Our Wedding: The Venue
In the six/seven years that I have photographed weddings, I have always thought to myself what kind of venue I'd want to be married in. The answer changed several times, of course. Would it be a church? That is something mom would've wanted for sure. There was actually a church that I thought would've been so beautiful to be married in (see here), however there wasn't a reception area near that I loved quite as much as Dairyland. Aaron and I spent some time looking through venues for a couple of weeks. There were several factors we had to compute for:
Cost
Location- we would be having family fly in, as well as drive up from Olympia and Seattle.
Size- we needed to house 200-250 people
Amenities- what's included? how many hours of rental for cost?
Look/Light- a very large factor for me as a photographer... the light. would it photograph well? on bright weather and/or rainy weather?
We looked at many and I'm sure we missed a good amount too because I am still hearing of new venues to this day. Regardless, when I found Dairyland, I knew that was it. The thing that sold me was the all-white reception barn. The second thing that sold me is the fact that all their farm tables and chairs were included. We knew for a fact that we wanted long tables versus round tables for the reception space. I've been to too many weddings with round tables and to me, there is a feeling of high school cliques to them. We wanted our wedding to feel like family, dining together.
When I showed my parents initially, it was a definite no. It was too far away, it was on the pricier end and my mom just didn't understand the aesthetic we were going for. It took awhile of convincing before they finally caved. To be honest though, the cost to rent this venue isn't as bad as some of the ones we found that were closer to the city. Of course, the price has increased a bit since last year.
A complete bridal suite- I loved the upstairs of this room- it was so beautiful!
We were lucky that the other barn was open to our use; we had the boys get ready in this area!
My favorite part of the whole venue was of course the reception barn. It also provided a Plan B, in case it rained on us. I actually did expect it to rain to be honest, but I'm so glad it didn't!
Another thing I thought about was weird lighting/flashes causing different color casts if and when a flash would need to be used, so having white walls would prevent that from happening.
A great spot for family and bridal portraits. We also did our First Look here.
Our outdoor ceremony space. The weather was perfect on our wedding day! Thanks Jesus :)
Cocktail area
A small area for lawn games
One thing that Dairyland in and of itself didn't offer was a variety of areas for portraits. We really wanted pictures in nature as well. Good thing we were out in Snohomish! Dairyland is super close to Lord Hill Park, which is where we headed to for our photos after our First Look.
The venue itself is also really close to a lot of cornstalks and farms and provided lots of scenery surrounding. We drove down the road and snuck in some sunset portraits during the reception as well!
Other cons: though it says a prep kitchen is provided, it's just really room where you can store food and prep it. I wish there was some sort of refrigeration and more of a sink/wash area. You also have to get insurance for your event through another source that Dairyland uses (I'm not sure if all venues require you to do this?).
All in all, we were very happy with Dairyland. It provided an amazing backdrop for our ceremony and a fun outdoor space for mingling and photos. There is plenty of space to get ready in. One of our favorite memories from the wedding was coming back into the cocktail area and looking around, seeing all of our friends and family mingling. Advice when it comes to venue? Pick one that feels like you as a couple. Dairyland was beautiful, but it wasn't stuffy. We weren't having an upscale wedding, by any means. I mean, we had a taco truck! Consider how the environment will make your guests feel. Pick one, if applicable, that offers variety in case of situations that may come up (such as weather). And if you're like me, consider what you want your photos to look like. For instance, if you want light/airy wedding photos, don't pick a dark venue with random knick-knacks everywhere. Anyway, there you have it! Stay tuned for my post about decorations and flowers, coming up next!
Read our past wedding blog posts:
*all photos posted by Kristen Marie Parker