I need an inexpensive place to get married in western WA?

Have you visited the state website yet? Access.wa.gov is the Washington state web portal, and from there you can find lots of great info on state parks, recreation facilities, and historical sites, many of which are capable of hosting large groups.

July is usually a lovely time of year here, so an outdoor wedding would probably work just fine. The only problem might be booking, since summer is the busiest time for most places. How set are you on a summer wedding?

I got married in October and saved a bundle because it was the "off season" for weddings. We invited 300+ people, had about 250 show up, and spent less than $5000 all together. We used artificial flowers which my attendants and I arranged with help from a family friend who does floral arranging as a hobby. We found photographers who were just starting out and trying to build a client base- got 2 photographers for 4 hours for $300. We had an afternoon wedding and served cake (made by a friend as a gift), punch, coffee, mints and nuts. The ingredients for the punch, and the nuts and mints were purchased at a discount club, saving us money.

We honeymooned in Westport, WA, and got a darling romantic beach cabin for $500 for the week because it was the off-season. The weather was nice enough to go out to the beach if we wanted (Washington beaches in the fall are stormy and gorgeous) but chilly enough that we didn't feel we were missing anything if we *ahem* stayed in all day. The locals were glad to see some new faces, too, rather than being all pissy about the tourist invasion.

Good luck!

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RE:

I need an inexpensive place to get married in western WA?

I need it to be a larger venue with room to hold 300-400 people. I prefer outdoors but a chapel would also be great. If you have any other wedding tips I would appreciate all the help I can get. Its planned for 07/07/07.

Just remember that while a place and a wedding can be affordable, it shouldn't be 'cheap'. With that many guests, you'll have to work EXTRA hard to ensure that they are actually treated like guests. This means having good food, some alcohol (wine & beer and maybe a signature drink), and taking the time to acknowledge them.

Western Washington is a VERY large area. You don't say if you mean Seattle, Olympia, Long Beach, or Vancouver. If you want Seattle, it won't do much good for me to recommend stuff in Long Beach. So, I'll tell you what I can think of.

In the Vancouver area (some are just across the river), there is Skamania Lodge, Bonneville hot springs, the Red Lion, and probably some of the hotels in Portland (Embassy Suites, The Governor, etc).

In the seattle area, there is a place called "Anthony's" that's overlooking water. It's a seafood place, but they have all types of food available.

Good luck to you. : )

Western WA is a big place so it's hard to pinpoint an exact location suggestion without knowing where you are.

The only way that you will save money with a huge guest count like that is to have just desserts or cake and coffee. Any kind of dinner or hors d'ouerves will break the bank in nothing flat because prices in that area are not cheap.

Check out the local chat boards at Theknot.com which has suggestions from real brides.

With 300-400 people attending & you're wanting to cut costs???

You don't need a chapel, you need a cathedral. Maybe a state park?

How are you going to cut costs if you are inviting 300-400 people?

hehe get a sponsor... or check with the recreation deparment about open spaces you could use, and just find a place that rents chairs and things.....If your church has a open space that would work also.