Quoted for truth.

Been to a lot of weddings.

Caterers, for whatever reason, just don't cut it.

Get a location that also has its own restaurant/kitchen/etc.

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With that said... I have some experience on hosting private events, helping to organize some weddings for my friends:

Here are some suggestions based on your capacity requirements:

1- Spanish Hall/Room in Hotel Georgia Rosewood (you can request food from Hawksworth or the default Hotel Kitchen) - Stephanie Lou-Hing (if she still works as the organizer there) is FABULOUS.
2- Blue Water - the entire main room +++ the Pacific room joined will give you 170 to 220 people, but expect to pay through the roof because you'll be basically paying for the restaurants entire night's revenues, so it will be $20k to $30k at least (I inquired a while ago)... Stefan (sp.) is a prompt and Tara (who moved on) was on point in service.
3-Market by Jean Georges has an outdoor terrace option for about 80 people and an adjoining room (If I remember, was named "Conrad or Concord, forgot" room) can host another 100 people. The terrace can be enclosed if it rains. The food is good as well, and it's the 6th floor... so quite the ambiance... You don't have to buyout the restaurant's table space. They use Shangri-La's meeting rooms on the 6th floor for this +++ Market by Jean Georges food.
4-The roof top of the Vancouver Convention Centre though you'll have to cater here. The roof-top has greenery and enough room for your capacity.
5-Gleneagles golf course has a building that overlooks the public golf course.
6-The Vancouver Aquarium has its own kitchen but the food is only sub-par. Lots of buildings in the Aquarium - Arctic Gallery should be big enough for 170-220 and you are underground watching Belugas, and the Gallery has an Arctic Char display and other tidbits (Seals exhibit as well). Or the Tropical fish area, though 170 will be a tight fit.

Price is quite similar... about $100 per head, wine included (depends on how many bottles you pre-select, and/or open bar, etc.), unless you choose Blue Water which will be at least $150 and up (because you have to buy out the restaurant's tables).

Oh, and Hawksworth allow you to pay AFTER the dinner/wedding party (you just pay a deposit first and the rest later), whereas a lot of the other venues require full payment a day before the date.

Good luck.

Northlands in Langley, eh?

Pretty sure he means Newlands..

I've been to a few weddings there. Good venue.

I might have to change my wedding venue :considered:

I couldn't agree more. we are looking to cut costs in different areas. I'm going to go over the invitation list and try and cut it down. I have a really good photographer thats a family friend and a good discount on a dj currently right now. flowers won't be a huge priority. We have a lot of people that i haven't talked to/seen in 5-10 years. once we weed through the guest list, it should help our budget drastically. hoping to drop about 40 guests

You can bank on about 15-20% of your guests not being able to make it even with a cutdown list. People will have health issues, financial issues etc and you'll get surprising declines. Granted you can't book a place on that assumption but you might want to assume that 10% won't make it.

I had mine recently at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby..and it was near Marine and Byrne...go figure..

Riverway has an awesome venue. A good buddy of mine got married there this summer. Wasn't as good of a deal compared to Westwood Plateau food wise (price and quality), but the venue is far and away nicer than most in the city.

If your on a budget I'd suggest checking out hotels in Richmond. You can get fair prices and still have a nice hotel venue!

Check out the Westin Wall Centre. It can host up to 250 people dinner and dance.

the fuck did i just watch (the Halloween party)

I highly recommend the Hilton Metrotown as a wedding venue.

I had my wedding reception there 6 years ago (to the exact day in 2 days) and it was excellent. The ballroom is quite large (we had 28 tables of 10, plus the head table, two buffet tables, podium, dj area, dance floor, and 2 juice tables) and it accomodated our needs. On top of that we had 2 open bars in the forier area, cocktails in the same area and full dessert buffet too!

The ballroom is located on its own floor and pretty much private from the rest of the hotel. It even has a patio area just outside the ballroom doors, along with washrooms on the same floor.

The location was also a big selling feature for us. We felt that having it in that particular part of Burnaby was quite central in the GVRD. Also, it's not as busy as most hotels/venues closer to the downtown Vancouver core.

As for price, it wasn't the cheapest place we found but definitely not the most expensive. In my opinion it was priced quite fair.

What it didn't have was a "spectacular view" or elaborate decor. Don't get me wrong, the place looks great but it's not Hotel Georgia or Westin Bayshore. But we were willing to give up the extra "wow it looks great" factor because it pretty much met all of our other criterias.

The wedding manager's name is Janelle. Last time I checked, she still works there. Very nice lady and easy to deal with.

Hope this helps!

For true budget option try the Olympic Village Community Center. gorgeous views of false creek and science world. Think it was $1000 to rent the place out

For my upcoming wedding next year, it will be in Richmond. So the fiance and I chose the Richmond Country Club. We have around 150 - 220 Guests as well. My sister and a few friends got married here as well, so it's pretty good. Awesome food too. For me, the top priority are my guests, so if the food is awesome and parking is cheap or free, I'm good.

Other venues we that we were very close to choosing includes:

Vancouver Convention Center
- best view ever
- food is catered by a 5 star chef (whatever that means)
- parking is a bit costly for the guests ($20 for the evening)
- would have picked this if I didn't lose some money on some option plays i did in 2012

Hart House
- Outdoor in a tent if you're in to that

My buddy just recently had his reception at Coast Harbour Hotel in DT. We would have considered this as well but missed out on this for some reason:

- food is pretty good
- underground parking is cheap for guests next door ($7-$8 for the night)
- venue it self is awesome aesthetically - has 20 ft. ceilings and has glass to glass walls overlooking the north shore ( you could see some water, but 80% buildings... still nice)
- venue cost was within my budget

Re: Hart House - It's $$$ to rent the tent. They quoted me $5K to get the tent and then a minimum spend of $100/guest pre-tax/tip.

That said, I attended a lunch hour wedding reception indoors and food and service was very good (the truffled mac and cheese was amazing). If you've got the $$$ the outdoor venue is pretty nice on a summer evening.

Re: Coast Coal Harbour - my wedding was $72/head for food this summer. They do not include things like chair covers etc but we did hold the ceremony at the hotel for "free".

Check out Jewel ballroom. Had my wedding there last year. Bit of a hidden gem in Vancouver.
Jewel Ballroom & Catering | Vancouver Venue Rentals, Event Hall, Weddings, & Catering

You can always pay for your guests valet parking. Our guests appreciated it.

We hired 2 valets for $300 from 3pm-11pm. We had almost 100 guest in a Yaletown restaurant venue.