A unique wedding venue idea in Vancouver
Our Vancouver wedding is coming up in two weeks, so I thought I’d talk about our wedding venue. We chose a dinner cruise with Accent Cruises on the Vancouver waterfront over a traditional hall, or restaurant — Mostly because we wanted an intimate setting, and one unique to the Vancouver area.
What better, then, than a dinner cruise? After much calling around, and harrassing the local options, I found Accent Cruises. They were able to provide a private vessel that would accommodate our 65 guests, with a buffet dinner, a dance floor, and the perfect environment for Barry and I to tie the knot in style.
Was it inexpensive? Not exactly — but, when you factor in all the costs you don’t initially consider when planning an event like this: the table linens, plates, ability to bring your own wine (for a small fee per bottle), and other odd rentals including the venue hall itself, not to mention the food… It becomes a good value. And, let’s face it, where else would give us the view that we’re going to have for four hours all to ourselves?
We were initially booked on the M.V. Eloquent, but because our numbers were a little larger than initially planned (doesn’t that always happen with weddings?), we’ve been moved to the M.V. Carousel II — A larger boat that can accommodate up to 100 for dinner, with a separate dance floor. It looks like a fabulous boat, but once again, I’m a little nervous as I’ve not yet seen the boat first hand. Talk about flying by the seat of our pants, hey? I’m sure it’s beautiful.
If all goes according to plan, we’ll be live video streaming and blogging the wedding (or, more precisely, Raul has kindly said he’d live blog the evening here) — I’m going to do some test runs in the next week or so with my laptop and iPhone… Keep your fingers crossed!
YOUR TURN: Have you ever experienced wedding dinner cruise?
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My mother’s 2nd wedding was on a cruise and it was really gorgeous — late september (my birthday, in fact) with a wonderful sunset.
I was 11, so I don’t really remember much about it, but aside from the groom turning out to be a total douchecanoe, the wedding itself was great!
Have I ever experienced a wedding dinner cruise? I guess you could say that – we got married on the Carousel too!
You’ve made a good choice and you’ll have a blast. Accent Cruises were really good. We were doing the actual marriage on the boat too so they set up seating on the top deck of a bigger boat for the ceremony and pictures then moved us across to the Carousel for the cruise, dinner and dancing. Everybody had a blast.
The only concern we had with them was in the run-up they seemed very low-key about the whole thing. But I think that’s just cos they’ve done this so many times that they don’t have anything to panic about! Everything went very smoothly on the day.
And you’re right, it’s not inexpensive but it’s a totally unique (well, apart from the fact that we both did the same thing LOL) experience and the price includes a lot of the stuff you’d be paying separately for somewhere else.
The captain got a little concerned when our photographer took us out on the foredeck for photos though LOL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55055992@N00/3615910994/
.-= Jon Jennings´s last blog: Protecting Your Users’ Passwords – Part 2 =-.
Donna: How cool! It’s definitely a neat way to go — The only drawback is the potential of not being able to stream video from the water. We’ll see. I’ve got a lot of out-of-town friends and family that would like to be a part of it from a distance… Thanks for sharing your Mom’s experience!
Jon: OH WOW! I didn’t know that! Hell, that’s awesome!! Do you have any other photos from that day? I’ve been looking all over the place for Accent Cruises photos so I have an idea of the boat seating and where we get married, etc. I have found next to nothing, so far! (SO HARD TO DO THIS FROM A DISTANCE!!!) Thanks so much for coming by and letting me know of your shared experience!
I haven’t been to a cruise wedding, but I did plan my own wedding very much by the seat of my pants – so I can comment on that!! My husband and I decided to get married last minute – giving me two weeks to find a dress, venue, etc. It ended up awesome – everything fell into place like it was meant to be. I found a dress I loved only the second store along. We had a very small wedding party, an awesome venue -the Stanley Park Rose Garden!! And the best wedding lunch ever at the Teahouse. And then off to the Fairmont Waterfront for our honeymoon in one of their exclusive suites! I am now a big fan of last minute planning.
By the sounds of it, you will have the best wedding day ever! The wedding cruise sounds awesome – as does the cruise for your honeymoon!! I’ve been a reader for a while, so it is so cool to see your life just fall right into place – new city, cool new house, awesome soon to be husband, awesome wedding and honeymoon plans, a fantastically brilliant future ahead of you!
Congrats!
I have a thousand photos (of course). Very few are online – check my Facebook for a dozen & I’ll dig the CDs out soon.
Accent were very laid back about it… we did worry a bit that if Helen hadn’t been fussing over all the details then maybe things wouldn’t have turned out the way she wanted on the day… but then I presume they have default plans that they’re comfortable with for everything.
Have you been on the boat? We put the head table just to the left of the stairs up onto the dining deck and then had tables down either side.
You’re getting married on the boat too then I guess? Note sure how that’ll work… I think we were planning on doing it on the back deck but that might have been rather cramped. We lucked out in that the Burrard Queen wasn’t booked for our day so they setup for the ceremony on the top deck of that which was awesome. That was just lucky coincidence though.
Buffet is setup on the downstairs deck and then that’s cleared for dancing afterwards. Don’t forget you’ll need a DJ.
.-= Jon Jennings´s last blog: Protecting Your Users’ Passwords – Part 2 =-.
A friend of mine got married on a boat called The Pride of Vancouver a few years ago. We sailed up Indian Arm and it was the most amazing scenery ever for a wedding! I’m very excited to attend another wedding cruise!
.-= Beth´s last blog: Still Looking =-.
We married on the Sunset. Many of our friends were from out of town, so it was a great way to show off Vancouver. Plus many of us who lived here (me!) had never been on a cruise. The best part was that they took care of everything, since I really couldn’t be bothered with decorations, stressing over finding a caterer, etc.
And I think it was cheaper than other options. Unless you have an Italian or Punjabi wedding with 500-800 people, then, yeah, you may need a land-based venue.
.-= Maktaaq´s last blog: Shirley Eleanor Nash =-.
My friend told me about your blog, so I thought I’d check it out. Very interesting insights, will be back for more!
I’m so glad I randomly found your blog. It rocks!