Weddingbee Blog

When I last left you on our Urban Pretzel Party search, I had just found out that our venue of choice, Pravda, was booked for all of 2010- with people waiting in the wings in case of cancellation. I was seriously bummed but wasn’t defeated. I reached out to my contact at our catering company to see if she knew of any other spaces which fit my requirements, slightly modified.

• Seattle Area or North Seattle
  
• 150+ people
• Open Catering
• Loft-like
• Not a hotel/country club/banquet hall

Ding ding ding! By just scratching off the “North Seattle” requirement I opened up my criteria to the amazing SoDo (South Downtown) and Gerogetown neighborhoods. The catering company suggested one venue in particular, The Engine Room at Georgetown Studios.

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Housed in the old Seattle Brewing and Malting Company complex, The Engine room has 25″ ceilings, concrete floors, 15′ arched windows – it is a virtual blank slate.

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But with a little effort, you can make something magical.

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We quickly arranged a viewing. Much to our delight, the Engine Room had an “unfinished, rough, urban” vibe which we loved. It is housed in an old brewery and just a couple doors down from Georgetown Beer (makers of Manny’s Pale Ale—a Pretzel fav). Our Pretzel brains started swirling with ideas of brewery themed weddings.

We were smitten, then I got a phone call from Pravda that left us torn.

Uhhh-ohhh… all of a sudden we had choices. The person who had booked Pravda on our date had backed out—and the two people in waiting had also found other venues. If we wanted it, Pravda was ours. We drove to Capital Hill to look at the space in person and we made our decision over dinner that night. The back of a napkin became our Pros and Cons list.

On Aesthetics:

• We decided that while we liked Pravda’s sleek and modern vibe we preferred the rougher modern feel that The Engine Room had.
• We couldn’t contain our excitement that The Engine Room was in an old brewery… AN OLD BREWERY!

On Size:

• The Engine Room was smaller than Pravda. But we worried that Pravda was a bit big for our 150 person guest list – read: it would cost us more to “fill up” the space with decorations and seating. The Engine room seemed to be the “right” size for 150 people.
• When we visited Pravda, we discovered that the “parking lot” that Pravda advertised was approximately 10 stalls and parking in Capital Hill is a NIGHTMARE. The Engine Room on the other hand has a HUGE private lot—and when I say huge, I mean I could play a game of regulation football on it.

On Cost

• The Engine Room fee was $1000 less than Pravda.
• The Engine Room also had a photo booth in house for half the price of a normal photo booth—saving us approximately $600.

Over bowls of Pho we picked our venue. I called the folks at the Engine Room and had them send us a contract. This began our journey into a Brewery Inspired Bash—more on that to come!

Did you fall out of love with your dream venue? What made you ultimately choose another venue over your first-choice venue?