calm my nerves, and made sure that my husband and I were well fed. Speaking of which, the food was absolutely delicious, the cake looked beautiful and tasted great, and the venue looked amazing and was set up exactly the way we had wanted. Thank you for making my wedding day the best day of my life!

-Rowena

These folks are the absolute best!!! They take the hassle of wedding planning out of your hands. I would say that they were worth every penny I paid because they made everything as seamless as possible for me, and that says a lot coming from me because I tend to stress out about the littlest of things.I just want to say thank you to Kristina, Sandra, and every member of the team for helping me make my wedding day an absolute success!

-Tolu

We had our wedding in the ballroom at Celebrations at the Bay on  and could not have been happier. The venue was beautiful, and we were able to enjoy the sunset over the Chesapeake as our backdrop. The food was excellent! Our guests are still raving about how beautiful the wedding was and how much fun they had.

Our day-of coordinator, Eileen, was wonderful to work with and made sure everything ran smoothly. She demonstrated meticulous attention to detail and even made sure the garden was cleaned up and looking beautiful at my mother's request. Our planner, Laney, was also very friendly and responsive and accommodated all of our requests. We attended a group tasting event and were a little disappointed that some of the food was overcooked, but Uptown reassured us by giving us a private tasting where everything was prepared perfectly. They also allowed us to make alterations to the standard menu items and provided specialized meals for our guests with severe dietary restrictions. We only wish it could have lasted longer, since we were all having such a great time!

-Elizabeth

Amazing. I emailed my contact person Laura probably every day towards the end and she responded right back. Every single day. Even Sundays! Which was what a detail-oriented crazy bride like me needed! Jeff was our day of contact person and he was great as well. He specifically brought our specialty drinks and appetizers out to us during pictures, which was fantastic because we would not have gotten to them otherwise. Plus we had great pictures with our warm cider! We got married at The Flag House and it was awesome. Close to everything in the city but you didn't feel like you were in the city! And everyone said it was the most unique venue. Highly highly recommended!

-Mary

We just had our ceremony and reception at Celebrations and it was perfect! Eileen was our coordinator and she was amazing. I didn't worry at all because she was on top of everything. She went above and beyond to help give us a perfect wedding. She was so helpful and even took all of our ceremony floral arrangements to decorate the reception space, making the most out of our beautiful flowers. The food was great and the venue was beautiful. We were lucky enough to have perfect weather, which gave us an amazing view of the water and sunset. I would definitely recommend Celebrations to anyone looking for a beautiful venue.

-Brittney

Catering by Uptown is fantastic. We had our wedding at Celebrations at the Bay, a beautiful place with lots of character and made photos stunning even on our rainy day. Food was raved about by our guests over and over. Everything came together and was just perfect because of our day of coordinator provided by them. Elisabeth, usually in sales, was wonderful when we met her for the food tasting and planning meeting. I was so comfortable with her I requested she be our day of coordinator. She got everything done for me and then some, made sure I was down the aisle on time, and made sure we even got to have some of the hor'oeuvres we had chosen. I didn't have to worry about a thing. Everything that could have been a problem was handled quickly and quietly. I highly recommend you choose them for your caterer and their venues are almost all-inclusive so it takes so much stress off the planning of your big day.

-Christina

Catering by Uptown was an amazing company to work with. They are very helpful, responsive, and I didn't have to worry about 1 single thing on my wedding day. They took care of our every need and made our ceremony and reception so beautiful.

-Laura

My husband and I had a great experience with Celebrations at the Bay and Uptown Catering.

Celebrations at the Bay is a great alternative to high priced DC venues. We reserved hotel blocks at Annapolis and provided shuttles to and from the venue. It worked out perfectly.

The ballroom is perfect for a small to medium sized wedding. The view, deck for ceremony, and windows in reception ballroom provide a lot of natural beauty, which decrease the need for decorations. And to that point, the venue provides a package service, which includes catering, booze, linens, table settings, pretty gold chairs, the basics for centerpieces, lights and lanterns, and lighting, etc. This package approach was perfect for our 6 month engagement as it consolidated a lot of the decision making process. The venue was also very helpful in keeping us at our budget, although we were flexible in making that happen (chose to get married on a Friday, which worked out great for us!)

They also provide a day of coordinator (mine, Bethany, was awesome!!) and before then are very communicative over email and phone. I never went more than a day or two without a response and I was a very active e-mailer. :)

The day of went perfectly. I had an issue with a late vendor and Bethany took the reigns on dealing with it and moving timing around to make everything work. And some little things I hadn't thought through, she had already thought of and covered or told me what I should do. The catering service and food were also perfect, lots of compliments on both. I never felt like I needed anything.

Overall, I highly recommend this venue and/or catering company, particularly for those wanting a package experience (with plenty of opportunity to customize) at a venue with a lot of natural beauty.

Thank you to Bethany, Celebrations, and Uptown for a great wedding experience!

Catering by Uptown was so Organized! I was a bit worried in the beginning because I wasn't given a direct person to work with. Instead it was a shared mailbox and phone number. This actually made it much better because I got responses to my questions much faster! They group was very organized and they had an extensive file for each wedding with details that were discussed. I felt very comfortable throughout the wedding planning process that they had everything under control and the day of the event went PERFECT! Everything from the food being amazing (I served dual entree with steak and crabcake which made it easy for invitations!). Everything was on time, from the appetizers, to salads, to main course and cake cutting. The Day-of planner kept everything moving through and I didn't have to worry about anything the day of except to have fun! I would recommend using Catering by Uptown and don't be afraid to ask questions to tailor for how you want your day to be/look/feel. They are very accommodating! I couldn't have asked for a better Catering Company who also acted as a wedding planner to ensure everything went smooth! Also, their baker is incredible! I went with their standard cake and had so many compliments!

I had my wedding at the Celebrations at the Bay location. The day was absolutely perfect! Literally, nothing went wrong. If it did, then the venue took care of it without me knowing because everything was great! Mary was my coordinator for the day and she was as nice as she was organized. I really didn't have to do anything but sip on wine, get dressed, and say I do. EVERYTHING WAS HANDLED FLAWLESSLY. I received constant comments about how amazing the crew was and that nothing was left undone and no one needed anything because the staff was ready and available.

I had my wedding reception at Celebrations at the Bay in March in the ballroom and I couldn't be any happier with how the way the day went. it was absolutely flawless. The room itself is gorgeous. It has huge windows that allow for amazing views of the bay. It was a little chilly on our wedding day but our guests still went out on the deck to capture the beauty of the water and the venue.

From the beginning, as soon as my husband and I stepped into the venue we were sold. We booked our date the day after we looked at the venue and from there on out everything went smoothly. We were given a website to help us plan which came in handy many times. The staff was very responsive and didn't leave any questions unanswered. A few weeks before our wedding reception we were put in touch with our coordinator Mary who was so helpful and super friendly. She was organized, fun, and kept us on schedule. The week of the wedding we left Mary with some of our decorations, favors, etc. and she set everything up better than I could have dreamed. When I walked into the room on the wedding day it looked like a fairytale. It was absolutely perfect! Mary made our wedding flawless!

As for the food, hands down the best food I have ever had at a wedding. We had guests during and even days after the wedding telling us how amazing the food was and how much better it was than any other event they had ever been to. Everyone especially loved the lobster bisque martinis. From the appetizers to the cake everything was so delicious. If you want the perfect wedding experience, I would highly recommend using Catering by Uptown. You and your guests will not be disappointed.

We just got married at Anchor Inn and I could not ask for a better day. The food was amazing, the service was perfect and our coordinator Eileen was so much more than I ever expected. Due to the weather, she went above and beyond and opened an additional venue for us for our first look (and took care of the wedding party very well) and made sure we were happy and having fun the whole night. She even packed up everything at the end of the night with some extra goodies for us to enjoy. She made sure the night went on without a hitch... it was absolutely perfect!

-Haley