Chihuly Garden and Glass

Event Planning Manager, Julie + Sales Manager, Kimball are professional, easy to work with and exceptionally experienced in the industry. Our team collaborated seamlessly with the entirety of their staff to assure the day ran as smoothly as possible. From set-up and room flip to incredible table-side service and break-down. This team was extremely efficient and professional, and especially friendly. By the end of the evening, our clients sang their praises about their wedding day experience at the venue. This is undoubtedly, and in large part because of Chihuly's joint efforts and fabulous team (s/o Claudia and Eric to name a couple)!

I have to agree with the rest of the reviews. They only want your money. You can’t even do a proper taste test or a wedding rehearsal, they up charge the crap out of anything & everything. Their rules are ridiculous. I can go on & on. We originally had a different venue but w/ Covid, we ended up going w/ Chihuly. After 2 years of planning, or lack there of…. It all came down to the last month before the wedding & that’s when they contacted you about planning. So, we ended up getting stuck w/ them. Would we recommend them? Heck no. Will you get a wonderful experience & incredible photos? Absolutely but is the money, the headache, the rules, the iffy customer service on the day of your wedding going to be worth it? No. Go have your wedding somewhere that will work with you & should make the process a breeze. You’ll still have a beautiful event & gorgeous photos w/o the unnecessary bs.

I could write a novel about how painful our experience was working with Chihuly for our wedding, but TheKnot only allows 3500 characters. The main point is this: the venue itself is beautiful and unique, but the service, the rules, and the people who work at the venue are disappointing (except for Britney, she's wonderful), making the venue just simply not worth the high cost. Because of covid we ended up working with Chihuly for 3 years to plan our wedding, and it became very obvious that their primary goals were to 1) extract as much money as possible from clients and 2) enforce unnecessary rules. I laughed when I read the comment below mentioning that the staff took unfinished drinks, because our guests experienced the same thing, and yes, they charge per drink (about $20 on average) and they refuse to offer a drink package, despite our begging. We spent an unbelievable amount of money at this venue (not to mention they increased our prices 80% about 6 months before the event due to "inflation") and the service was not even close to being commensurate with the price. For a 150-person wedding, expect to spend around $80k on food and drink alone (that's over $500 per person). That doesn't include other venue fees and furniture/linen rentals. I will say that the food was good - we received many compliments on that. However, similar to the other reviews here, we felt that the entire Chihuly community was policing us at every step of our planning process, including on our wedding day. For example, during the signing of our marriage license, a staff member kept interrupting us with a security guard to yell at our photographer for not having his tripod in an acceptable location, and instead of offering an acceptable solution, proceeded to hover over and yell at all of us. I will now have fond memories of signing my marriage license with a security guard scolding me directly to my left. Great! We ended up speaking to the COO of the venue after our wedding to express our large list of concerns, and she was respectful and waived our final invoice to account for the final cost of drinks, which was about 7% of our total venue costs (though, again, we are not confident that the drink costs were accurately calculated). We honestly felt like that was the very least they could do to try and make it right (I would have personally offered much more than that given all of the things that went wrong and how much money we spent), but more importantly, we just really hope that things change at this venue in the future for those looking to celebrate the most important day of their lives.

I came here for my sisters wedding in April and the issues with Chihuly started 2 days prior to the event. My sister and her fiancé unfortunately contracted COVID prior to their event and informed the director and wedding coordinator . On the day of their wedding they would have been day day 8 and day 12 since positive testing and both asymptomatic . By CDC regulations that would allow one of them to be unmasked and the other masked but both out of quarantine . When originally contacting the appropriate parties they were told it would be no issues. 2 days prior to the event, when guests were already arriving - they were informed that they will not be able to be in the wedding venue with the guests. Instead they will be alone in a plastic bubble outside the venue - guests would not be able to mingle with them and they would have people watching them to make sure this was strictly enforced . You can only imagine the panic and upset that set in for both the bride and groom to know everything they planned would not come to fruition and that by now the guests have all started to arrive - from all over the world. After much back and forth they were told the only way to avoid the ‘plastic bubble’ was for both of them to test negative when they arrive. If you have been married you’d know how stressful your wedding day can be , and imagine being told that the only way you can enjoy your reception is down to minutes prior to see if you test negative. My sister and her groom were met by security and other members of administration blocking the door to their reception to make sure ‘nothing happened’- ie they would try to get in. Not a way you want to be greeted. Fortunately they tested negative and could enjoy the party. I wish I could say that was the only negative part of the service but it wasn’t. The wait service was terrible throughout the night. They continued to take half drank drinks off the tables when people went to dance (probably because you pay per drink in the final costs). I personally had to get drinks multiple times without finishing my first since they kept being taken away. At the end of the night, 5 mins prior to the designated end they turned on the lights and became to usher people out.They started to pick up chairs prior to event finishing, cleaning off the tables etc. I was rudely told to leave immediately even though I was trying to find my 5 year olds party favour - which turned into a worker telling me I am lying when I said I saw workers cleaning them up and taking them away. Was also looking for my camera which I asked if they could ask if a worker took it while cleaning , I was told it’s not possible and they would never take nothing. Later it was found on a workers cart along with dozens of wedding favours that people didn’t pick up since they were still on the dance floor. I was told to hurry up and leave once more while getting my 5 year old ready. The event was to end at 12 and this was at 11:55. Chihuly is a beautiful and iconic venue that all of us were very excited to visit , but the service is not close to what you’d expect from such an establishment or the price you pay for it. There are dozens of much better venues to pick from unless you want to be stressed and upset on your wedding day. Don’t let them fool you in thinking they will ‘take care of you’ or make it ‘stress free’ . For the sake of yourself and guests choose another venue, you’ll be happy you did.

Here is one mother of the groom to comment on Chihuly as a wedding venue. Beautiful is not a big enough word to do it justice. It is a visual wonderland. When visiting Seattle for the first time some years ago, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I never would have believed that astounding place would be ours for a wedding. But pretty is as pretty does. Chihuly, I know Covid era comes with rules. But when both bride and groom contracted Covid within 8 and 13 days of the wedding, couldn’t someone have spoken to them kindly? Couldn’t CDC guidance be our guide? Couldn’t there have been some plan B in effect (an outdoor area? A signed waiver from each guest? ) Or something that did not involve literally zipping the wedding couple into an isolation bubble? (The bride and groom tested negative on site and were …released.) Couldn’t there have been ongoing communication to save 100 people from asking each other what’s going to happen on endless loop all wedding week? And just for good measure- again- couldn’t someone have empathized in word even if not in deed? The sour taste left by this beginning was unfortunately emphasized in the ending. The party showed no signs of winding down and I understand an ending must happen. But isn’t this politely accomplished by the lights coming up and an announcement for guests to gather their things and thank you for coming? But instead guests were shouted at to go home now and the tables were swept clear of belongings so that people were sent chasing after purses and party favors piled on takeaway carts like trash. Oh Chihuly, if you don’t want company just say so. Don’t host an expensive party with so little regard for a once in a lifetime event.