Chena Hot Springs Resort

Overall, the staff at Chena Hot Springs was fantastic. The event coordinator did her best to fulfill every one of our requests. The waitstaff was attentive without being intrusive. We were given complete creative control over the event space and the ceremony site. In addition to providing the ceremony and reception venue, they also accomodated most of the 120 wedding guests. Guests had their choice of luxury hotelrooms, standard rooms, yurts, or camping. They even supported landing of private planes. Despite the flawless performance on the day of the wedding, the planning process was a little nerve-racking. The response times to planning emails weren't always the fastest and it seemed that basic services (serving beer and wine) were not well-established, which was a surprise given the number of events that take place at this venue. Nonetheless, everything did fall into place on the Big Day and all the logistics that had seemed tricky to plan were pulled off without a hitch. OK, one change: halibut was substituted for salmon as an entree with no warning. Fortunately, all their food is good and the halibut was top-notch.

This is where our ceremony and reception was held. They also did the catering. While the ceremony went and reception went well, the food was awful. The chicken was cold and rubbery and the noodles were still crunchy! I'd recommend cooking yourself, or if you can't, supervise the cook!

I didn't care for the meal that they cooked (not quite what I had in mind), but it was pretty when they brought it out. They also provided all the tables and chairs and the reception hall. I would recommend supervising the cook, however; my chicken was rubbery.