It’s been a few months after my wedding and a lot of people have been asking me if I would blog about the wedding since I have a blog. At the time I really had no idea if I would because I was so stressed out trying to make sure I had everything in order. Since I have a bit more free time now, I thought I would share my experience working with Riverway Clubhouse for my wedding ceremony and reception.
Hopefully you find this helpful in making your wedding venue decision.
I was recommended to Riverway Clubhouse by a coworker and it was the only venue I saw. It’s a hidden gem located in South Burnaby close to Marine Drive. The clubhouse offers beautiful wood beam architecture paired with floor-to-ceiling window views of the picturesque course. They used the same architect that designed Westwood Plateau Golf Course, so you will see similarities.
The view in the back of the restaurant was perfect for the ceremony. Once we took one look at this, it was a done deal.
We made our decision right away when we saw it since the it was quite affordable. You pay the price per guest since it is a buffet dinner. You can do a plated dinner, but we were advised that it would be a lot more expensive.
All the Audio Visual equipment is included. Since the venue is very stunning on its own, you just need to add minimal decorations.
The venue is hard to get to by transit so I would recommend driving or taking a taxi.
Since we had our wedding on a Sunday, we had to have a minimum attendance of 120. For Saturday, it would have been a minimum of 150, but I thought 150 would be hard to reach so we settled with Sunday. I think they can fit up to 200 people. No minimum spend required, just minimum attendance.
I was on a budget, so I needed to make sure I didn’t go over. We had to pay Riverway Cluhouse for:
- Buffet per guest
- Cocktail hour food and beverages
- Table Wines
- Open Bar
- Ceremony Fee
I won’t list the prices since they do fluctuate year after year, but I spent just under $14,000 including taxes. Since they are owned by the City of Burnaby, they do not accept tips/gratuities, which is great because you can easily save money there. I budgeted about $16,000, but in the end it was less which I was very happy about.
The wedding package we chose includes:
- Grand Wedding Buffet
- Use of the facility (lobby, bridal room, and dining area)
- Menu tasting for 2
- Use of podium, wireless microphone and in-house sound system
- Use of audio visual equipment including projector, screen and LCD televisions
- Dance floor
- Full set-up and take-down of reception (ceremonies have an additional cost)
- Service staff and bartender
- White table linens, cloth napkins, table settings
- Cake table
- Signing table
- Complimentary parking
- Ceremony rehearsal (space only)
- High speed wi-fi internet
Some items may have changed on the list, but you should contact Riverway Clubhouse for the current wedding package prices.
Grand Wedding Buffet was the package we chose and it included:
- Warm dinner rolls with butter
- Baby organic greens with house dressing
- Asian inspired noodle salad
- Vegetable medley with garlic butter (can be substituted for herb roasted vegetables)
- Herb roasted potatoes
- Saffron basmati rice
- Penne pasta with puttanesca sauce
- Baked free range chicken breast with roasted mushroom marsala cream
- Oven roasted wild sockeye salmon with spicy ponzu sauce
- Chef attended AAA beef carving station
- Chef’s selection of desserts
- Riverway Blend 100% organic free trade coffee and premium tea selection
You can make customizations to the menu. We swapped the Asian-inspired noodle salad with a Caesar Salad. Since we are Asian, there’s no way you can have a Asian inspired noodle salad. It just didn’t taste right. Our herb roasted potatoes became scalloped potatoes.
We also ended up getting a free upgrade from the AAA beef carvings station to a Prime Rib carving station. Everyone loved the prime rib! All the proteins were cooked pretty well. A lot of people said the chicken and salmon were very moist.
It was pretty easy transforming the venue under a budget. I went with a more rustic style and made a terrarium centrepiece for each table.
The ceremony was an extra cost, but it was a relief having everything in the same place so you can cut out transportation. Plus, less of a headache so you don’t have to deal with more vendors.
The set up of the ceremony is pretty simple and they try to fit as many chairs in there as possible. They ended up having about 100 chairs there. If you need anything extra, you just ask them for it.
The signing table and chairs are included too. I just love the greenery and the pond in the background. Lets just say many selfies were take out there later in the day. We took our wedding party pictures close by at Fraser Foreshore Park during cocktail hour. It’s about a 1 minute drive away.
They also give you many options to run the bar. You can do loonie/toonie bar or you can have an open bar and choose the tiers of drinks you want available. We went up to Tier 2 where you get a larger selection of imported beers, wines and liqueurs for $6 or $7 depending on the drink.
We also special requested Lagavulin 16 years, which was only available to the wedding party.
Overall, it was an easy venue to work with and the price was right. Even with those positive notes, there were some hiccups like how they forgot to bring out the correct table wine. The wedding venue coordinators at Riverway Clubhouse are very responsive via e-mail. They do weddings every weekend, so they are your go-to resources. Plus, they are very flexible with last minute requests.
At the end of the day, everyone had a great time, people enjoyed the food, and of course I got married to my best friend! I would use this venue again for a special occasion and I would recommended it to brides on a budget.
Address:
9001 Bill Fox Way,
Burnaby, BC V5J 5J3
Website:
https://www.golfburnaby.ca/clubhouses
