Friday, June 22, 2007

minnekhada lodge + decor, decor, decor!

i think the gvrd is an untapped resource for heritage houses and other similar wedding venues but i find it hard to navigate, or at least to easily weed out picnic areas and dog parks from my search. check out cammidge house in boundary bay for an affordable tent wedding with a wonderfully huge grassy field (i'm anti-golf course but i'd love a natural field).

enter yet another legitimate contender - we're at hycroft, swaneset (my interest gets piqued and then often wanes at this option), and now: Minnekhada Lodge in coquitlam.
minnekhada1
minnekhada2
one bonus is that it's not waaay out in pitt meadows (seriously, who thought there could possibly be a place that was equidistance from vancouver, whiterock, and abbotsford, the drive approximating over 60 minutes!). other exciting features:
a)$950 for the rental and liquor fee
b) 13 hours of use
c) a much nicer bridal room than hycroft (why couldn't the green room, blue room, black and white room, or any other gorgeous room there have been the bridal room?!)
d) bridal room is pink
e) "japanese gardens"
f) if you look at the japanese garden closely there's some sort of chuppah in there - i could have the ceremony IN THE FOREST!
g) the flower girl can wear feathery wings!!!
h) i can wear feathery wings!!!
h) i can incorporate peacock feathers simply because i used the word feathers in the last sentence, this whim has nothing to do with the site and shouldn't count as a pro
i) there's a pool area that i could decorate really nicely with couches?
j) i bet no one has been to a wedding here

con: banquet hall is kind of dark
con: umm...it's not hycroft?

but - if i save $2000 from hycroft ($3500 vs $950, not to mention i could find more affordable caterers than $140-$200/head) - i could put that extra money toward actually making use of a fancy schmance decorating company!! or at least renting everything they have to offer and making best use of the 13 hour rental.

i mean look at their before and after photos of swaneset - not that these are even their best photos, and not that i really care for chair covers:
beforeafterswan
swan

it sounds like this coquitlam secret has a lot of pluses, but i still love hycroft in a sick way. and if i can get the member rate of $1400 something, which comes with the liberty to choose my own (more affordable?) caterer....then the wedding doesn't have to top out at thirty-five grand..........

oops it looked so promising until i just read it can only hold 60 people - seriously: these are the only tables it can hold click

1 comment:

GF Girl said...

i'm tutoring for most of the weekend at the kennedy's house - call, i'm going to try and have my/sheldon's cell phone with me. as for the venues I like the boundary bay one, because you can get a nice big tent - http://www.salmonrentals.com/Products.asp?CatID=21, the 50x50 gabled one is beautiful, and doesn't look like it comes with the plastic sides - granted the cost for the venue would likely work out the same with the rental of the tent and the heaters... it is up to you. At least here the guest list isn't such a huge issue.