My Top 5 Edmonton Wedding Venues

Hi all! Thought I would pop in and share something a little different today than my regular client sessions. I’m in my fifth year of photographing couples and their weddings, and with those years comes some experience. So today I’m sharing my top 5 favourite Edmonton and area wedding venues.

These have been my personal favourites to work at, and they are in no particular order. Planning my own wedding now I’m deep in the current throws of searching for a venue. I certainly underestimated how difficult this part of the planning would be (we still haven’t officially nailed anything down yet) as there are so many things to consider. Size has been our biggest obstacle with finding someplace that is big enough to accommodate all our guests. I love intimate small weddings, they are so lovely to photograph but Jonathan and I are big wedding people! I would say about 90% of the weddings I capture are big weddings, big weddings being around or over 120 guests.

I could go on and on about our personal experience with the wedding planning process. Maybe I’ll go into more detail with that later, but in the meantime, I simply want to share these top 5 wedding venues from a photographer’s perspective. So without further ado…

One: The Edmonton Golf and Country Club

Why I love it, the Edmonton Golf Club is a beautiful venue. Floor to ceiling windows line 2/4ths of the walls that look out onto the course and the Edmonton river valley. I’ve photographed many weddings here and the coordinator is always a pleasure to work with (huge bonus!) and the food is always delicious. Another thing that I personally love about this venue is the grounds themselves, they don’t let you go out onto the golf course to take pictures but that’s not a problem. The gorgeous evening sunset light is right on the front of the property anyway! I was able to create some of my favourite images ever right outside the doors of the Edmonton Golf and Country Club.

Two: The Enjoy Centre – Events at Enjoy

The Enjoy Centre, another amazing venue that I’ve personally photographed a lot at. For both weddings, other special events, portrait sessions, and engagement sessions. They have a few different spaces to have your wedding in but the most popular is the Moonflower Room as it is the largest. Always dreamed of having an outdoor or garden wedding but worried about the unpredictable Alberta weather? You don’t need to worry about that here, again the coordinator is amazing and works so hard. Transform the space into anything you want and you always get access to the greenhouse for portraits! The foliage changes out with the seasons so it never looks the same, definitely in the top 5!

Three: Calahoo Hall

The Calahoo Hall may seem like an odd choice but it’s a great choice if you’re more of a country bride. I genuinely love it when my bride tells me they’ve booked the Calahoo Hall for their big day. You wouldn’t think a small town would have such a nice venue but Calahoo does! It’s a blank slate and as a photographer, the light always bounces so beautifully in there. Win! It’s quite large with a separate area for catering, a small lounge in the back and a built-in bar. Another reason I love this venue is that it is basically in the middle of nowhere. A quick walk down the road you’ll find a few farmers fields, I really enjoy it when a venue has the opportunity to go outside and take some stunning sunset portraits of the couple. I am always on the lookout for a sunset option!

Four: The University of Alberta Botanic Garden

If you’re from Edmonton and haven’t been to the University of Alberta Botanic Gardens cancel your Sunday plans and head out there! Formally the Devonian Botanic Gardens, I’ve always loved photographing a ceremony out here. The staff are always accommodating and they have many different spaces and backdrops for a ceremony. They have a covered pavilion in case of hard rain so they really can accommodate anything. In addition, they also allow you access to all the gardens for portraits it’s always picturesque. This excellent if you’re looking for an outdoor ceremony location that’s big enough and easy access for you and your guests.

Five: The Sutton Place Hotel

I photographed my first wedding at the Sutton Place Hotel last summer, right in the heart of downtown Edmonton. If you’re familiar with Edmonton and this particular hotel you might not think much of the Sutton, however, they went through a renovation in the last couple of years and it is beautiful! The honeymoon suite was a stunner! Possibly one of the most amazing getting ready rooms I’ve seen. The soaring windows that look out over downtown Edmonton are amazing. The reception room itself is large and plenty of room for a large headtable mix of round and rectangular tables and a dancefloor! The light was a dream to work within this space, I thought it was a classic. I can’t wait to shoot here again!