Diamond Alumni Centre - Can't Get Much Better!

Where to begin? Let's see - how about WOW.

Simply put - our experience with the Diamond Alumni Centre was nothing short of amazing.

From the remarkable price, to the amazing food to the beautiful view and the courteous staff - there is nothing I can find fault with. Vivian Tan, the coordinator of the venue, was always quick to answer my (many) emails. Regardless of whether it was a year out or two weeks out from our wedding, she was there with an answer to my questions. She was flexible and accommodating, making time to see us when we popped in (on 3 different occasions) before the wedding, and allowing us to store our decor in the backroom the day before and the day after the wedding (as we were short on set up /strike down time)!

Let's see, what else....oh yes the FOOD! We decided to go with the buffet option rather than a seated dinner. Now I know when one hears buffet they worry that the food will be overcooked, dried out, and cold, but folks, I'm here to set you straight. Our buffet food was hot, moist, and taaaaaaaasty! I had more than one person comment on how delicious the food was, and although I didn't get a chance to try everything, I can tell you that what I did try was superb! The buffet option we went with was called Centennial Park and included choice of 4 reception style platters, choice of hors d'oeurves, fresh rolls, various types of salads, choice of 2 entrees, a chef attended carving station, potato, rice, and veggie sides, a dessert selection and of course coffee and tea to top the night off!

We really wanted an open bar at the wedding, but were a bit worried about breaking the bank budget with premium liquors and drinks. When we mentioned our concerns to Vivian, she encouraged us to choose the liquors covered by the host bar, and allow the guests to pay for anything above and beyond our choices. Also, we were able to limit the number of wine bottles served with dinner, and were NOT required to pay for any bottle left unopened. Again - such flexibility!

The staff were courteous and polite during our ceremony and reception. Any questions or concerns were answered right away. The evening manager allowed my parents to pick up the decor the next day (instead of trucking it all home at 1am in the morning), and the friendly bartender offered us a bottle of wine to take home to celebrate our first night as a married couple!

The room itself is beautiful even without any decor! The palette is neutral and works with most colour schemes. The main room is large and open with glass windows for a back wall, high wood-beamed ceilings, a cozy fireplace, a dance floor, two open air patios and a stately wooden bar. We had 65 people attend our wedding, so we decided to have both the ceremony and reception in the large main room, but if your wedding is larger, they have a second room downstairs where you can have the ceremony if you want everything in one location.

Originally, we were wondering how to add lighting to the wooden beams, but were thrilled to discover the twinkle lights already wrapped around each one! That saved us so much time, and created such a lovely glowing backdrop for pictures. And of course, the other gorgeous backdrop is the spectacular view of the north shore mountains all along the back of the venue. Honestly, if people weren't talking about how good the food was - they were commenting on how beautiful the location was!

As you can tell by my review - we were thrilled with our venue choice! Now I've been asked to list both the pro's and con's of the venue, and I think I've summed up the pro's rather nicely.

As far as cons go, there are really very few of them. Some may not even consider the following as "cons" as for the most part, they weren't deal breakers or anything. And they did not impact our wedding day one bit. But for the sake of being complete - I'll give you my short list:

1. Distance to location from Vancouver: If most of your guests are driving from Vancouver proper, it is a bit of a drive to get to the location. For those guests that wish to drink but don't have a designated driver, there is the option of taking a taxi (approximately $40.00 to central vancouver area) or transit (some of your guests may not want to be on the metro in their finery) or a combination of both. If it's within your budget, you may consider hiring a couple drivers and some vans to take your guests home at the end of the night. This con really was not a big deal to us. Our guests didn't complain about the distance of the location, and a shared cab between 4 guests really wasn't too costly.

2. Minimum spend for Saturday/Sunday booking. At the time that we booked the wedding, there was a minimum spend clause of 5000.00 on saturdays, and 4000.00 on sundays. But really, if you plan on having more than 80 people at your wedding, it shouldn't be an issue. If however, you plan on having a smaller wedding, it may be difficult to meet the minimum spend. Again - this really wasn't a huge con for us. We decided to go with a Friday night, and since most of our guests were from out of town, they planned on making at least a long weekend out of the event anyways. For local guests that had to work on friday, we had a 5pm ceremony, so most only needed to take off from work a few hours early.

3. Circular dinner tables. Originally, I liked the idea of using rectangular tables for the dinner, but unfortunately, there weren't enough to go around for the seating tables when combined with the buffet, gift, cake and guest book tables. We ended up going with the round dinner tables (seated 8 guests comfortably but could fit as many as 10) and in the end I was very happy with the results, so once again, this wasn't a huge con for us.

4. Linen Selection. The linens for the circular dinner tables were 90" squares - which means they don't drop all the way to the floor completely. The four tips of the square do, but the space between is about 2 feet off the ground. Also - they only have choice of white or black overlays. So if you want anything fancier - you may need to add linen rentals to your budget. I didn't like the idea of using white on white linens, along with white dishes. It just felt a bit too bland and cold for the style we were tring to achieve. But I didn't want to spend scads of money on linen rentals either. In the end we decided to have 90" square tablecloths made from burlap! Sounds weird right? It worked PERFECTLY! They added colour, and texture, and looked great as a backdrop to our centrepieces . AND they were only $5.75 per tablecloth to have them made! That's cheaper than renting tablecloths and we got to take them home after! Speaking of which.....aAnyone want to buy some burlap tablecloths? heh

5. Chairs - the chairs are comfortable to sit in, however the backs are black in colour while the padded areas are in neutral tones. At first I was worried they might detract from our overall look (oh no, black doesn't "go" with our woodsy, foresty, chartreuse/mango decor whatever will we do?!?). Seriously - they were fine. Sure we could have opted to rent chair covers, but once again, we didn't have the budget for it, and the covers we saw (during a pre-wedding visit), sat a little funny on the backs of the chairs; they weren't bad, but they weren't perfect either. I decided to let this one go - and I am so glad I did. Honestly - the only people noticing the non-matching chairs are you, and maaaaaybe a friend in the midst of planning her own wedding (so yeah - basically just YOU) ;)

Aaaaaaaaand that about sums it up! Anything else you want to know? Leave me a comment with your question and I'll be happy to answer 'em for ya!

Here are some of our professional photos that best capture the beauty of the DAC:

One step closer...

The coordinator from the DAC is sending us the paperwork for the venue contract. Our day is open, so as soon as we send back the signed paperwork with the deposit, it's ours.

I can not WAIT to finally have a set date.

Almost there....

*giggles*

Friday's child is loving and giving...

I generally don't put too much thought into the days of the week; other than counting how many are left until the weekend. However, after learning that our beloved venue has a minimum food spend of 5000.00 on saturdays and 4000.00 on sundays, you can bet I started giving more thought to the days of the week.

I've always felt that the optimal day for throwing big bashes is saturday. No rushing home from work to get ready before going out or having people over; a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep the morning of; plenty of time to prepare for the evenings festivities, and a whole day dedicated to recovery following the big event.

Thus, when planning our wedding, I was naturally inclined to choosing a SATURDAY. No need for guests to take an extra day off. Lots of time to prepare the venue. Rehearsal dinners on friday, and a full day of recovery on sunday (or a very hung over flight home).

Unfortunately, most brides tend to agree. Thus the idea of "minimum spends" was born. If your big bash can't step up to the plate, someone else (with a bigger bank account and a larger guestlist) is gonna steal your date!

Although 5000.00 seems like alot of money, if one has 100 guests, it's actually not a difficult number to meet. Even with 80 guests it's doable. But anything less and it starts to get dicey. And since 75% of our guest list is from out of town, it's hard to know how many will actually be able to come. I really hate the idea of adding random guests to our list just so we can make that minimum spend. And so it looks as though we'll be holding our big event on a friday night instead.

We'll most likely have the ceremony at 6pm, with a cocktail hour immeadiately following. Dinner at 7:30-8:00ish and reception from 9:30pm to 1:00am. Sounds reasonable right?

I really only have two concerns:

1. The timing might be a bit tight for those guests that are in town and working. Some might take the afternoon off but not everyone can afford that luxury. Plus it may coincide with "rush hour". Of course, Vancouver doesn't really know the meaning of "rush hour" but traffic is traffic, and nobody likes getting caught up in it!

2. Out of town guests will need to take at least one day off of work if not two. Although the wedding will be friday evening, I am guessing that some guests will want to fly in on the thursday instead of the friday morning. Again, not everyone has the luxury. Of course, since the wedding is friday night, those same guests have two whole days AFTER the wedding to enjoy all that vancouver has to offer.

In the end, it seems as though Friday is really our best option. We could go with a Sunday I suppose, as we'll most likely meet the 4000.00 minimum food spend. But I'm worried that people will leave early so they're ready for work or their flight the next morning. And those that are out of town will still have to take the Monday off work anyways. And friday nights just seem more glamourous and party like! Friday it is.

I realize the following poem is about the day of the week that a child is born on, but really now, why couldn't it be about the day of the week that two "children" decide to get married on? I mean, it says right there that Friday's child is loving and giving. Seems pretty fitting to me :)

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

I also discovered that I was actually born on a Friday. Coincidence? I think NOT! Then again, Patrick was born on a tuesday. Hmmmm. Oh wait, his parents were married on a friday! Yet another good reason for us to get married on a friday :)

What do y'all think? Friday work for you?

The ONE - aka the Diamond Alumni Centre!

After a couple of disappointing venue visits, I'll admit, my hopes of finding THE venue were a wee bit deflated. Happily, our trip to Queen's park seemed to turn our luck around. After discovering the lovely and affordable Centennial Lodge venue, we decided to try our luck with the venue gods one more time. So I made an appointment to take a peek at the Diamond Alumni Centre on SFU's burnaby campus.

I was a little concerned that it would resemble a university cafeteria rather than a wedding venue, but my concerns were completely unfounded. What a gorgeous venue with a gorgeous view and a gorgeous rental price. In a word, it was PERFECT!!

Tucked away on Burnaby Mountain, the Diamond Alumnic Centre (DAC) boasts a "panoramic view of sea and mountains" and a "dining experience like no other". We haven't had a chance to test their food, but if it's anything like the promised view, it will be nothing short of spectacular!
Upon first entering the venue, we literally walked down the stairs, across the room, and directly out onto the balcony; the view was that striking. The first words out of Patrick's mouth were "let's have the wedding here" and the first pictures he took are from the balcony :) The top two pictures above are looking left and right when standing on the balcony. Bottom left is the front entrance of the venue, and bottom right is the incredible view of the North Shore mountains.

They were busy setting up the room for a wedding, but the event coordinator, Vivian, told us to come right in and take a look around. After wandering around for a few minutes, Vivian gave us a bit of a tour and answered all my questions.
Sorry for the small size of the pictures; we took so many and the room is quite large, so it's easier to put them all together. As you can see, the style of the venue fits perfectly with our "outside in" theme. The combination of stone fireplace, wood beams, and full wall of windows provides the elegant, woodsy, organic, lush foliage feel we're going for.

Vivan showed us the room downstairs as well. I doubt we'll need this area, but it's included in the rental fee so we figured we'd better take a look.


And I saved the best for last; the rental fee for the room is only $320.00 for the day. That's right, I said 320.00!!! Of course, that price is with the discounted alumni rental fee, but even the full price of $850.00 is very reasonable for such a beautiful venue. The rental costs include the upper and lower rooms, tables, chairs, white linens, glasses, dishes, flatware, podium and microphone (have to bring in own sound system for dancing) and bartender(s).

As with any venue, there are a couple caveats. They aren't major issues and so we're prepared to deal with them considering how much we adore the venue.

Caveat # 1.
The room is large. I'm not talking warehouse large, but if we end up with only 50 guests, it may be feel a bit too roomy (more to come on the difficulties of estimating the number of guests a bit later). To counteract this concern, Vivian suggested we set up the ceremony/cocktail hour at one end of the room, and the reception/dinner/dancing at the other. Which seemed like a reasonable suggestion.

Now I know I said my preference is to have an outdoor ceremony, but it's hard to argue with a $320.00 rental fee for the entire wedding, never mind the relief of putting aside all weather related stress associated with having an outdoor ceremony on the we(s)t coast.

Caveat # 2
Can't bring in our own catering and booze (with exception of wine which is subject to an 8.00/bottle corkage fee). Normally, this would be a concern, but their catering menu is reasonably priced and very tasty looking. I'll report back on taste after attending their annual Christmas buffet in December.

Alcohol will be more expensive, but at least we can save a bit by bringing in less costly wines. And if they supply and serve the beverages, its one less thing I have to worry about during those last few weeks before the big day!

Caveat # 3.
The venue has a minimum spend (includes, rental fee, food, and non alcoholic beverages) of $5000.00 on saturday and $4000 on sunday. With such a large percentage of our guests flying in from out of town, it's hard to estimate our final attendance numbers. We'd need at least 70 guests to make the saturday minimum, and I'm not sure we can guarantee that many guests! Lucky for us, there isn't a minimum spend on fridays; which leads me to...

Caveat # 4.
The venue is only available from 3:30pm until 1am on fridays because they are open for lunch on weekdays. Thus, if we want to avoid worrying about meeting a minimum spend, we'd have to be comfortable with having our wedding on a friday evening. Something like: ceremony at 5pm, cocktails 5:30pm to 7:30pm, dinner 7:30pm to 9:30pm, dancing 9:30 to 1am. We actually prefer friday evening over a sunday, but will touch on that topic in the next post.

Caveat # 5.
Photo ops. SFU campus is a bit of a concrete jungle (as are many university campuses). Although a good photographer will find excellent photo opportunities no matter where they are, we may need to travel elsewhere for the specific photo ops I have in mind. If we have an evening wedding, we could have the photos taken before the ceremony thus wasting less time traveling, and spending more time celebrating with our guests.

Although there are 5 "caveats" listed above, none are "deal breakers" (at least in our eyes anyways). Add to that the amazing scenery and the equally amazing rental fee and well, we just can't go wrong!! So we're pretty sure this is the one. Of course, things can change, and since we can't actually book the venue for our 2009 date until the New Year, it's possible that we might find something else.

But I doubt it ;)

UPDATE: See my review of the Diamond Alumni Centre here!

Venue Three - Centennial Lodge

After traipsing around from island to island, we soon realized that the logistics of using an island venue for our wedding might be more headache than its worth! As such, we decided to try our luck a bit closer to home.

Which is how we found ourselves exploring Queen's Park in New Westminster on a beautiful Saturday morning this past October.

Centennial Lodge is in the northern corner of the park, overlooking McBride Blvd, across from the band shell and very close to Rainbow Playland! I wasn't sure what to expect before visiting the venue, as I hadn't heard or even read much about it; considering the very affordable rental costs, I was prepared for the worst. Which made my surprise at finding such a lovely venue, all the more sweet.


The lodge works very well with our "outside in" theme, with it's rustic beams in a deep chocolaty brown, and it's huge double fireplace made entirely of stone. The mountains can be seen peeking up behind the trees from the window and balcony view, and the park itself has many many picture opportunities.

Better yet, the cost for renting the facility for the entire day (from 11am until 1am) is only $667.00, and one can bring in their own caterer and booze! The ceremony can be performed in the same area with tables and chairs switched around before dinner. Or there is a lovely rose garden a little way down the path that can be rented for another $199.00 with chairs and staff setup or $95.00 without.


The rental fee for the lodge includes tables (round or rectangle) and chairs, a portable bar, and use of the kitchen for warming food. Decorating happens the morning of as the venue is usually booked out the night before - especially in the busy summer months.

There are only a couple drawbacks about this venue. The park itself is a "community park" and as such, is more than likely very busy during the summer months. It was fairly quiet when we were there, but it was the second weekend in October. Considering the proximity of the venue to the picnic pavillions, playland, petting zoo, and kids water park, I think it's safe to assume that the area will be teeming with dogs, children, parents, and tourists on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon in July.

Although the view of the mountains is present, it's hard to miss the much closer view of the traffic on McBride Blvd.

And finally, the ability to bring in one's own caterer and booze is a bit of a double edged sword; money can be saved, but with savings comes much planning. More vendors to meet and hire, more items to rent (linens, dish ware, and flatware,sound system), and more things to organize! More planning equals more stress. So it's a bit of a trade off!

Needless to say, we were pretty excited about this venue possibility. It met almost all of our wants, and it is very affordably priced. We were pretty much sold, until we went to visit the last venue on the list - The Diamond Alumni Centre at SFU. Stay tuned...for the one! Or at least we believe it's the one for now! heh

Next stop, Thetis Island: Overbury Farm Resort

In my search for the perfect venue, I came across a lovely lodge resort on one of the lesser known southern gulf islands. With a population of approximately 350 people, Thetis Island can be reached by ferry from Chemainus on Vancouver Island, or by seaplane. Entirely privately owned, with the exception of the public roads and a few miles of public shoreline, Thetis is mainly forested, with some farmlands, meadows and wetlands. Island life is relaxed, rural, peaceful and crime-free.

Overbury Farm Resort is a scenic 10 minute walk, or a quick 2 minute drive from the ferry terminal. A popular family resort in the summer, Overbury only rents the premises for weddings during the "off-season". Depending on the year, this generally means that the last two weekends in July, and the first 3 weekends in August are unavailable. Of course, this still leaves plenty of opportunities for a beautiful outdoor summer wedding.

We enjoyed a quiet night at Overbury Farm resort this past September; while doing so, we took some pictures and spent some time discussing wedding related business with the one of the owners: Arlene.
One of the fabulous things about booking your wedding at Overbury Farm Resort is that everything from the decor to the flowers to the cake to the food is included in the rental of the resort, allowing you to spend less time stressing over the details. Pictured to the right is a view of the back of the main house with all the beautiful gardens.

Rental costs include personal use of the grounds for the entire weekend, use of the glass enclosed pavillion for the reception (tables, chairs, stereo system, dance floor, and bar tender), catering (food, dishes, white linens, cutlery, and glasses), flowers, decor, ceremony set up, tent set up for cocktail hour, and use of the large room in the main house for bridal party preparation. We were quoted an approximate rental price of 6000.00 - a very reasonable price for all that's listed above! Of course, this was only an estimate. If one has grand ideas with regards to the decor or the type of flower, or a specialty menu, the price may alter accordingly.


It was love at first site when we took our first tour of the glass enclosed pavillion. Regardless of whether the doors are open or closed, one always feels close to the outdoors in this gorgeous reception area.






The floors are heated which provides warmth on a chilly night, and the doors can be left open to the cool breezes on a warm summer evening.






As you can see, the venue is quite large and could easily seat 100 people or more. With such a stunning view of the water and the vancouver island shoreline, and the high beamed ceilings of the pavillion, there really isn't much need for further accoutrement!



There were a couple settings for the ceremony, the most obvious being the back lawn with it's white arbour and healthy green grass. The other option was to have the vows on the beach.







There are two main items that are not included in the cost of the rental: alcohol, and accomodations. For most, the knowledge that one can buy and bring their own booze is an added bonus as this is a huge budget saver. Overbury has a "serving it right" certificate, so a bartender is included in the rental costs.

The accomodations range from 165.00 a night for 4 people (extra adult = 35.00 each) for the crescent point cottages, Dad's house, and the Batchelor's Quarters, and 100.00 a night for 4 people (extra adult = 25.00) for the summer cottages. Altogether they can accomdate 60 people overnight. If you plan on inviting more than 60 people, there are a number of B&B's on the island that can help house the rest of your guests.





The crescent point cottages are modern, clean, winterized, and self sufficient. They have a full kitchen with the necessary pots, pans, dishes, cutlery, and cooking items, a bathroom with shower and towels, wrap around deck, and BBQ. All four cottages are situated close together and make for a great gathering area for a rehearsal dinner on the friday night.






Dad's house also has a kitchen, and bathroom with shower. Although it's a bit more rustic in appearance, it's no less lacking in charm.







The summer cottages are definitely the most rustic out of the bunch.







They were very clean, and each had an enclosed porch with a double bed, which would make for a cool evening sleep on a hot summer's night.








No running water, and no electricity mean outhouses and a shared shower house for these four cottages.






Overbury Farm Resort is an outstanding setting for a wedding. The resort is a family owned, family run operation, and it's obvious they take great pride in all they have to offer. Their "all in one" pricing is very reasonable, and provided a stress free option for planning one's wedding. Arlene seemed very open to suggestions and ideas, and was happy to show us pictures of previous weddings, and letters from happy couples that had married at Overbury. Although we very much wanted this venue for our "dream weekend wedding extravaganza", there were a few things that just didn't work for us.

*With over 75% of our guests flying in from out of town, the logistics of getting everyone to the island, and placing everyone in appropriate cottages seemed a bit overwhelming. Making all these arrangements would most definitely add to the stress of wedding planning.

*Finding vendors such as photographers, hairstylists, and make-up artists who will travel to the venue might prove to be costly, or may limit our choices if we went with those nearby

*4 cottages without electriciy and water means 20 sleeping spots without electricity and water. On a normal cottage weekend, this probably wouldn't bother most of my friends and family, but on a wedding weekend, it seems a wee bit lacking.

*Relying on two different ferries to transport ourselves, our cars, our parents, the bridal party, the alcohol, the extra decor, the rehearsal food, the tuxes and gowns, and any other necessary items is not a good idea. Our trip back from Thetis island on sunday afternoon took 8 hours due to crazy line-ups at the departure bay terminal - and that was in September (we're planning our wedding for July)!

*The "all in one" rental price would seriously limit my personal invovlement in the decoration/flowers/party department. For most, this is probably a good thing; for a crafty DIY person like me, not so much!

*The peaceful island life lacks a bit of oomph! Again, with so many of our guests coming from out of town, we want a few more options for site seeing, recreation, and shopping. not that thetis island is devoid of any of these things, just somewhat lacking compared to vancouver or victoria.

And so we keep looking!

Venue one: Rivers Crossing Retreat

We began the search for our venue immediately after almost after becoming engaged. I'd always heard that once the venue is booked, everything else falls magically into place - hah! We'll see about that.

First stop - The Treehouse at Rivers Crossing Retreat

This is a new venue on vancouver island, situated in the Highlands, appoximately 15 minutes north west of downtown Victoria. It's a truly gorgeous area with great potential.

They currently have one main reception area called 'the treehouse' which holds approximately 60-70 guests for a sit down dinner. There is also a room on the second floor that could be used for a kids room, dance floor, cocktail hour, etc. They are also in the midst of building a second, slightly larger, reception venue with multi-tiered decks extending down to the amphitheatre, which is the perfect setting for an outdoor ceremony, and pictures. They were still working on the landscaping at the time of our visit, but again, there was tremendous potential there (photo courtesy of Rivers Crossing Retreat website)

Sandy, the event coordinator, was very pleasant and accommodating; she answered all of our questions, and seemed open to suggestions and requests. We were quoted $1200.00 for rental of the treehouse and amphitheatre for the day, which seemed very reasonable considering the beautiful setting and the future potential of the venue.

The inside of the treehouse is very warm and inviting. The wood floors and beams are made of trees from the property, and the decor has a slight tuscany
feel with rich colours of rust, gold, and sage. You can see the sound system to the left of the picture, and the lovely stone fireplace on the right. (Note: the kid's toys are not part of the decor, they are currently running a daycare out of the building during the week until the daycare centre is built).






You can see the kitchen through the pass through window in the pic on the left. Its also a good pic of the faux paint finish on the walls that gives it that hint of 'tuscany'.






These bench seats run all the way around the room and are a good representation of the colours used throughout the venue. Perfect for a fall wedding!




We didn't take any pictures of the outside (or so it seems after searching endlessly through our picture files) but it was definitely a beautiful setting, you'll just have to take my word on it. And as they complete the buildings and landscaping, it will only become more beautiful.

What worked for us:
*reasonable rental rates
*beautiful setting
*new venue
*friendly event coordinator
*beautiful setting
*caterer of our choice
*bring in our own booze

What didn't work for us:
*a bit far from downtown Victoria
*only one hotel nearby and very expensive
*no view of the mountains (lots of trees)
*venue was a bit too small for our liking
*booking on "potential" is a bit of a risk
*colours of treehouse don't work with our theme
*beast to choose vendors from victoria (which means many more ferry trips for us)

In our situation, the con's outweighed the pros, but I have no doubt that this venue will be the perfect spot for many happy couples out there.

Next venue: Overbury Farm Resort on Thetis Island

The great venue search of 2007.

It's a good thing we're not planning on getting hitched until the summer of 2009, because otherwise, the search for the "perfect" venue would be much less enjoyable and much more stressful.

We've looked at two different options so far, and while both had great potential, neither were quite right. We have very specific criteria, and a somewhat limited budget, which makes things slightly complicated, though not impossible.

Our dream venue is one that incorporates a lodge, cabin, or barn like setting with high wood beams, wood floors, and large open spaces; Rustic, but not too rustic, thus it works well with our outdoorsy, woodsy, organic, casual yet modern green and brown theme. There's an area nearby for an outdoor ceremony which incorporates mountains, lakes, and trees as the backdrop. The venue is easy for our guests to get to (75% are from out of town), and there are inexpensive rooms in the form of cabins or lodges for our guests to stay in. Once our guests have arrived, there is no need for them to go elsewhere as there will be much to see and do in the general vicinity.

Of course, there are dream criteria, and then there are realistic criteria. Realistically speaking...

We must have:
*ceremony and reception in same location
*area for outdoor ceremony
*personal choice of caterer
*option to bring in our own booze
*area for pictures nearby
*rental until 1am at earliest

We would like to have:
*lodge like feel
*view of moutains
*park or woodsy type setting
*colours that work with green and brown theme
*proximity to central vancouver
*venue booked with our party only

We do not want:
*banquet hall with crazy carpet
*old school 80's decor
*to have our ceremony inside
*to share our venue with other weddings

And all of this must fit within our budget (food/booze/venue under $5000)

It doesn't seem like a tall order to fill on paper, but the actual search has been somewhat disheartening. It seems like everything that falls into "dream venue" category is too expensive, or too far away. And many are too far outside the city limits. There are still a few left on our list of possibilities. And so, my plan is to discuss each venue; the pros, the cons, the costs, the pics, the good the bad and the ugly.

Stay tuned for the first venue we visited: Rivers Crossing Retreat on Vancouver Island.