The Arbutus Club Wedding Venue Review
The Arbutus Club has a long history and one of the premier Private Clubs in Vancouver. It has a number of facilities including pool, tennis courts, gym, exercise facilities as well as many other services including the ability to host many different types of events.
The parking lot at the Arbutus club is large. However, the club is very busy and it is usually quite full. They do have guest parking underground. This is also quite large and there is usually room for everyone. At the entrance to the underground parking lot you can enter a corridor to take you to the lobby of the club. This is great on rainy days. Parking is free as well…always a plus.
Dropping off your guests may not be necessary with the corridor from the underground parking lot to the lobby, but if you want to do that, there is a flat sidewalk that’s next to the stairs where any mobility challenged guests can have easy access. For your vendors, they do need to load into the lobby from the front entrance and this makes it easy for them. The whole venue is wheelchair friendly.
Vendors and guests must sign in at the front lobby and register their license plate number. They are then buzzed into the club. Elevators are straight ahead and the 2nd floor is where the event rooms are located. The elevator is normal size so most vendors with equipment or wheelchairs will fit in easily.
There are a number of event rooms of varying sizes. The Quilchena Terrace room, not to be confused with the Quilchena country club, is where I do most of the events for the club. It is a rectangular shaped room that could probably hold 80 guests but with the terrace, which is covered in winter, that could probably be doubled.
The dance floor is small and the DJ is normally set up by the bar so it is tight quarters. I find a smaller DJ setup is about all that can be fit into the space that they give for the DJ. There are not that many outlets so, at Christmas time when all the trees and decorations are plugged in, it can be a challenging time for your DJ to find power.
It is normally a buffet-style setting for dinner and it is set up on the dance floor. This also takes up room and limits the size of your DJ setup if the music setup is in the regular spot, right at the edge of the dance floor.
One thing I like is that they have a hallway closet outside of the room to hang guest’s coats. This keeps the room looking very clean and neat. It also gives the room a little more space. Guests do not have to worry about draping their coats over the back of their chairs as well.
The terrace to the side of the room is an extra space that can be utilized for larger parties. In the summer, it is nice for the guests to lounge in and enjoy the sunshine. In the winter, it’s covered by a tent structure. Unless it is being used it is unheated and if the terrace doors are left open, as guests often do, it can make the Quilchena room cold.
The staff is friendly and if your vendor is friendly, they will try to help them out. This venue seems to have set way of doing things so if you want your DJ to set up in a different location, then it would be wise to be very clear when booking the room so that staff are aware of any changes to the normal routine.
Your vendors should be aware that the front lobby closes at 11 pm and the front doors to the club are locked. If your event is going past 11 pm, your vendor will need to make sure the night manager is around so that the vendor does not get locked out while packing up equipment, going to get their vehicle from the underground parking, and trying to get back into the club to load the equipment from the upper room to downstairs and into their van.
The Arbutus Club is a conveniently located venue that is able to cater from small to mid-sized events. Even though it has a bit of a community center type feels at the entrance, once in the event rooms, that disappears. With the free parking and neatness of the facility, I give the club a 4 out of 5 stars.
Check out my venue review of Terminal City Club.