Sewage treatment plant advertises as wedding venue

Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Center just started advertising on Facebook about its availability as a wedding venue.

"Need a place to party? With a full catering kitchen, state-of-the-art AV equipment, dance floor, ample parking, beautiful outdoor grounds, and room for up to 260 people, our LEED Platinum certified Brightwater Center has everything you need for your wedding reception or special event," said the Facebook post.

"The natural area that is around it is beautiful, we can have outside weddings as well," said Susan Tallarico, director of Brightwater Environmental Education & Community Center.

The weddings or wedding receptions would take place at the Brightwater Center, just steps away from where raw sewage is processed.

"I know, who would’ve thought?" said Tallarico.

Even though the facility was finished in 2011, it has only been available to rent for about seven months.

Brightwater charges $2,000 to rent the indoor section of the Brightwater Center for eight hours.

The money from the events goes back into environmental education programs at the treatment facility.

"Price -- it always comes down to price, a lot of the other venues in this area are basically wineries," said Tallarico.

A few miles away at DeLille Cellars in Woodinville, which is also a popular wedding venue, we talked to Jacky Grotle, wedding planner and owner of Northwest Event Success.

She's worked on weddings in the Seattle area for 22 years.

"So some top venues would be SoDo Park, Olympic Sculpture Garden," Grotle added, "The Fairmont, Seattle Art Museum."

We asked her what she thought of Brightwater Center as a wedding venue.

"I think a lot of people will have a hard time getting past what really happens there. You're having food and beverage, it somehow doesn't feel right," Grotle said. "I don’t think I could recommend it ever to my clients. My clients have pretty high standards in working in Seattle and the east side, and... I would never put it as a suggestion."

Grotle admits the lower price of Brightwater may attract some couples.

"Upper end venues range from 5 to 10,000 so it's definitely less than half of nicer range facilities," said Grotle.

Tallarico doesn't think that the event space being so close to the wastewater treatment facility is a problem.

"We've never really had people who were super turned off, they kind of come in and fall in love with the space," said Tallarico.

She also added that guests wouldn't be able to smell the sewage.

Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Facility is a "zero odor" facility, meaning all of the processing is contained and there is no odor in nearby areas.

"It's not an issue, it really isn't," said Tallarico.

She said there have already been calls about availability for weddings and one couple has booked the space for a wedding.

KIRO