This is a review of the facility as an event venue, and does not reflect on it's merit as a sailing…read moreclub. I am not a member of the yacht club.
In March 2014, my wife and I rented the Corinthian Yacht Club for our wedding and reception for 130 guests. The facility, as the name implies, is foremost a yacht club and the location is terrific with spectacular views of Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains, and Shilshole Marina. The price of the venue rental seemed reasonable and we were able to work with their in-house chef Rachel Moore to cater a portion of our event. We hired an outside vendor, the Paella King, to cater the main course and he did an amazing job. The yacht club allowed him to set-up outside and cook on the dock without issue. Rachel was very accommodating to our food requests and her appetizers were delicious. She and her servers worked very hard and did a great job. I would recommend Rachel for your catering needs.
However, the same cannot be said about the on-site bartender Karen. She was impossible to reach by phone during the week leading-up to the event and my wife had to leave several messages for her at two or three different numbers; clearly, she doesn't carry a cell phone and wasn't prepared for the event. Karen was rude to members of our wedding party and guests during the event, and her negative attitude is not really suited for the service industry. When provided with the ingredients, recipe and serving bowls for a punch (Sangria), she scoffed at the idea and said she didn't know how to make Sangria and that I, the groom, should stay at the club and mix the proportions of ingredients. She was inept and had a very poor attitude throughout the eleven hours she was paid (and tipped!). The next day Rachel the caterer apologized to us for Karen's behavior and told us that we were not the first to have a problem with her.
The yacht club office was very accommodating in that they were willing to bill us later for the balance due. However, when we received the bill from the office manager, Rachelle, we were surprised by extra cleaning charges. We were told that the janitorial crew would clean the club before we checked out and returned the key. This did not happen the night of the wedding or the next morning. We returned with our families in the morning and at least 10 people spent 4 hours cleaning the entire facility, including the bar, the walls, organizing the party rentals for pick-up, and returning the club to it's original configuration. Still, we received a bill with $600 in fees for cleaning and repairs, including a broken office chair which could not be substantiated, as only the bride and groom, reverend, and bridesmaids entered the office. We conceded to the spills and to a damaged toilet seat, after all there were 130 guests, but the extra charges seemed punitive and possibly a means for the club to account for some additional carpet cleaning and needed repairs.
Aside from the questionable billing and the horribly inept bartender, we did manage to pull-off a great DIY wedding. To their credit, the club was always accommodating prior to the event and allowed us to come in to take measurements, lighting tests, etc. When we set-up the club for the wedding, Rachel and Rachelle said they'd never seen it look so nice. The Corinthian Yacht Club can be transformed into a very beautiful space.
The bottom line: If you're looking for someone to take care of everything, this is not your place. You can expect to do a lot of cleaning and pay for more. It's run by part-time-employees and volunteers and they're not very organized. But it is very affordable and the location is gorgeous!
