One good and one bad this time, but neither one will work. The good one was The Edgewater hotel on the waterfront in Seattle. This is the hotel where the Beatles famously fished out of a window, and it has kept up its glamorous patina. The rooms are decorated in a funky Pacific NW meet just a hint of industrial, and the restaurant, 6/7, serves some incredible food. The actual wedding venue is a dedicated suite with one large room looking out over incredible water views. Ferries pass regularly and you can just make out the Olympics in the distance. Several smaller rooms offer space for buffet tables, a bar, and there is even a terrace for outdoor lounging. The reason we didn't sign a contract then and there?
Whoa baby did it cost a lot. The catering manager was very bright and cheerful, and she informed us that we were in luck because they had no facility fee. However, the catering minimums killed the deal. For a wedding of our size, we would need to spend a whopping $150 per head to reach the minimum, and that did not include cake, flowers, or gratuities. We had fun imagining how a person spends that kind of money on a largely vegetarian meal. Gold-plated salad anyone?
Directly after leaving The Edgewater, we hoofed it up to the ferry at Anacortes, and caught the evening sailing to Orcas Island. On the ride, we were treated to the most vibrant orange/pink/purple sunset, and it made me wish we were getting married that evening, when the weather was so perfect. We arrived on Orcas after dark, and make our way along the winding roads (I was feeling green by the time we arrived) to Rosario Resort.
We were under-whelmed by the service of the front desk, the dining room (she told us she didn't have a table available when we could see this was not the case at all), or the bar. Everyone working there just seems sort of bored and perhaps faintly annoyed at having to look after you. After a lovely dinner of salad and ginger ale (It was the road and nothing more. Don't get any ideas) for me and oysters, fish, and chips for M, we made the five minute drive up to our rooms. That's right, very few people actually stay in the historical lodge. Most rooms are located in apartment-style blocks a few minutes up the hill. When we got to our room we found it reasonably clean, but also incredibly ugly. The decor was a mishmash of rainbow striped curtains, India print bedspreads, and distressed yellow furniture. Not the sort of place you want to spend the night, let alone your wedding night!
On the whole, Rosario is just kind of a sad place. The people don't care, the buildings are sort of shabby and worn down, and it all has this air of faded grandeur. The setting and scenery are truly amazing, and if someone would just put some money into rehab (and kick the staff in their collective behind) it would be a wonderful place for vacations or even a wedding. However, as things stand now, there is no way I would even consider it as our wedding venue.
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