The Venue

Over the next few months, I will share my planning and decision making processes for different aspects of the wedding!

I am first going to start with the venue as that is one of the most important elements and is also one that needs to be decided as early as possible because popular venues are often booked one year in advance!

There are a few key questions you have to think about when selecting your venue:

1. What are some adjectives that describes your dream venue?
2. Approximately how many people are you inviting?
3. What is my budget? 

After you have come up with answers for the above, you can now start doing research!

If you are expecting a small wedding party (ie. under 20), I would highly recommend considering a destination wedding! There are potential cost savings if you pick a location where you could have both your wedding and honeymoon. K and I attended a wedding fair hosted by Romantic Planet Vacations which specialize in destination weddings. The fair was very informative and there were many vendors who attended. The admission was free and they also provided free snacks and prizes!

Initially, I was keen on picking Hatley Castle in Victoria as our wedding venue since it checked off all my boxes. I wanted a classic, romantic and vintage venue which was intimate (120 people), provides catering services and was under $20,000. When I visited this castle two years ago on a day tour, I already knew this was my dream venue! The wedding coordinator, Jennifer Smith, was also very friendly and informative during our interactions on the phone and at the site visit. Unfortunately, we decided not to go ahead with this venue because we realized it would cause too much inconvenience for our guests as they would have to figure out transportation and lodging in Victoria.

So….we were back to square one. There are not many venues in Vancouver that meet my criteria so that made my job slightly easier! There are many nice venues downtown but they were way above my budget. Many of them had minimum food spending which was equivalent to the budget for my ENTIRE wedding.

I figured it was impossible to find a single venue that would meet all my criteria so I decided to split the budget between two venues – a classic, romantic and vintage venue for my ceremony and a  reasonably priced venue with great food for the reception!

I knew the UBC Hycroft Manor was the closest thing I could find to Hatley Castle in Vancouver so this was my first choice for the ceremony. Half day rental for Hycroft is $3,500 (9 am to 1 pm on Saturday and Sundays or 3 pm to 7 pm for Sundays only) and $6,950 for full day rental (8 hours for Friday, Saturday and Sunday). I selected the half day rental as a full day exceeded my budget. Furthermore, the venue is a tight fit for the size of my reception. Rebekah, the coordinator at Hycroft, is very responsive and friendly! She took my mom and I for a one hour site visit which was done very thoroughly. Apparently, if you join their membership, you get a discount on the rental. Unfortunately I found out about it too late so make sure you look into it before booking!

For the reception, I narrowed down my list to the following:

1. Cecile Green Park House

 Pros: Reasonably priced, spacious, offers UBC alumni discount for rentals and can do lunch or dinner reception

Cons: Caterer was slow to reply with quote, food reviews are mediocre and set up time is limited as there are more than one event per day

2.  Burnaby Mountain Clubhouse

Pros: Free parking, free full day rental, and pricing is all inclusive ($85/person – even taxess and tips!)

Cons: Venue looks simplistic (much decor needed) and far from home

 

3.  River Rock Casino

Pros: Close to home, free full day rental, and awesome wedding packages (i.e. free night stay, breakfast buffet, valet parking for bridal party, free glass of house wine per person)

Cons: Venue looks simplistic (much decor needed) and limited scenic photo spots

4. SFU Diamond Alumni Center

Pros: Offers SFU alumni discount, rustic venue, beautiful view, wide variety of food options, and reasonable price

Cons: Paid parking and far from home

In the end, I picked SFU Diamond Alumni Center because the alumni discount really helped lower the overall cost and the Center has sentimental value to me as it reminds me of my University Days where we would always be there after class for CA recruit! The venue and its view are breathtaking which would help us save some time since we can also do our wedding photos there!

Don’t forget to put a deposit  down as soon as you have decided on the venue as the deposit helps secure your booking!