We are planning to have a very small wedding (at the most 30 people, but probably more like 20) this summer. I have searched for venues on here, Here Comes the Bride, and on The Knot, as well as looked into parks and recreation related websites. I know what I am looking for however, it has been a struggle due to price (the lowest price I found for like a midweek wedding was $2,500 which didn't actually include much and had a ton of add on fees) as well as venues being too large losing the intimacy factor. I also noticed some places includes accommodation within the price for several people, but we don't need or want that.
What we want is to get married in the forest around trees and have the reception either at the same location or fairly close . We would love to get get married in Olympic National Forest (or even a local park...just want it to be in the forest)) and then do something like rent a dining room in a nice restaurant or ideally outside in nature . We don't mind either if the privacy is limited. No preference on doing this in the morning, afternoon, or evening.
Our dream location was to have our ceremony and reception at TreeHouse Point in Fall City, WA ($7,500) or The Emerald Forest in Redmond, WA ($4,000). We just feel like suckers spending like $2,000 or more simply for a venue which includes nothing for less than 30 people.
The most affordable option we did look into is Hoyt Arboretum in Portland but there seems to either be no bathroom or limited bathroom access. We also saw Laurelhurst Park which seemed like a good option, but we have some elderly relatives and it seems like it would be difficult for them to actually make it to a wedding that requires a bit of a walk.
Anyone know of a place that is reasonably priced for a small wedding that sort of matches what we are going for? Thanks
