Our Favorite Northwest Wedding Venues
In the Northwest, we’re lucky to live in a region with so much natural beauty— it makes the perfect backdrop for outdoor weddings and events.
And after serving hundreds of customers with their restroom needs from the Canadian border to the California border, we have some Northwest venues we’re quite fond of. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorites.
The Red Barn Farm, Redmond, Washington
One of several working farms that host events in the region, The Red Barn Farm is our favorite. Founded more than 100 years ago by Gary Cooper’s uncle (yep, small world), it was a working dairy until the 1960s, when they changed to raising beef cattle.
Current projects include restoration of a 100-year-old heritage apple orchard and pursuit of organic certification for the entire farming operation.
The property includes a gambrel-roofed hay barn built in 1925, followed by a grain silo and milk barn built in 1953. The barn was recently restored as it was in a state of eminent collapse.
Vista Hills Vineyard, Dayton, Oregon
This 42-acre, LIVE certified sustainable vineyard sits in the Dundee Hills Wine Country in Dayton, Ore. The property is located between Domaine Serene to the east and the Willamette Valley to the west, thirty-five miles southwest of Portland. This is some of the most sought-after viticulture terrain in the region.
And with ten years experience as a full-service event venue, they’re ready to handle anyone’s “big day”.
LEARN MORE: Vista Hills Vineyard
Mt. Hood Organic Farms, Mt. Hood, Oregon
Another working farm that excels at hosting events is Mt. Hood Organic Farms. Their roots go back to 1904, but the present owners started the transition to fully organic in 1981, receiving the area’s first official certification in 1989.
Today they produce 87 varieties of apples, pears, and quince. Recently they have teamed with a cidermaker to expand their offerings into hard cider.
The farm insists that clients work with their ‘preferred’ event team including Cultivate Catering with Ginger Power and day-of-event management by Cassandra Cass Coordinating.
LEARN MORE: Mt. Hood Organic Farms
Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, Washington
You won’t find a venue with more variety and beauty than the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. The property was a private home for thirty years before being donated to the community in 1980s as a community garden.
It opened in 1988 as a 150 acre public garden and nature preserve.
Today the reserve hosts a wide variety of community and private events, including a creative residency program for artists. More than 30 artists from a variety of disciplines have taken advantage of the unique opportunity.
And That’s A Wrap!
With our experience serving weddings from the Canadian border to the California border, we’ve come to know a thing or two about great places to get married.
And no one has the experience we have providing the most elegant wedding restrooms you’ve ever seen. Give us a call and we’ll tell you more!
Let the Countdown Begin: Planning a New Year’s Eve Wedding
A New Year’s Eve wedding is absolutely a night for any couple to remember forever and an excellent date to gather all the friends together year after year to celebrate the big anniversary! With so many event planning options already folded into the day of celebration for the new year, we have compiled a few tips and tricks to planning a flawless New Year’s Eve Wedding. All the standards come into play such as the dress, the flowers, the guest list, but important consideration is needed for the venue, the views, the catering and drink menus, and of course the after-party transportation for getting family and friends home safely!
A New Year’s Eve Wedding is the perfect new beginning for the couple looking to come into the new year with just the right ‘spark!’
The Venue: Preferably with a View!
Unless you have the budget to put on your own pyrotechnics display of fireworks spelling out the names of the bride and groom in flash bangs and whirly whoos, the perfect venue for a New Year’s Eve Wedding is typically going to be downtown with a view of the city fireworks display. Both the City of Seattle and the City of Portland put on fabulous displays with plenty of downtown venues sitting front and center for the perfect view of show. Spaces on holiday weekends typically get snapped up pretty quickly and often have returning clients for year after year celebrations so make sure to start the hunt early and don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions about visibility of the fireworks. We also recommend checking out the venue both in the day time and in the evening once the sun has set to get a true feel of venue.
Venues Continued: Winter Weather Prep
As with any winter wedding, extra attention needs to paid to the venue amenities such as heating, lighting, and restrooms. The good news, if you find the perfect venue with all the views in the world but they are lacking in the foundation items such as heat and restrooms – fear not! Each of these options can be brought to your location including restrooms! Luxury Restroom Trailers by Privy Chambers have both compact and oversized options for all guest list sizes and most options will even fit through the bay doors of large warehouses for downtown locations bringing the restrooms INSIDE! With the long night of celebrating, your guests will certainly appreciate a fabulous place to “go!”
Timing: Midnight Nuptials
Hoping for a wedding exactly at midnight? Be sure to plan well! You’ll need a fool proof strategy to get all your guests seated, paying attention, and ready for vows. If you want the “I Do’s” to happen exactly at midnight, best to do several practice runs to see how long the lead up takes and be sure to have some “hurry up” tactics in case of running late. Just for good measure, have a few stalling tactics saved up your sleeve as well in case the excitement gets you ahead of schedule. It’s a specific day with a specific time and you want it to be perfect!
Food & Drink Menus: The Important Stuff!
Food and beverages on a night such as New Year’s Eve are one of the most crucial components – balance without overdoing it! For a New Year’s Eve Wedding celebration, the festivities will likely be starting later in the evening – especially if you are planning for midnight nuptials. With this in mind, a full dinner course may be overkill but keep the appetizers flowing if drinks will be served to be sure your guests make it to the end of the night. Themed hors d’oeuvres such as Ball Drop Cake Pops and the infamous Champaign Fountain are a sure hit for any New Year’s celebration!
The Party Is Over: Get Home Safe!
With any late night celebration, and especially on a day so many celebrate such as New Year’s Eve, you want to be sure EVERYONE gets home safe and sound. Having accommodations downtown nearby the venue are the best solution to getting home safe. If a trip across town is necessary, hiring a car service, having a taxi company alerted to a large crown leaving the area at a certain time, or having an “Uber Waiting Station” set up outside the venue are excellent ways to show your guests how much you appreciate them celebrating your special day. Their safety is your top concern!
A New Year’s Eve Wedding is the perfect date to get family and friends together to celebrate a day of new beginnings. Lots of planning is best as the popular date is in high demand for venues, caterers, and hot spot views of fireworks across the city. Don’t forget about special accommodations for downtown venues such as restrooms, heat, and lighting for the flawless night you and yours will remember for a lifetime!
Happy New Years from the whole team at Luxury Restroom Trailers by Privy Chambers!!
What are the Top Trends in Planning an Eco Friendly Wedding?
With so much focus on what we can do to help the environment, there is an emerging trend of Eco-Friendly Glam. Wedding ceremonies and receptions can be your chance as a couple to celebrate your environmental stewardship as a nod to your forever future together and can help kick start your guests to the Eco-Friendly Glam path.
Keeping waste to a minimum and repurposing items are a great place to begin but keeping a fine balance of glam in your eco-friendly inspirations is the ultimate goal for a flawless event. Choosing local and organic food sources for your catering, using vintage décor and even a vintage gown and suit, purposeful wedding favors, water saving elements with over the top amazing outdoor restroom rentals, and a consideration for locally sourced live floral arrangements are all among our top list of favorite tips and trends into Eco-Friendly Glam.
Vintage Gown, Suit, & Décor!
A fabulous Eco-friendly venue is one that comes with most of its own décor. Whether it be through amazing architectural designs that need little accenting or a mature outdoor landscape providing its own live flowers and foliage. With the extra little items use to accent the happy couple’s personality and interests, a touch of vintage décor such as old books and antiques from any interest or hobby sourced from either the local shop on Main Street, Grandma’s attic, or go extra eco-savvy with vintage rentals – the more couples are able to share different items whether it be throughout the generations or throughout the season, the better!
Check out these amazing vignette inspirations: http://bit.ly/2en7Ijp
The Catering: Keep it Local, Keep it Fresh, Keep it Organic!
Being in the Northwest, we are surrounded by some of the freshest meat, dairy, and produce in the country. Organic has been become a household norm and our farms and food suppliers are listening!
Home to some of the best honey crisp apples, black berries and raspberries, wild chanterelle mushrooms, filberts (or hazelnuts to all you non-northwesterners!) locally owned and operated dairies, wineries, and breweries, it is no wonder so many of our caterers have opted for seasonal menus to be able to offer the freshest ingredients all year-round. Keep your caterer closely involved in your guest counts to avoid waste for the compost. End up with too much extra food? Consider donating it!
Check out the Instagram feed of one of our favorite local caterers: http://bit.ly/2en7HvO
The Restrooms: Beauty & Environmental Stewardship in One Package!
Often times, an eco-friendly venue may have an abundance of natural beauty, but they may be lacking in some of the basic necessities for a ceremony and reception lasting into the evening.
Don’t let a lack of restrooms deter you from your dream wedding venue! Luxury Restroom Trailers by Privy Chambers has the perfect restroom replacements for your black tie affair whether it is in the middle of the woods, within the vines of the vineyard, down on the farm, or in your family backyard. All of these restrooms are built with low flow water systems helping to save thousands of gallons a year, LED lighting for low power draws, equipment made in the USA, and the new option of solar power on some units. These restrooms are the absolute best in the Northwest over any of options and are definitely keeping the Glam in Eco-Friendly Glam!
Check out all the local options here: www.luxuryrestroomtrailers.com
Fresh, Local, Live Floral Design
The choices in floral design can be overwhelming. Style, color, cut, arrangements or bouquets, singles or bunches; the choices are endless! When choosing eco-friendly glam options, keep local availability in mind. Ask your florist what their local vendors have available season to season to help avoid costly delivery fees while also keeping an eye on that carbon footprint. Want to go the extra mile? Choose live plants and floral designs! Potted ferns and flowers, live mosses, shrubs, trees, are all wonderful examples of sustainable floral design. And the best part, with a proper green thumb these live florals can be a lasting reminding of your budding love for seasons to come!
Check out these amazing ombre floral inspirations: http://bit.ly/2efJus3
Eco-Friendly Glam is the hottest new trend aimed at keeping our one and only earth at its coolest. Minimizing your carbon footprint with repurposed gowns, suits, and décor, locally sourced catering options, restrooms that will amaze while also saving thousands of gallons of water, and thoughtful floral options are the perfect tips and trends for an over the top glam affair while also celebrating our environmental edge in the Pacific Northwest!
How to Plan a Halloween Wedding: Till Death Do Us Part
As the summer sun sets for the last time I am eager for the fall wedding season to begin! The colors of the outdoor venues, the gorgeous tents, the warm foods, and the darker side of whimsy often sneaks into the edges of the event planning. With the impending arrival of All Hallows’ Eve, we have resisted the temptations of pumpkins (with the exception of pie) and spider webs opting for a more mature haunted mansion type scene. With this being our favorite time of year, we couldn’t resist gathering a few tips and trends for planning an elegant fall wedding with a touch of dark magic.
Setting the scene couldn’t be more fun. Industrial ruins are a budding new trend across downtown and rural venues, savory catering highlighted with traditional harvest foods are a must, historic décor brings out all the feels, and the perfect vintage style dress are all areas for a dark twist of whimsy to create an evening that will be with you Till Death Do You Part!
The Venue: A Life Begins in Ruins
Tucked away in the nearly forgotten corners are buildings left in ruins. Though their original purpose may have expired, their reclaimed shells, when properly reinforced, can be the most amazing setting for a wedding or event venue. The building pictured above can be found in the heart of Portland’s Forest Park! Just amazing… who knew such a space was within minutes of the hustle and bustle of downtown living. With lighting, floral design, and friends, it is just the right amount of dark magic for a night you nor your guests will ever forget!
For another venue with Ruins in Hood River, OR: http://bit.ly/2cdPcgR
Off the Beaten Path: Bring Your Own Necessities!
With all the incredible venues popping up everywhere between wineries, vineyards, breweries, industrial ruins, or even classics such as historic buildings, parks, and cathedrals, often times they are lacking in sufficient amenities of the plumbing variety. Not willing to miss out on the location of a lifetime, Luxury Restroom Trailers by Privy Chambers has solved the restroom issue with top of the line, custom built luxury restrooms to complete the party package for you and your guests to celebrate all night! Restrooms with heating, air conditioning, sound systems, vessel sinks, back lit mirrors, are an extension of the event space and even a conversation piece for your guests. The new necessity!
Check out more options available in the Northwest: http://luxuryrestroomtrailers.com/
Spooky Décor: Just Add Elegant Twist
The décor is by far one of my favorite parts of any event. It tells the story of the couple, whether minimalist or over the top, the elements a couple choose to share with their family and friends is a reflection of their passion, their personality, and creativity. My husband and I planned an outdoor fall wedding with influence from Halloween but we skipped the pumpkins (except in pie form) and spider webs. Instead, we went for the outdoor “anthropologist’s library” look with chandeliers hanging from the trees, historic books on every table along with aged scrolls under glass domes. We completed the look with replica fossil displays and an amazing backdrop for our head table. With multiple thick dark window curtain strung behind our table, we achieved a sort of vintage linen wallpaper look in the middle of the woods! To continue the outdoor theme, we had moss, ferns, and other greenery creeping in on all the tables and displays. Just amazing looking back at the look we achieved with so few materials.
For the most incredible wedding fit for witches and wizards: http://bit.ly/2cNuO41
The Food: A Feast of Desserts!
A fall or winter wedding are one of the top excuses to have a buffet of desserts. When planning my wedding, we were looking out for vegan diets, gluten diets, and eat-everything diets, so we had something for everyone! Cheese cakes (which are technically more pies than cakes), pumpkin pies, apple pies, berry pies, and pecan pies were all present and accounted for. With all the options displayed on over-sized books, surrounded by ivy and lanterns, the display had just the right amount of dark whimsy such a delectable spread in the woods!
For more dark whimsy inspiration: http://bit.ly/2cK02dD
That Dress, Though!
Planning a Halloween theme wedding leaves the door wide open as far as the dress, hair and make-up goes. If you want to keep it classic and romantic but still fit the theme, a vintage lace design is a flawless choice. I had cap sleeves added to my dress to include a modernized twist to a look of yesteryear and the perfect addition for a dress that could have come from the year 1890 or 2090 (unless, by then we are wearing only metallic and spandex). If you want to go full costume, there is no better time! A full Victorian costume, a bride of living dead, or full ensemble costumes such as the cast of Star Wars or Fern Gully would be amazing. And if you really want to get the whole gang involved, encourage your guests to dress up! For those not showing up in costume, a selection of masquerade masks are a perfect last minute costume.
For more wedding costume inspirations: http://bit.ly/2cbVJ6O
Planning a Halloween Themed wedding can run the spectrum of a dark whimsy vintage lace all the way to full on costumes and stage makeup. It’s a time to let your imagination run away with you and plan a wedding of your dreams! Venture off the beaten path to find the venues near you that hold the magic you have been seeking, let your passions guide you in terms of décor and ambiance, and be sure to bring in the necessary amenities for a flawless evening full of spirits and memories!
How do I Plan a Non-Traditional Wedding? Alternative Choices
A budding new trend in weddings is breaking away from the generations old traditions to create a unique experience for both the couple and their guests. Often times, within a group of friends, some of you may be attending a half a dozen weddings in a single summer. Relationships are contagious and everyone seems to celebrate them at the same time! Keep your guests entertained and intrigued with a slew of alternative choices that separate your wedding from the rest.
Breaking the mold is easy. Taking the wedding outside, thinking outside the white dress, creating the necessary amenities for an alternative space, midnight snacks, bold table arrangement, and groom’s flower arrangements are all options to celebrating ancient love in a non-traditional display for all to share. We’ve included some of the boldest options yet below. Cheers to new traditions!
The Wedding Dress: Think Outside the White Dress
The classic white wedding dress may be the hardest tradition from which option to walk away. But once you see the absolutely over the top glamorous options within the same price range of your typical lace, silk, and cream beading you will fall head over heels. Your wedding is a day to feel as beautiful as you have ever felt. If that means wearing violet ruffles, a dress covered in modern floral print, or a multi-colored off the shoulder fringe gown – then lady, that’s what you should wear!
Alternative Floral Arrangements
Flowers have taken on more life than just a bouquet in hand while walking down the aisle or a small arrangement at the center of a table. Flowers can be hanging from the ceiling, covering an entire wall, or frame an entry way. If the groom or grooms have a beard, that’s valuable real-estate too! You can even work with your florists and event rental companies to create giant faux flowers for an incredible feature at any off the beaten path wedding celebration.
Modern Inspiration:
Outdoor Chic Celebrations
Weddings have been heading outdoors in recent years and the impact has been nothing short of stunning. Whether you’re in the woods, a backyard, within the vines of the vineyard or between the trees of an orchard, the fresh air, lighting, and memories just cannot be beat. Outdoor venues have limitless possibilities from over the top glam decorating to minimalist nature loving chic.
For more outdoor love: http://www.modwedding.com/2015/04/20-drop-dead-gorgeous-wedding-receptions/
Outdoor Venues: “BYOB” Bring Your Own Bathroom
When dealing within non-traditional constraints, you may find yourself without the traditional amenities such as the all-important restroom options. Luxury restrooms rentals have become the new necessity. Now that the word is out, brides are opting out of the hot blue plastic box and opting in for air conditioning, extra space, privacy, sound systems, indoor and outdoor lighting, crown molding, and more. Complete your wedding planning with a restroom your mother can be proud to use!
For all your options click here: http://luxuryrestroomtrailers.com/
Alternative Tableware
Typical china are a fantastic option but when you are really trying to make splash with your tableware design, deep metal tones and contrasting woods are a fabulous trend we just cannot get enough of. The look is inviting and whimsical but has enough flare to really catch the eye. Rich golds, coppers, rose golds, and bronzes have taken on new life this summer and have brought old favorites to the forefront once more in these bold new takes on a classic.
For more metal inspiration: http://munaluchibridal.com/platinum-blush-old-hollywood-wedding-atlanta/
Midnight Snacks: The Best Kind of Snacking
A new swoon worthy trend we have seen popping up that we absolutely cannot get enough of: the midnight snack. Whether your caterer brings in a pizza oven or a food truck filled with all the greasy delicious snacks a midnight timeline requires; this is one trend we hope engrains itself into generations of tradition to come. You can choose a special meal you and your spouse once shared, your favorite comfort food, or a snack you just can’t wait to introduce to your friends! Send your guests home happy and full!
For More Tasty Treats: http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/food-truck-weddings/
Non-Traditional Celebrations
The impact of non-traditional weddings and ceremonies can last a lifetime. Tradition is a beautiful thing but putting your own unique touch to a day meant to celebrate the very love you and your soulmate share is simply the next level of evolution in a world of limitless love. Whether you are looking for a dress unlike any other, an outdoor restroom fit for the monarchy, flowers that wow, and midnight snacks that far more than satisfy, an alternative wedding is just another amazing way to say thank you to family and friends for supporting you and leading you to this point. Cheers to new traditions!