Grand Ridge Manor

We had our wedding on September 5, 2015 at the Grand Ridge Manor. It is a relatively new venue within the Greater Seattle area and you can definitely see the place in which they have room to grow/ Below are the pros and cons of using the venue for your ceremony/reception:PROS:- The setting/scenery is very difficult to beat. Even though it rained during our reception we have received multiple compliments on how nice the venue looked. - If you want to have full control over a wedding where you plan literally every last detail then the operators of the venue are definitely not going to get in your way.CONS:- PLANNING: As noted above, the venue operators are very hands off when it comes to planning the wedding. If you are not prepared to have details like what type of plates and silverware you want...then this venue is not for you.- COMMUNICATION: We sent our deposit and set the date in September 2014. We did not hear from the venue or the operators until March of 2015. This is despite the fact that I (and others in the family) had started calling/emailing them the first week of January 2015. In the 12 months that we did business with the venue there was not one phone call that returned (this is not an exaggeration).- EXCUSES: Following up on the lack of communication, during the 12 months we worked with them their: voicemail system, email system, phone system somehow "unexpectedly went down" during times in which we would try and reach them. There was even a point in February where the website (they can't even maintain a Twitter or Instagram) went down and there was real concern that the owners had skipped town with our money. - DELAYS: You're expected to pay the rest of your balance 60 days prior to the date of your ceremony. When I reached out to them to find out where to send the check it took 30 days for them to give me an answer. While it was nice to have an extra $5,000 in my account it was a of their disorganized process. This ended up hurting us after the ceremony when they were two weeks late to returning our security deposit...not surprisingly, there had been an "unexpected issue" with their accountant AND they had a check get "lost in the mail".- CLEANLINESS: The inside of the house (specifically the Groom's suite) is just flat out dirty. It seems like a venue would hire a maid service to come in and clean up before each event, but apparently not. The poker table is sticky, the mini fridge had hair in it. When we had previewed the venue in September I had noticed cigarettes still in ashtrays and things like that which should have been another big red flag.- FOOD: When you use GRM you are required to use Emerald Cove Catering (they are owned by some of the same people). For the first tasting, we were told at 1pm to meet in Issaquah at 4pm the same day (apparently there had been an email issue and thats why they invited everyone so late). So, we skipped that one and went to the second tasting. Overall, the food was average at the tasting and there was very little direction on how to plan a menu. The other couples said that at the previous tasting the food wasn't even things on the companies published menus and you could see that it really confused them. I've planned menus in the past and ended up sending a special menu for our event. Fortunately, the cost was surprisingly reasonable.However, due to the rain that night it wasn't executed well and our buffet came out piece meal throughout the night.- DECOR: When getting the estimate for the food we specifically asked if it included plates, glasses and silverware. Their response was that it was all included and the cups would be plastic. So, we decided to rent glasses and went on our way. The day of the wedding as we were setting up (so 12:00 for a 6:00 reception) we saw that they had plastic knives and forks as well as little tiny cake sized plastic plates. My mom said that this wasn't acceptable and they needed to help find a solution. They went away for a few hours and then around 300 started setting back up with the plastic items. This forced us to run to the local Fred Meyer and buy all the silverware they had. I'm sure there is an argument that it was our fault for not getting them to specifically describe all parts of the decor...so let it be a lesson that you need to ask about EVERYTHING (one shouldn't assume that if you're paying $7500 for a venue they would assume you don't want to have plastic cake plates for your dinner course).FINAL THOUGHT: At the end of the day...the venue (at least the outside part) is great and if you have the time and resources to plan your perfect wedding without any help from the venue operators then you should be fine. However, it is a very, very high wire to walk across and if you don't ask a simple question like: "are the plates you are providing plastic cake plates?" then your stressful event can become even more stressful as you start having to troubleshoot at the last minute. Message me w/ ?

Beautiful! Great place for family photos wedding or special events! Lots of rooms, theater room, pool table, awesome kitchen! The girl that cooked for us was great! And the music through out the house was awesome! Staff very friendly and helpful! Highly recommended!

Very awkward place. On the surface it has a pleasant landscape with a MacMansion "Manor House". Management is mediocre, with subpar customer service. Outdoor events are plagued by mosquitoes and other insects from the surrounding wetlands. Particularly challenging if there has been any recent rain, or in hot weather. Sound system acoustics are crass and too loud, Last night I attended a function there and left early.

I contacted Grand Ridge Manor about scheduling a tour of the site for a wedding. Calling the number provided on their website, I got into contact with a woman named Tracy. She said she would give "them" a note and they would give me a call back. A week and a half goes by, no call. I call again to confirm, she says she'll try again. Another week goes by, no word. I call back and the phone goes to voicemail. I try again in another week, still no answer. Nearly a month later, I have yet to to get into contact with anyone to set up an appointment.If it takes this long to (unsuccessfully) schedule a site tour, I can't imagine what it would like trying to plan event here.

The location is beautiful, there is not doubt about that, but he quality of service was very low. I paid a lot for my few hours at this location, I would have expected better attention to detail, responsiveness, and quality. I was very disappointed in how the house was still dirty from a previous event, my parents had to help clean before they could even decorate. The lady that I was in contact from the beginning decided to quit a few months before, so I had someone else from that point and she was so unresponsive about just about everything! I had emailed, called, texted, and no response for days, including on the day of my wedding when no one was there when we needed to get into the building! The woman who was supposed to give me a key code the night before didn't even call me until 30 after our start time that was contracted for us to be in the building, when she did show up, she left after 15 mins and left a note for me, the bride, with my hair dresser who was the only one there at that point. She didn't even wait for me to make sure things were taken care of. Overall for the amount that I paid, I am VERY DISAPPOINTED and wouldn't have chosen this location, even though the house is beautiful, the lack of service is NOT worth it.

Beautiful grounds - my daughters wedding was SO MUCH FUN - the staff was so accommodating considering the weather was not behaving and we had to switch everything around at the last minute. Everything was as it should be and the wedding was BEAUTIFUL. To top it off the staff let of beautiful fireworks as the bride and groom drove off for the evening... what a great end to a wonderful day =)

My family planned a surprise birthday party for me at this venue. Gorgeous venue with beautiful grounds. The catering manager was wonderful. Definitely order the crab cakes! We've used this catered for other events including our daughter's wedding. They never disappoint!

This place is such a joke! My best friend got married here in June 2015 and it was a complete disaster. I was just sitting with her looking at her wedding album and she broke down in tears (not the happy kind!) Her memory of her special day is not a good one and it kills me. The "coordinator/owner" (or whatever the heck she is) Tracy was the most unhelpful and quite frankly the rudest person at this place. From the food not being out on time to the extremely understaffed employees (or teenagers since they all looked like they were still in high school) this wedding was a disaster. I am heartbroken to have seen someone so dear to me being treated so poorly on such an important day. She spent months just trying to get in touch with the coordinator to ask simple questions like "how early can the bride arrive for hair and make-up?" or "I need a copy of my deposit" (that one was because she was truly concerned they skipped out on her, no joke!) and she never got a hold of her! Somehow every phone number & email was "down" so that's why she could get in touch with anyone...for months...I would never recommend this place to anyone unless you are planning on out right buying it and firing everyone. It needs to either start over without that horrible woman in charge or close its doors for good!