Venue Spotlight: Belle Victorian Gardens

When I was first planning my wedding, I asked friends for recommendations of venues they had been to in Spokane or North Idaho. One friend absolutely raved about her incredible experience with Belle Victorian Gardens. After hearing everything that was included in their package and seeing pictures of the gorgeous venue, it’s easy to see why! Located on 5 acres 10 miles north of Spokane, Belle Victorian Gardens is one of the most popular wedding venues in the area!

Today we are excited to share an interview with Pam, the owner of Belle Victorian Gardens!

What type of wedding does your venue work best for?

We are exclusively an outdoor venue with the use of a 4500 square foot Victorian Home for the bride, groom, their immediate families, and their bridal party. Our venue works best for a very lavish garden party or a scaled back affair as well. Our grounds feature huge amenities for your photographic documentation and you may also just rent our facility for engagement, bridals, and or senior portraits. If you are dreaming of an outdoor venue that will facilitate both the wedding and the reception in the same location, and you want a visual of fountains, ponds, waterfalls, and stunning gardens, then we are your venue. We even have a secret garden.

What makes your venue unique?

Our venue is unique in the fact that we are opposite of the do-it-yourself venues. We are a very hands on location where when you book Belle, you have a full onsite coordinator to help you from the beginning of the booking process right through to the end of the wedding. We do not book your wedding then just drop you. Belle specializes in creating an atmosphere where you and your families will virtually walk in and walk out on your wedding day and enjoy every minute of it from the beginning to the end. We are here to help you with booking your other vendors, a referred vendors list will also be given to you when you come for a visit. You also have a 2 hour styling session with Romancing the Stone Styling as part of our package. Pam will sit with you, get to know you and create ideas for you, to incorporate into your day that are exclusive to just the two of you.

What is the capacity of your venue?

The capacity of our venue is 200 guests.

What are your catering guidelines?

You are more than welcome to book any caterer of your choice but the caterer you book does have to come with a staff to work your event from the beginning of your reception to the end. They need to be available to cut your cake, clean the buffet tables down to the linens, and hopefully provide you a bartender. If they do not have a hired bartender then we have referrals.

Do you have a ceremony location?

Yes, we have 3 ceremony locations. The most popular is our oversized gazebo. We also have many couples who choose to be married at the pond by the waterfall. We also have a cool apple tree location that would be awesome for a smaller wedding of under 100 guests. I also think it would be amazing to have a wedding take place in or around our old truck as well. As of this date, no one has dared yet. It could be awesome!

What is your advice for couples planning their wedding?

My best advice for couples planning their wedding is to take their budget and afford themselves the best photographer their money can buy. I tell them straight up that a good photographer can take a horrible venue and make it look like a million dollars and a bad photographer can make a gorgeous venue look like nothing. I truly believe this from the bottom of my heart. I have been in the wedding business for 30 plus years and I can tell you that this is the biggest regret I hear back from couples concerning their wedding day. Photography is one vendor you do not want to compromise on. You certainly cannot go back and re-shoot your wedding day and these are photos that you will be viewing over and over again. Video is also one of the biggest over sites. Make sure you video your day, one way or the other.

What is included in your packages?

Our package includes a 11 hour day at Belle with a full onsite coordinator, a 2 hour styling session with Romancing the Stone Styling, full set-up and tear down of the site, linens for all tables, a shed full of vintage furniture for use at the bar, cake venue, head table, guest book area, etc., photo booth with props, tents and heaters, full coverage in case of rain, 25, 34 inch silver candelabra centerpieces for guest tables, flowers and or various choices of décor for your isle, 75,000 white lights in the yard and lane, a secret garden with a bath-tub scene and a dressed antique bed all lite at night by working chandeliers, numerous chandeliers around the property in various locations, a pond, waterfall and boat, an old truck surrounded by a wildflower field, a ½ an acre of a poppy field to do photos in, numerous floral gardens all around the property. The bride, groom, their immediate families, and bridal party have the use of the 4500 square foot Victorian home. There are 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms upstairs for the bride and her bridal party and there is a separate grooms cottage onsite for the gentlemen. There are many more amenities included and I would just encourage clients to go to our website to review the rest of the package.

What is the price range of your venue?

Our price is $6,300.00 and we take a $1,500.00 booking fee at the time of reservation. That is non-refundable under any circumstance as we are holding your date for you, potentially turning down other clients who might want that date. The balance of the fee is due 1 month prior to your wedding date.