Center for Urban Horticulture — Attraction in Seattle

What an incredible space to have a wedding. My husband and I graduated from UW, but we were completely unaware of this hidden gem of a venue behind the university driving range. We held a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony, wedding ceremony, and reception at the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH). It is an excellent place for a moderate sized wedding - ours was 150ish people - and there was so much room to roam (great for those families with kiddos!)

We had no problems booking the venue after a tour with Britney Para, a helpful and upbeat venue manager at CUH. She guided us through the various possibilities on where to hold each ceremony and how past weddings have flowed. She was clear with us from the start of a few key points: We were responsible for mostly everything, she would request help for chair setup, etc. but we should essentially treat our venue rental as a community center rental. They will be there to open and close the doors, but you cannot expect any more. We were fine with this, as we worked with a rental company that helped with setup, teardown, etc. The price of booking the entire venue was very reasonable, especially for Seattle.

CUH uses a preferred catering list, but to deviate from this list only costs $200. We opted to use a different caterer and it was not an issue. They also offer the use of AV and electronic equipment for an added nominal fee if you want to have a slideshow or video. Be aware that there is an extra fee on top of the normal venue fee ($400ish) to use the Goodfellow Grove, but for us, we fell in love with it and had to use it for our wedding ceremony! The Goodfellow Grove, in my opinion, elevates the wedding ambiance because it gives that earthy, green PNW vibe that we all know and love ;)

Aside from wedding stuff, CUH is a great place to run, walk through, and explore. I run on the trails behind the venue all the time, as they connect to Montlake and other trails around the UW area. CUH is a happening place, with weddings, meetings, and plant sales throughout the year. I love that every time I come, the scenery changes with...

BEWARE OF !!DEADLY!! NIGHTSHADE

My bf and I were touring the gardens. We found a plant with beautiful, luscious berries. It looked familiar and then I found a tag on the tree that said “serviceberry”. Since I recently looked at buying some serviceberry plants I figured that was where I recognized them from.

We each ate one berry. Initially sweet the berries quickly turned to an absolutely awful taste that I can’t accurately describe. We immediately spit them out and luckily I had water, which we used to rinse our mouthes. No swallowing. We made it another 100ft and the headache kicked in.

A quick google search confirmed my suspicions that what we had eaten was not serviceberry and another search that it was likely deadly nightshade. We went straight to the staff. They seemed completely apathetic and were wildly unhelpful.

It’s ten hours later and I still have a headache. AS LITTLE AS THREE BERRIES CAN KILL!!! And they were labeled as serviceberries!!!!

I had some previous experiences here that were great, but someone could die from their indifference. Please...

Just the most beautiful event space! We were fortunate enough to have our wedding at the Center for Urban Horticulture (CFUH)- after a thorough venue search we knew we wanted somewhere that was Seattle-authentic, mostly outdoors, allowed outside catering and affordable. CFUH was all of that! In addition, the staff were so easy and accommodating to work with-they let us use some of their rentals, helped with setup and cleanup, etc. The rental includes a number of different outdoor spaces within the venue and we loved using each one for a different portion of our wedding. The grove area used for the ‘dining room’ is truly magical, it’s under a tree canopy and spacious enough to feel Covid-safe. Our guests couldn’t stop raving about how gorgeous it all was! We highly recommend hosting an...