Washington-Seattle

seeking venue/caterer ideas - eastside

Hi ladies,

I need your help!  I was happily married 3 years ago with much help from these boards. Now we are planning a retirement party for a co-worker and it feels like a wedding (100-150 guests!).  We are in search of a reasonably priced indoor venue (party in March) and caterer recommendations (appetizers and desserts).  Nothing special needed for the venue, just a nice space, probably some kitchen facilities. Right now the caterers we found gave $28/person estimates.  This seems high, but have I just forgotten how spendy events are?

Any suggestions would be awesome - looking for eastside: Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Kirkland.

thanks,

Melissa

Re: seeking venue/caterer ideas - eastside

  • edited December 2011
    Hmm... Have you tried all the hotels? Woodmark in Kirkland has an in door area. Mill Creek country club is pretty reasonable too. That is a little closer to Woodinville/snohomish though.
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  • edited December 2011
    Hmm... Have you tried all the hotels? Woodmark in Kirkland has an in door area. Mill Creek country club is pretty reasonable too. That is a little closer to Woodinville/snohomish though.
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  • edited December 2011
    I second the Woodmark. It is beautiful. If you hold it on a sunday, it will be less expensive. You can probably negotiate price. I think one of the girls on here did that and ended up getting the place for like 600 for each room and $2000.00 min for food.
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  • irshis20irshis20 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Clise Mansion is $1200 for a Saturday (they do weekday rentals, too, which are really cheap) in the off-season, and it offers a range of caterers to fit your budget, some of which can do a full buffet for $20 per person. A rental gets you several rooms of the mansion so you can fit a lot of people and offer different spaces for things like bar, buffet, dancing, etc.
  • edited December 2011
    Ditto Irshis for Clise Mansion off-season - probably one of the more reasonably priced venues, downside is you can only select from a list of several caterers and you have to buy your alcohol through Seattle Bride (even for a NWR event).  If I can think of other venues on the Eastside, I will post up.

    If you find a venue that allows any caterer you want: reasonably priced including china, silverware, glassware, servers, etc. I would suggest Chef Bert http://www.chefbert.com/ or Brown's Catering http://www.brownscatering1972.com/ .  I'm using the former.  If you don't need china, etc. to be supplied, I would recommend Renton Technical College http://www.rtc.edu/catering/menus.htm or The Upper Crust Catering http://www.theuppercrustcatering.com/.

    GL!
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  • edited December 2011
    (PS Tygirl, I think you usually mention RTC. Thanks! I remembered them when it came time to plan our office holiday party. Our owner is typically kind of lame, "You know, Costco has these roast chickens that are good!" Um...yeah. It's our ONE nice party a year! My boss is in charge though and she thought that was lame. So we're trying RTC.)
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  • edited December 2011
    KS - yes I do.  I have a friend who does the event planning for the Renton Chamber of Commerce and I know she typically uses them for events and says they're really good.  Plus all reviews I've read on them are good too.  I'm considering them for our RD.
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  • edited December 2011
    Feel free to take a look at the Seattle wedding venues map, which covers the Eastside. In addition to the Woodmark maybe Heathment Hotel in Kirkland would work.

    $28/person for appetizers+desserts sounds high, yeah :/.

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  • irshis20irshis20 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_washington-seattle_seeking-venuecaterer-ideas-eastside?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:104Discussion:ef29ef2d-ddda-427b-a33e-6fe72bb48d82Post:35668232-c2e2-4661-8a9f-e755e4d5d7e7">Re: seeking venue/caterer ideas - eastside</a>:
    [QUOTE]Ditto Irshis for Clise Mansion off-season - probably one of the more reasonably priced venues, downside is you can only select from a list of several caterers and you have to buy your alcohol through Seattle Bride (even for a NWR event).  Posted by Tygirljojo[/QUOTE]

    The alcohol is definitely a bummer, but the caterers are all pretty great! And some of them are really cheap (Susan Magen, Twelve Baskets)! If your budget is a little bigger, Lisa Dupar and Herban Feast are both on the list, too.
  • edited December 2011
    FWIW, 12 Baskets actually had one of the highest quotes I got from caterers, but not sure about Susan or Act 3.
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