Greater Vancouver Wedding Venues - Master List

[reesied]

We got married on a farm and our reception was held in a barn.

The location:

Saar Bank Farms in Abbotsford.

This was such a unique wedding location and we were so happy with the result. The farm cannot advertise due to being on agricultural land so they are not known and not on any of the venue listings. I had a hard time finding any barns to speak of that would rent within the lower mainland, and then I stumbled on this one! The lady that we dealt with, her name is Magdalene Vanderlinde and she was a gem. She answered all of our questions and gave us a lot of leeway with the decor and plans that we wanted to do in her barn. We rented chandeliers and the barn was absolutely breathtaking. They have previously held quite a few weddings there and rely on word of mouth to spread the word. For some pictures you can check out our website at www.reeseandaaron.com
She has a list of vendors that we used, and list of her own as well. There is a lot to plan for a barn wedding, but if you are looking for a unique location and a really fabulous result then I would recommend this farm.
You can contact Magdalene at 6048640624 or via email at hmv@pacificcoast.net.

We had 116 guests at our wedding, but the barn could hold about 150 people. The venue is quite inexpensive, keep in mind your rentals when budgeting. They have chairs and tables to rent. I believe that they have the head table platform that we made and left there available for rent as well. If you are looking to rent chandeliers, Art of the Party did ours and now know that venue, so they are a reliable option. For chandeliers you will need to rent a generator for the extra wattage due to the electricty constraints (chandeliers suck a lot of energy!), but it is about $200.00 for one and you can rent it at United Rentals in Abbotsford. You need to keep this in mind though when planning. Ask her for a list of vendors!

The barn turned out breathtaking in my opinion. This was such a unique place to get married. I have attached a few photos. These are just a glimmer of the amazing location.

Happy Planning Guys! I hope that your wedding turns out as spectacular as ours did

[reesied]

Hey, I just posted something about Saar Bank Farms on page 3 if you are interested. I had my wedding there and I LOVED IT! We posted a few pics and there is a link to our wedding website that has a few more.

thanks alot for the info on the old orchard hall ... I'm also looking for possibly a barn venue and the one i founnd closest to us would be the Saar Bank Farms in Abbotsford. I cant get too much information about so I'm wondering if anybody knows anything about them.

[mackenzie10]

I checked out the Saars bank farm and i thought it was super cute i actually saw pictures of the chandeliers awhile ago and thats what made me check out the farm. Magdelene was amazing and really sweet. Your wedding looked absolutley gorgeous. What did you do about the bathroom issue? and were there any stinky farm smells on your wedding day?? lol

[reesied]

We actually rented washroom trailers. We went through a company called Sunrise washroom rentals and the girl's name was Amy. They currently have a coupon for about $200.00 off I think, but I was able to talk them down another $150.00 I believe it was by working the competetor angle. (There is another company in Burnaby as well) Amy was amazing to deal with and the Washrooms were great! They even put a vase of flowers in there for you to jazz them up. They weren't cheap to rent, but well worth it. Magdalene had been talking about purchasing a washroom trailer at some point, I'm not sure if that happened or not. Because of the generator that we for the chandeliers, the trailer had more than enough power and we had no issues. I know that Magdalene does say that if she has a few weddings booked, that she will rent the Port-a-Potty that is handicapped sized for wheel chairs so that there is more room and the price is split between a few, but to be honest I didn't really like the idea of a port-a-potty and my dress touching walls and all that stuff... ICK. So we opted to spend the extra to get a 2 washrooom trailer rental which worked out very very nicely. No real line-ups to speak of for the washroom and there was a mens and a ladies.

We didn't have any bad smells to speak of that I can remember. The barn smells like hay which I personally liked... We got married June 27th and Magdalene did make mention that they do the manure later in the months in Abbotsford... but as for the actual farm we didn't have any issues with bad smells and nobody commented on anything.

I hope that helps and I would be happy to provide any more details if you need them.

Reese

I checked out the Saars bank farm and i thought it was super cute i actually saw pictures of the chandeliers awhile ago and thats what made me check out the farm. Magdelene was amazing and really sweet. Your wedding looked absolutley gorgeous. What did you do about the bathroom issue? and were there any stinky farm smells on your wedding day?? lol

[reesied]

I am simply adding this post for Google Search Engine purposes. I know that I had the most horrible time finding anything to come up in our area when I typed in "barn wedding Vancouver" and still after my post it doesn't come up because I put Abbotsford where the barn actually is. So, for all of those people that are typing "Barn wedding Vancouver" into google or other search engines, this is the site that you want to go to in order to find a location like Saar Bank Farms for a barn wedding. Now hopefully Google does their dance and it will come up Hee hee.

[reesied]

Hey Mackenzie,
Did you contact Magdalene via email? I just tried to email her and found that the email address is bouncing back? Did you know if she had a new email address and if she does are you able to post it? Thanks!

I checked out the Saars bank farm and i thought it was super cute i actually saw pictures of the chandeliers awhile ago and thats what made me check out the farm. Magdelene was amazing and really sweet. Your wedding looked absolutley gorgeous. What did you do about the bathroom issue? and were there any stinky farm smells on your wedding day?? lol

[mackenzie10]

thanks reesied!
the washrooms are a big concern to me because of our grandparents and I know what you mean about port-a-potties ewww! I haven't contacted Magdelene in quite some time...the only e-mail address I have for is hmv@pacificcoast.net...hope that helps

[reesied]

No worries at all. If it helps, my Grandma is 95 years old (uses a walker) and she had no problem with the washrooms. The stairs that go up to the barn loft, she needed help to get down those but once outside the washroom trailers were no problem for her.

That is the same email address that I had for her which is bouncing back. I wonder if they changed providers or something. Oh well, at least I posted her phone number and I can call her and get her new email from her. Thanks again!

thanks reesied!
the washrooms are a big concern to me because of our grandparents and I know what you mean about port-a-potties ewww! I haven't contacted Magdelene in quite some time...the only e-mail address I have for is hmv@pacificcoast.net...hope that helps

[reesied]

I just got confirmation on Magdalene's new email address for Saar Bank Farms in Abbotsford. The email address is:

saarbank@gmail.com

For those of you looking for a barn style wedding in the lower mainland - Greater Vancouver area please contact Magdalene for details.

[fariba3]

Hi, I have booked my reception venue (Swaneset) but am now in need of a venue for our traditional ceremony. We're planning a more informal get together the day before for all the guests to just come and have fun and we'll also stage our traditional ceremony (toned down).

Can anyone could recommend a really cheap venue that we can bring in our own catering and that is alright looking? I'm already going all out on the actual reception so this is meant to be just an add on for guests who are flying all the way.

Thanks!
Fariba

[mackenzie10]

I'm still looking for a reception venue for our wedding in the summer of 2011. I've been looking into the Kirkland heritage farmhouse...does anybody know anything about it? Does anybody have any suggestions for a place thats not a golf course or hall? plz help!!!

[Younginlove]

Hi Mackenzie,
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but we our having our reception at Chateau Cargill. It's a wedding manor that has a castle-feel to it. I really love it. Let me know if you have any questions!

[mackenzie10]

younginlove,
i did check out chateau cargill but its too small....im looking for a facility that will hold up to 120 ppl...we are hoping for outdoor, own caterer, own alcohol....if anybody knows of a winery that will allow weddings that would be nice as well

[Starting2Plan]

Has anyone attended a wedding at Willoughby Manor? Would like to know how the food was... thank you.

[nasok]

REESIED, just had a question re the SAAR BANK FARMS..

Was the barn "hot" during the summer months, as I noticed you were married in June?!

Was there a good amount of room for the dance floor and what time do you have to be shut down by?!

Ps-gorgeous pictures!!

[reesied]

Hello Nasok
No the barn was actually quite cool which is surprising. We did get married in June on an EXTREMELY hot day and the barn was the coolest place to be! There is a lot of ventilation and even more when you open up those big barn doors so all of the breeze goes through there. Abbotsford is a little windy being that there are not a lot of trees that stop the wind from going through the valley and so the breeze went through the barn very nicely. It was a relief from the hot hot day and never felt hot at all.

There was quite a good amount of dance floor and when we finished dinner and moved the buffet out of the way then we moved the tables back a bit and there was even more. We had 106 people at our wedding and the dance floor was always full but plenty of room nobody ever felt like they were bumping into anyone else. It is a total party atmosphere And the bar being in the hay loft helps to filter people into the back area when they are getting a drink and it was awesome.

If you have any other questions certainly let me know!

And thanks for the compliment

[aangelina]

Thank!
That helps!!

[mackenzie10]

has anyone used willoughby manor??? i checked it out and it seems great but i would like some feedback from people have used their facilitys

[Agatha]

Hi, after reading through this thread, I have an appointment to see the Barn in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited! Thank you both for posting your pictures here, it really has made me fall in love with the venue.

Also appealing is the price. I'm on a bit of a budget, and hopefully you don't mind me asking, but how did you find the overall cost of the venue? It's inexpensive on first glance, but after the washrooms, chandeliers, decor... food and drinks too. I'm very new at this and would appreciate any advice on how to keep the cost low!

Thanks,
Agatha

We got married on a farm and our reception was held in a barn.

The location:

Saar Bank Farms in Abbotsford.

[reesied]

Hi Agatha
I just talked to Magdalene a few weeks ago actually.. my husband took me back to the barn for our 1 year anniversary where we had a picnic there and danced on the old wood floor to our song It was cute. Anyways, Magdalene had told me that she actually ordered chandeliers for the barn herself so talk with her when you go to see the place and see what she is renting them for. I know that they will be cheaper than getting them from Art of the Party. She mentioned that she had a wedding for a friend coming up and so I am pretty sure that she has already received them. That will cut things down a bit so that's a good thing!
I know that she also rents a large port-a-potty if she has multiple wedding and if you do not want to go for the expense of the washroom trailers which the cost is split between the brides so that is an option. I know... port-a-potty doesn't sound appealing but I did see one and it was not that bad... they are the handicapped size so they are more roomy. Just an option, but my preference was the washroom trailers...keep in mind budgeting $200.00 for a generator from United Rentals in Abbotsford if you are doing the washroom trailers as the capacity for the electrical will not meet the needs of everything that you want currently (with DJ, the chandeliers, trailer rentals etc- talk to Magdalene about the electrical constraints depending on what you have going on). I know that Magdalene and her hubby are doing tons of work to the place which will eventually include washrooms, a bride's room, gazebo, etc etc but they are in the process of getting the permits to make changes so that will be in the future and I'm not sure how far in the future.
It really depends on what you want Agatha. Our wedding was 20grand... but that was inclusive of my dress and absolutely every little thing. My dress was 3grand, which in hindsite I should have likely went shopping more haha! But I loved it and now I just have to renew my vows a million times in order to get my 3 grand worth You can also look at getting a less expensive caterer. We used Reel Appetites which brought their own catering truck and had servers and whatnot and that was about 5 grand of the budget... so if you use a different caterer you can bring that cost down quite a bit. We had 106 people as well so it depends on how many people you are having as to how much you need to rent, feed people etc. The venue itself is not what was expensive in the end, it was all the extras that we had in our wedding. Magdalene has tables there which are less expensive to rent from her than to rent from a party rental place. Utilize what she has and just get your tablecloths. She has nice round ones that worked out well. We also left a head table platform there for her and I think she is renting that as well for cheap. So the wood that we had to buy to make it was allocated in our budget too. If it is there now and you just have to rent it for cheap then that cuts down the cost as well. I think that you can get what you want on a budget and still have a fabulous wedding there. Like I said, it wasn't the venue, it was totally the extras and all the things that we wanted to make our day special. If you need any names of vendors ask Magdalene and you can also ask me. I'd be happy to provide any contacts that I have for anything.

Just shop around for your extras. I only had 5 months to plan my wedding and I bet I could have done it for a lot cheaper if I would have shopped around more for flowers, dress etc. But in the end I was super happy with our wedding and wouldn't have changed a thing.

Goodluck and let me know if you have any other questions!