Wherever, whoever....let me be the first one to congratulate.

Steven Holl's Ignatius Chapel (in Bellevue, I think) is absolutely exquisite. I have no idea, however, about costs or dominational requirements (ie do you have to be Catholic to get married there?)

Congratulations and good luck in the venue search.

What is "architecturally non-offensive"?
Can you hold wedding receptions in public libraries?

Thank you for the congrats. I would guess you have to be Catholic to get married at St. Ignatius, but it is also too small. I've looked at Holl's museum in Bellevue, and the Olympic Sculpture Park. Both are a little more than I was looking to spend. I was hoping someone would have suggesions other than the big name destinations. Something clean and tasteful. I know these are ambiguous terms, but being in the profession I'm sure we all have somewhat similar tastes. Any studio spaces? Galleries? Again, thank you for any suggestions. This search has turned out to be a lot harder than I had thought.

Try digging through The Modern List? It done by the guys/gals over at Build and might have what you're looking for!

Regardless of architectural significance, I would want to get married somewhere along the water. It's kind of a no-brainer, there's so much of it here in Seattle and the waterfront is almost universally beautiful. Maybe you should just hop on your bike and go looking? Isn't there a nice pavilion at GasWorks Park? That would be sweet, probably pricey though.

Redmond has 42 public parks.

I just went to one up there that actually was in Port Townsend if you dont mind having it outside of town. It was on the pier there and reception was in the garden of one of the little old hotels.

The Ballard locks have a nice garden area, it might allow weddings

I went to a beautiful wedding about 2-3 hours outside of Seattle, it was in the mountains over the Columbia River. I vote outside for sure!

Ok, so I'm also in the process of trying to figure this stuff out on a tight budget. Let us know if you figure
out anything super cool and super cheap.

The Holl chapel is on Seattle university campus and you have to be either student or alumni of SU to use it. And it's pricy.

Places I would look at for more clean slate type venues are;

Mount baker community hall. (cheap, flexable, can hold a lot of people and it has some nice large windows with tons of green foliage and a very northwest craftsmen feel)

golden gardens bathhouse. ( still cheap but I think there were extra costs, you get the beach and water and it's a really cool space inside an old retrofitted building with a cool combination of brick and steel. The big down side for me was it was too public)

Pravda on capital hill ( very cool space
and they have all the bells and whistles that you can rent, stuff like designer furniture and drapes. Also a huge industrial elevator that you can get a car in! But it's a bit expensive. And when we checked they were booked at least a year out.

I think at this point were leaning towards a smaller semi destination wedding with close friends and family out in the national park on the penisula. Were going to check it out next weekend and hopefully set a date.

Good luck, share what you find.

i have been to a couple of small weddings in local parks, pretty much the best option, budget wise.

prada is like 5k

golden gardens runs a little less than 2k after taxes, fees, permits

other options:
seattle library

olympic sculpture park

chinese room @ smith tower

miller hull's mercer view community center

i would do the destination wedding, especially if everyone is already flying here.

off all the people i know that have been married here in the last 2 years, i don't think any were less than $2000 for the venue.

it's basically a huge scam, upheld by morons who think dropping $25k for a wedding is somehow necessary.

oh, and if you are looking small, i've been to a few small gatherings (non-wedding, but they might do it) at these facilities:

urbanlights

winston waechter gallery

frye art gallery

Zeitgeist Coffee

canlis glass studio (yes, that canlis)

the tasting room

i hear you on the scam thing holz. we were going to get married in san francisco when we were living there. every person you talked to said their services cost a minimum of $2k and some cost a lot more. location, catering, photography, dress. on and on and on. with the entire fam spending time, effort and money to fly in, we decided to go to them. got married in her sister's house which was the house that my wife grew up in once her family moved to the states. super sweet. about 50 people there. we took the rest of the money her parents gave us to use for the wedding and went to europe for a month. for us, this was one day, a special day but still one day, in the rest of our lives. there was no reason to go broke on a 4-6 hour party.

Thanks to everyone for all the ideas. I think we're getting close to settling on the Golden Gardens Bathhouse. I'm checking availability right now. A lot of places on the modern list would have been perfect had they been a little bigger. I really like Zeitgeist coffee, but it was a little too small. Thanks again and I'll let you know how this struggle resolves itself.

Kubota Gardens is beautiful! the rental fee is just around $300, then if you want a tent, you'd pay for that. Another option is to hire a wedding designer and they can get good rates at any venue. There are great, less expensive things on the Bainbridge side too - A beautiful ferry ride could get you to Bainbridge Island or POulsbo where you can do Kiana Lodge for example. Gorgeous, on the water.

SAM and The Olympic Sculpture Park is good one. By the way, have you heard of MiNeeds.com? It really simplifies finding affordable Wedding service providers. I used it to find them for my wedding. Essentially, after I described what I needed on this site, I received several competitive bids from local Wedding service providers. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to call around and negotiate with each, and that they actually came to me.

Seattle Wedding Services - Get Bids & Save | MiNeeds

 I’ve been using their service for a couple of months and it was amazing, I received three offers in less than hour. I liked how they were professionals, I would highly recommend using this site.

This thread is OVER 4 YEARS OLD.  They could be married and divorced by now.  Just kidding.

To others considering this: lots of places to conceivably hold outdoor weddings in Seattle, if you pick a day it doesn't rain or have a canopy ready, much like a Jewish wedding.

The Arboretum, Jose Rizal Park (view), Kerry Park (THE postcard view), someplace in Bellevue on Meydenbauer Bay, Marina Park in Kirkland, or Chateau Sainte Michelle (the winery).  The coolest would be to get married on a Washington State Ferry, on the open decks, as it's crossing Puget Sound.  For all of these, you'd have to ask, except for Chateau Sainte Michelle, which has buildings and may have event rooms.

Or you can go into the nearby forests, do it quickly, and not ask anyone for permission - in true Seattle granola form.