Gotta wedding question? Ask me!
Wondering which venues allow you to have your own caterer? Where to get cheap bridesmaids dresses? Or where the best place to get a spray tan is?
I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I will do my darndest to find them for you! You can leave a post in the Apple Brides forum or e-mail me!
My name is Pam and My husband and I are the owners of Belle Victorian Gardens. I found out about your wonderful blog from my dear friend Esther at Special Touch Florist. I am delighted to see this blog for our Spokane Brides! Thank-you for highlighting our wonderful venue through Sophie and Chad’s wedding. The bed that is outside is in our secret garden. It is quite romantic asnd provides beautiful images for our brides and grooms. We are currently working on putting a claw footed tub out in the secret garden for pictures as well. We feel that we provide a photographers paradise as we have been told by them all over the country that have shot here. If you would like to contact us you can call 1-509-276-6939 or you can e-mail us as well. We would like to submit many more weddings to your site. Thank-you once again.
Thanks for the feedback Pam, I’d love for you to submit more weddings! Definitely send them my way!
Rachael, I would to submit a 30 year vow renewal and a few original pictures of our 1st wedding. It was an awesome day, one that I will never forget. I would like to see more long time married folks do this as a celebration more often! Ifong recently took some pictures of our 35th anniversary just last week. They can be seen on her blog at Ifongchenphotography.com, Pam and Larry 35th Wedding Anniversary. In the proofs I particulary like Images 92 and 146. Our submission can be seen on spokanebrideblog.typepad.com. Thank-you ever so much for your consideration of this. Pam
Hello wedding guru Rachel! My name is Megan and I am having one heck of a hard time finding a wedding venue for my upcoming summer 2011 wedding. We are having trouble because we will be having 350 guest and wanted an outdoor/indoor area. The real problem is that my family owns a local Irish Pub-Slainte!!! And we really need a place that will let us bring our own alcohol because it is such a budget buster if we cant. Do you have any ideas, we are very open to dates and even Sundays. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks
Megan
Hi Megan,
Slainte, indeed! So cool your family owns an Irish pub, at least I know I’ll have somewhere to go when I move back to Spokane and crave a Smithwicks or Guinness!
Your venue dilemma is a tricky one, but I’m sure there is somewhere that would work. I think your best bet would be places that are more independent and sort of alternative venues (ie not hotels and the main wedding places). Have you tried somewhere like Red Barn Farms? They are located a ways out of Spokane but can hold a lot of people and I doubt they would mind if you brought your own booze. Or there are a couple of barn type places on Greenbluff, one is High Country Orchard, the other is Trezzi Barn. I am not sure of their capacities, but it might be worth a call.
If you’re not into the barn wedding, what about a huge cabin by the lake? With all the lakes around the area there are a lot of options. One of the more popular ones is Elkins Resort on Priest Lake. I’ve also featured a wedding at Rose Lake Lodge on Rose Lake, I don’t know much about it either but it looked amazing! Another venue I’ve been hearing a lot about is Arbor Gate. Their web site is not great, but it looks like a really nice place. Most of the venues I mentioned are featured on Apple Brides (just check in the Spokane Vendors page).
I will keep thinking and let you know if you I think of anywhere else! And if you have more questions, ask away!
Rachel
Megan, I was looking for a large indoor/outdoor space as well but we ended up pushing the date back to the fall and chose the Davenport Hotel. (Don’t want to chance the weather in October!)
The Luxury Box has several different locations around Spokane that might work for your indoor portion. Not sure of the exact capacity. There’s also a sizable park near their valley location that they suggested for a ceremony. The valley site is very close to the park and they have tons of parking. Their owners/coordinators have really innovative ideas. Not sure about brining in your own drinks but they will know. I’ve seen them run other private events before and was impressed.
Hope that helps!
Good advice Nichole. I’ve never heard of The Luxury Box, but it looks pretty impressive.
Megan, Stacie from The Spokane Polo Club (yea, I didn’t know there was a Spokane Polo Club either…) saw your query and said that their venue meets your requirements. It’s located in the airport direction, their website is http://www.umbrellaevent.com, I think it’s more of a marquee venue, but looks really nice. I will e-mail you more info!
Oops forgot A Touch of Country. Another barn option but the grounds are beautiful and manicured.
Hey Rachel,
Have you heard anything about weddings at Settlers Creek in Couer d’Alene? It’s a barn-venue, and my roommate went to a dinner/event there a few weeks ago and said it was really pretty. I’d love to hear anything about it (as far as weddings go) if you know anything!
Hi Erica,
I haven’t heard of Settler’s Creek before, but it looks awesome! I e-mailed the owners and found out they can hold 500 people for outdoor receptions and 250 inside, which is pretty good. They provide all catering for the venue. I was talking to Shannon Varela, her e-mail is cvarela@settlerscreek.com.
She also said that http://www.Eventective.com has more photos of the venue. I might do a review on them in the next couple weeks to give more info. I think it may just be a little wedding gem!
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions!
Rachel
Hey Rachel! I just wanted to say first of all that I think this blog is absolutely amazing! I am getting married in April, 2011 and can say first hand how frustrating it is to plan a wedding in this town! My fiance’ and I are seriously considering buying some property and starting our own wedding venue with all the fixin’s as soon as we are done with our own. It is nutso!
We are getting married at the Spokane Masonic Center and I can tell you: so far so good! I noticed you didn’t have many reviews up for them. I have been in twice and have sent them a million question emails. They are amazing at getting back to you quickly and answering everything thoroughly. If there is something they cannot help you with, they give you options on people/places that can. The price of the venue (after researching MANY) is pretty cheap. The caterers they have you chose from range from super expensive to super doable. They also have so many rooms to chose from it is more overwhelming choosing which room to use than anything. I actually found your blog through them! As I said: so far so good! I would be more than happy to share our day and give more feedback after our wedding in April!
One of the biggest problems I have had (besides the details of who does what and what goes where) have been cakes and flowers! For brides that have a huge budget, there are tons of venues out there for you! However, finding someone that doesn’t want you to sell your first born child gets a little tricky. I am also allergic to eggs so finding someone to make an eggless cake has been trying. I am going to send the girl who is helping me with my cake to you as she has been so helpful and willing to try whatever it takes to make sure my day is amazing! (For the flowers… I have nixed them!! LOL! I am using feahters instead with just a few lillies).
I hope I have been a little helpful. The big stress of the week for me: finding a song to play during our sand ceremony. We are blending a family and all of the kids are going to be included in the ceremony. I have been looking for WEEKS trying to find a song that incorporates blended families. Any advice on that would be awesome!
Thank you again for this amazing blog!
Felicia
Hi Felicia,
Thanks so much for you comments and input. I have been looking for a Masonic Center bride! I did write a review on them (http://applebrides.com/2010/08/04/the-spokane-masonic-center-review/) but it was only based on my experience with them when I was looking for a venue. So I am sure the searching brides would be really happy to hear your first hand experience (and also to learn that it’s pretty cheap!). You could leave a comment on the review post or e-mail me your comments and I will put them up.
I would also be very interested in doing a post on the girl who is making your cake. Vendors prove their weight in gold when it comes tall orders!
Your song dilemma is a tricky one. Would something instrumental work? There is a really beautiful one on the Forest Gump soundtrack that I love! I’ve seen it used in weddings before. I can’t think of anything else off hand, but let me think about it and I will let you know if I think of anything.
Thanks again!
Rachel
Rachel
My name is Jessica and my fiance and I are planning a wedding for August of 2011. We have our venue and a lot of the details nailed down, but I am stuck trying to find an officiant. We are having trouble finding someone who will perform the ceremony outside, and honestly I dont even know where to begin looking! Any advice?
Hi Jessica,
Tricky dilemma! I had some doubts when it came to my officiant too. We were not part of a church in Spokane so I didn’t have a pastor or anything, and I didn’t want a civil ceremony. I remembered that in high school I had a teacher I loved and still kept in contact with so he got ordained (think that’s the right word) and married us! Apparently anyone can marry people as long as they are legally approved. I don’t know exactly what’s involved but a quick Google search would fix that I’m sure!
One thing I would say is, that if you do choose that route to make sure it’s someone who is comfortable in front of people. It’s not a great time to get stage fright!
Another option is to call one of your local churches and see if you could “hire” the pastor or priest. I’ve heard of people doing this before. You may have to come in for some meetings just so they can get to know you, but for some churches you don’t actually have to attend there.
I know you can hire people from the Courthouse to do weddings too, but I have no idea what the process is, but I’m sure if you called them they could tell you.
So basically, you have a load of options it’s just deciding what you want!
Best of luck and let me know if you have more questions!
I don’t have a question for you but I just wanted to say that I love love love your blog. It is literally the first thing I check in the morning.
Even though my wedding has come and gone it’s so fun to see other people’s weddings.
Thanks for creating such a unique, informative and local blog
Aww shucks… You made my day Veronica! Thanks.
Hi there! Have you seen http://www.MyGoodGreetings.com? They’re a card-making company based out of Spokane and all their paper is 100% recycled! Great for the green wedding obsessed brides out there.
Hi Teresa,
Thanks for the tip! I will definitely have to check them out. It’s been hard to find good stationery suppliers, so I appreciate the info!
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for your wedding blog – it is very helpful! I am looking for recommendations on live musicians for our upcoming wedding ceremony at the Davenport. Do you know of any? Also, do you have DJ recommendations? Thanks!
Laura
Hi Laura, so sorry for the delay in getting back to you, things have been crazy! I don’t actually have any live musician recommendations. I know some of the members of the Spokane Symphony perform at weddings but I don’t know of anyone who has used them, but I looked into getting them for my wedding and I think it was a couple hundred for the ceremony (for a string quartet).
As for a Dj we used Jeff Keen and were happy with his service and performance on the night. He was reasonable on price too.
Hope that helps and if you do find a good live musician let me know I am sure there are a lot of Spokane brides wondering!
Hello,
I just wanted to make sure we werent missing a venue somewhere. I did get an email from someone suggesting using the MAC museum and that is my next step. Let me know if you have any advice at all.
We were planning to get married sometime in August or September but are having a hard time finding an affordable venue to accomodate our guests… We are looking for a venue that would cost around $4,000 to use and would include set up, tear down, tables, chairs, linens and some centerpieces and day of coordination. We are also needing to find a venue that will allow us to bring in our own caterer. I have found Bigalow Arbors and Cozy Concept that fall into this catergory so far. There were a few others that fit this criteria like Camden Ranch but they were booked already. Of course we are willing to negotiate the date but the main thing we really need to be able to work with is our own caterer. My fiances family owns Hay J’s Bistro in Liberty Lake so they will be doing our food and some of the alcohol. Some of the places that I have already looked into are:
Bozarth, Belle Gardens, Whispering Pines, Arbor Crest, A touch of Country, Rocking K Ranch, CDA Cellars, Arbor Gate, Trezzi Farms and Red Barn Farms. Most of these were either too expensive or didnt allow us to use our own caterer. We are willing to do inside or outside, the perfect setting would be to have both options of course
Thanks a bunch, looking forward to hearing from you!
Hi Johnna,
I know how hard it is to find a venue in Spokane that allows you to have your own caterer, especially on a budget! I racked my brain and thought of a couple more venues, though you would need to contact the venues for more information on pricing.
I know the Spokesman Review Rooftop allows you to supply your own caterer. The interior is very basic, but the patio is amazing! It has stunning views of downtown Spokane and a lot of character. Another one is the Duncan Gardens in Manito Park, they mainly do ceremonies but I am pretty sure there is a picnic area that could be rented. I also know the Spokane Polo Club allows outside caterers and alcohol, but I don’t know what the rental fees are.
Another option is to rent a large cabin on one of the nearby lakes and turn it into a wedding venue. I have heard of brides doing this before and it worked really well, but was very hard work. A little Google research and I am sure you could find one that would work with you (there’s one called Rose Lake Lodge that I featured before). My advice would be to be as creative as you can, when you are on a budget and have specific restrictions then you are far better off thinking outside the wedding cookie cutter! And just remember it never hurts to ask!
Best of luck!
Hi Rachel,
I’m from Spokane originally and getting married here in September 2011, but I live in San Francisco and planning a long distance wedding is hard!
Your blog is AMAZING! everything I need in one place..thank you! I do have a question.. living in San Francisco for several years I have become a total yelp addict! So, it is SO hard for me to check out Spokane wedding photographers with a severe lack of yelp in the area! I know you have a whole list on your site but I would love a little more advice when it comes to photogs..any help or direction would be much appreciated!
Hi Tara, I totally know how hard it is to plan a wedding in Spokane when you live elsewhere, so I get it!
Regarding photographers the good news is that there are a lot of really good photographers in Spokane for a pretty reasonable rate compared to other cities. Some of my favorite Spokane photogs are Ifong Chen, Matt Shumate, Flat 4 Photography and Dave Ainley. But there are also some really good ones who live in Seattle or the Tri-Cities and will travel to Spokane (and regularly do!) like Mastin Studio, Kristen Honeycutt, Ali Walker and Bryan Aulick. There are tons more, but the ones I’ve listed I can guarantee will deliver top class photography!
Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions!
Thanks so much! That totally helps! And since you asked..
I would love any advice on bands/DJ’s as well! Thanks a ton and happy new year!:)
Hi Tara, Bands/DJs and music is one area I really don’t know too much about. We used Jeff Keen as a DJ and were overall happy with his work. But to be honest I don’t really know of anyone else. Sorry, I can’t be of more help! But if I hear of anyone I will pass them on.
Guess what? I “like” this comment.
Tara:
I personally know Richard from Image1Portraits. He is an amazing photographer and listens to everything you want. And he is VERY resonably priced. Check him out at http://www.image1portraits.com.
Good luck!
Felicia
Thanks Felicia! What a great tip! I’m pretty much looking for all my vendors, so if you have any other good tips I’d love to hear them!
Tara –
I saw that Rachel recommended Dave Ainley Photography & I would just like to second that recommendation! He is fun, fresh, creative & has an awesome range of packages ranging from $1750-$3500 … I believe. You definitely should check him out! http://www.daveainley.com or http://www.facebook.com/daveainleyphotography
Also, if I could give you a few recommendations for DJ/Music I would like to let you know about Matt Russell who is a local Spokane musician but has the talents to be selling records all over the world! You can check him out at http://www.mattrussellmusic.com or find him on Facebook as well. As far as a DJ goes I really like Justin with Amp’d Entertainment! He puts on such a great “show” for your reception with a great array of music. You can check him out at http://www.ampdspokane.com!
I hope that helped you out a little more during your search!
Congratulations & Happy Planning!
We need someone to marry us in August outdoors in Spokane. We dont belong to a specific church. Does anyone know of someone who does this service? Thanks in advance.