Seattle / Greater Washington Outdoor Wedding Venue
I got married to the love of my life this past June. It was such a beautiful day that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The planning journey was exciting and fun, but also stressful and arduous. I wanted to document the process I went through for our wedding in hopes that it’ll help anybody else when it comes to making wedding decisions.
When we first got engaged, there were a couple of things I knew we needed to sort out 1) Venue and 2) Wedding Date. We got engaged right before the pandemic (like literally right before Washington went on lockdown), and we postponed our wedding to 2022. We knew it would be important for us to find the right venue and then hope to find a good date since there would be tons of weddings that year.
When choosing a venue, we wanted to find something that was
Local
Close to the water or had a water feature
Outdoor
Innately beautiful, as in the venue is beautiful itself so you do not need to decorate
Easy guest parking
Good rain contingency plan (because Seattle, you never know when it’ll rain)
Late hours (we want to partayyy!)
Let’s talk about the six venues we toured! I’ll highlight the pros and cons we perceived about each location. The last two venues are indoor, city locations. This allowed us to compare the general vibe of an outdoor v. indoor venue. It was helpful touring those venues, because it helped cement to us that we wanted an outdoor wedding.
Venue List
Outdoor
I. Seattle Tennis Club
II. Rock Creek Gardens
III. Sanders Estate
IV. Woodmark Hotel
Indoor
V. The Foundry by Herban Feast
VI. Sodo Park by Herban Feast
*Disclaimer: We toured these venues summer of 2020. Therefore, venues may have changed policies, amenities, designs, and so forth. If you are interested in a wedding venue, it is best to reach out to the venue coordinator, ask questions, and schedule a tour!
O U T D O O R
Photo Credit: Catie Coyle Photography
Congrats to Mya and Ed! Photo Credit: Catie Coyle Photography
This is an example of how the tennis courts are prominent in the design landscape.
Pros:
Local
Venue is right next to Lake Washington
Pretty ceremony area on the lawn
Husband really enjoyed company event at the Seattle Tennis Club
Cons:
The tennis court is prominent as part of the landscape design. As the bride, your entrance will include photos of the tennis steel wire in the background.
No guest parking allowed in their parking lot. Their parking lot is reserved for tennis club members. Street parking is available, but street parking for 25+ guests will not be convenient in that neighborhood.
Only 2 bathroom stalls are available on the grass lawn. Unless you want guests to traverse all the way to the club’s restrooms, you will need to rent a bathroom for the grass lawn area if you have 50+ guests.
When walking from the grass lawn to the tennis club you will pass several tennis courts. You are asked to wait for them to finish play before walking by even if its on your wedding day.
Rain contingency plan is for you to conduct your wedding in their ballroom. The ballroom itself is okay. The rest of the club house looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 1970s. You can also rent a tent if you’d like to stay outdoors.
Overall, we didn’t like how this was going to be one of the most important days in our lives, but we felt like such an afterthought to the venue.
Photo Credit: Jerome Tso Photography
Photos taken by me during the venue tour.
Pros:
Gorgeous landscape and manicured greens (This place gives me wedding vibes!)
Tall trees that envelop the wedding venue that makes it feel secluded
Onsite house with getting ready areas for the wedding parties
Guest parking onsite
Cons:
Far. About an hour drive from Seattle.
Early closing hours, because venue is considered to be a part of the residential neighborhood.
Saturday weddings need to be finished by 11pm
Sunday weddings need to be finished by 10pm
These closing hours include clean up time, so Saturday weddings need to be finished by 10pm and Sunday weddings need to be finished by 9pm.
Pond feature means mosquitoes. I had a friend who attended a wedding at RCG and she got bit up!
Rain contingency plan is to get married under the tent where the reception will be held. Though that’s such a shame since the ceremony area is breathtaking!
Need to rent dance floors unless you’re okay with dancing on brick stones. I’m not trying to have people in heels die.
Bathroom next to the tent feels like a dressed up outhouse to me. Three stalls on women’s side.
Photo Credit: Rachel Howerton Photography
Pros:
Local
Pretty ceremony area that doesn’t require decorations
Onsite mansion can be used to get ready
Cons:
Everyone can feel differently about something. For my husband and I, when we visited this venue we both immediately felt like, “This ain’t it.” I feel like photos from Sanders Estate weddings are beautiful. But, it felt underwhelming when we were there.
We toured this venue during the height of the pandemic and vaccines weren’t available. We were informed they did not want to kill the fun and would not enforce the mask wearing policy.
Rain contingency plan is under the tent where the reception area is. Shame since the ceremony area is pretty.
Pond feature attracts mosquitoes
No A/C inside the mansion
Photo Credit: Sam and Sola Lee Photography
Photos taken by me during venue tour.
Pros:
Local
Ceremony and reception tent located right next to Lake Washington
Beautiful venue that doesn’t require much decorating
Ceremony and reception can be held outdoors under the tent, which means rain or shine you can do your ceremony outdoors! Tent has clear flaps to lower if weather is cold. Tent also features heating.
Woodmark boat ride available for the newlyweds
Hotel suite for the married couple at the end of the night
New catering service option allows guests to order dinner table side the night of the wedding
Clean, modern, and ample bathrooms. Women’s side had nine stalls.
There are two boardrooms designated for you and your wedding parties right next to the ceremony and reception area.
Plenty of onsite parking available for guests. Parking is free from 9pm-9am.
Cons:
Food and beverage catering must be conducted through the Woodmark. Some wiggle room with the wedding cake (must be from professional bakery) and late night food delivery.
Tent area is located right next to the sidewalk in front of Lake Washington, so you cannot control if people choose to stroll by. Hopefully, people will pay attention and not pass by during your ceremony.
A busy weekend, like July 4th weekend, could mean lots of foot and boat traffic. If you’re hoping to get photos by the dock there will be a lot of people walking through and boats parked at the dock.
The boardrooms/getting ready rooms are located right next to the parking garage entrance, bathroom, and library area. Therefore, if you’re trying to stay “hidden” before the ceremony, but need to use the restroom, you’ll cross paths with guests.
INDOOR
Photos taken by me during venue tour.
Pros:
Local
General ease of parking
Allowed to party until midnight
Pretty, ample, modern, and industrious venue
Spacious getting ready areas
Clean, modern bathrooms with four stalls
Venue coordinator seemed quite flexible and accommodating
Cons:
The ceremony venue is inside the building and it felt very dark. This made us concerned about how the wedding photos would turn out.
Very much a blank canvas. Needed a lot of $$ to decorate the place.
Parking located under the freeway. Concerned about safety with our guests leaving late at night.
Photos taken by me during venue tour.
Pros:
Local
General ease of parking
Rustic, farmhouse feel in the city
Cons:
No A/C. We wanted a summer wedding and would prefer not to melt.
Bathrooms were okay. Decently clean feeling. There were three stalls on the women’s side. Not a place you’d take a cute bathroom selfie.
In all the photos I saw of Sodo Park where I felt like the wedding looked beautiful and magical, there was a lot of curtain draping, floral, and greenery components added. In other words, $$ needed to decorate.