Seattle Weddings in July!?!

July 15, 2008 6:11 PM

Where to get married/have reception in Seattle? Please relate any good/bad wedding experiences in the area.

We're in our mid-twenties, looking for a relaxed, budget-minded, not-necessarily-traditional place to have our wedding & reception in July 2009. We're hoping to limit to about 100 guests, but could overflow to 150 or so.

The wedding and reception don't need to be in the same place, but we'd like them to be reasonably close to each other. We really want an outside wedding.

For the wedding, we've looked at places (and have really liked) such as:
Carkeek Park
Sunset Hill Viewpoint
Woodland Park Rose Garden (not "budget-minded")

For the reception, we're a little overwhelmed by the number of options and haven't gotten looking too much.

We're looking for feedback from anyone with more experience with this than us. Thanks!

posted by negative1 to society & culture (7 comments total)

I just attended my friend's wedding reception for 100-150 guests on the Skansonia. It's a converted old ferry (permanently) moored at the north end of Lake Union. It's a terrific venue. Their deck has a great view of the lake and downtown. Also, my friend claims that it was a bargain compared to the other places she looked at.
posted by mhum at 6:25 PM on July 15, 2008

My wife and I got married and had our reception at the Antheia Ballroom in Snohomish, which was lovely and charming (and cheaper than Seattle), but probably wouldn't work for an outside wedding.

We had our rehearsal dinner at Ray's Boathouse in Seattle, which was great (not "budget-minded"). Ron Storer Photography took excellent photos.

Our caterer was a little flaky in our initial meetings (we live in California and she spaced on a meeting we flew up to Seattle for), but the food was awesome and we had no problems at the reception.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:55 PM on July 15, 2008

I went to a very nice outdoor wedding at UW botanical gardens. I think it might have been here. I don't know if it was budget minded or not (someone was family of a UW employee so I think that might have helped).
posted by fieldtrip at 9:07 PM on July 15, 2008

I had my wedding reception on an Argosy cruise around Lake Washington and Lake Union. Took off from and returned to Kirkland. It was *awesome.* Great food, great people. I highly recommend cruises for wedding receptions.

Moreover, as I told everyone, boat rides have a beginning, a middle and an *end.* As in, after a sweet three- to four-hour party, the boat docks and everybody goes home. None of that lingering around wondering if you can leave. No one gets too drunk.

The trouble with boat rides? Children and folks with medical conditions, where a graceful-yet-hasty exit may be required; this is obviously impossible in mid-cruise.

But if your party is up for it, I highly recommend it.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:20 PM on July 15, 2008

I had my wedding reception on an Argosy cruise around Lake Washington and Lake Union. Took off from and returned to Kirkland. It was *awesome.* Great food, great people. I highly recommend cruises for wedding receptions.

Hey, Cool Papa Bell, my sister did the same thing. I actually enjoyed it. I think they also catered it. There is only one thing I do remember as a downside. (Other than the fact my sister gets motion sickness fairly easy.) For some reason, there was a lot of bugs. The boat actually anchors in the middle of Lake Washington to hold the reception. At that point, the bugs kind of hovered around a little while. But really it wasn't a worry while the boat cruised around, which was 95% of the time. Overall it was really nice.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:26 PM on July 15, 2008

We looked at some of the same places. I live near Sunset Hill Viewpoint, and despite what the parks department says I'm not sure it's big enough for a wedding - even one half the size. I do see people taking wedding pictures there (presumably driving there after the ceremony elsewhere).

We ended up having our 100-guest wedding at Meridian Park in Wallingford. There's a gazebo and a big open field where we had the ceremony, and a very large picnic shelter where we had the reception. (The shelter is big enough that the entire ceremony could be moved there in the event of rain.)

We also looked at Kubota Gardens, the amazing Japanese garden in South Seattle, which allows weddings up to 200 people.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the complete list of Seattle Parks wedding sites, with capacities and other info.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:53 AM on July 16, 2008

A couple of my good friends got married last year at the Robinswood House in Bellevue and it was quite nice.
posted by Nelsormensch at 6:41 AM on July 16, 2008