We got married here last September 9/12/2009 and it was fabulous! We found Court in the Square on the internet actually, just searching for places to get married in downtown Seattle. As people have said in other reviews, Bob can be a little bit hard to deal with, and can make it a little confusing to make decisions with. But once we got past that and figured all our food out, it was great! The woman, whose name I can't remember was great the day of the wedding, while we were getting ready. Very helpful and patient. I didn't see much of Bob that day at all actually, which did seem a little weird. But she definitly had everything together and made me feel very calm and sure that everything was well put together. The place is just so beautiful, there's no way you could get bad photography there. Rick Takagi was a wonderful wedding photographer that day, making the day so special and getting so many perfect shots. I highly recommend him! http://ricktakagi.zenfolio.com/weddings We went to a private room after the ceremony, where there was champagne waiting for us. Then our photographer took us up to the roof for some beautiful pictures in the fading Seattle sunlight. It has a great view of Downtown and Elliot bay. Everything about the whole day was perfect, and the Court in the Square staff absolutely was a huge part of that happening! I recommend it for a ceremony and/or reception venue in downtown Seattle. read more

I tried to contact the venue using the phone number listed and it says the number is disconnected. Anyone have any ideas how else I can get in touch with them? The venue looks gorgeous! read more

My husband and I were married at Court in the Square on 6/26/04....and it was the best day ever. I swore I would never be a June bride...but it happened. Working with Bob was pleasant. He was very helpful is assisting us with the menu since our guest list was quite large. He was able to customize a lot. And he worked well with the other vendors we had there that day (flowers, photographer and cake). We received many compliments from our guests about the food and location. Lot's of great photo ops. And they were kind enough to send us off with a to-go box when we were leaving, since we only had a taste before being mobbed by friends and family. read more

My husband and I was planning to have our wedding with them, and decided to cancel it. The place looks really great for it's price. High ceilings, and great looking fountain in the middle. However Bob is not the type of person I would recommend as a coordinator. He would never give you a straight answer. I asked him many questions about how things would go: such as event set up, the food that they will serve, decoration, and etc. He would just give you a very vague answer. The menu he showed us was nice, but missing a price list. It's our wedding, clearly we have the right to know how every thing would be priced and all, of course he would never explain it. He is also very hard to get contact with. We have gave him a call, left a voice message for all most every week yet he would never gives us any replies. What kind of coordinator is this. He also did not gave a refund for our down payments. If you are searching for a wedding spaces, I recommend somewhere else. I would rather spend more money and get the services that I deserve (and a better planner!). read more

My experience with Court in the Square was a nightmare. The capacity of the venue was completely misrepresented to us, Bob's communication was unbelievable--unresponsive and incredibly slow to respond, with nearly unintelligible answers. We put down a deposit of $3000, and when we learned that the venue would not actually fit our guest list as promised, we decided to change our location to fit our needs. This process took over 5 months!! Bob refused to give our money back originally, so I appealed and appealed. There is apparently a board of directors who make these decisions, but he would not allow me to contact them directly to explain my situation. I nearly had to get a lawyer involved, when he finally agreed to give us our deposit back due to his own misrepresentation of the venue, and our check was again 3 months late to get to us, and required me emailing and calling over and over again to get him to send it. Very unhappy with the venue, despite it being beautiful, and it caused us a lot of grief and stress that was unnecessary and could be improved with better communication. read more

We had a very small family only wedding here. The space was decorated beautifully for Christmas. My biggest complaint is the disorganization of the management. To their defense, we booked only about two month in advance. Bob kept telling me that he would email me a contract with our discussed terms and amount. Finally 1 week before the date, I called and after 3 days he finally emailed the contract. It was 4X the amount originally quoted. My fiance and I called immediately and we were able to talk him down to the original amount. We did not use any of the catering or bartending services. The day went perfectly, without a hitch, and everything came together just fine. However, I would not recommend this venue or use it again in the future because of the lack of organization and poor communication. read more

I don't normally write reviews but I feel the need to write this one because my fiancé and I came to Yelp in search of guidance when making our own decision and the reviews below were very helpful. We decided to have our wedding at Court in the Square in September 2013. From the sound of some reviews we'd read, we were initially concerned about Bob's communication. We are not a "needy" couple by any means yet we still found Bob's communication style (or lack thereof) unnecessarily stressful throughout the planning process... until I finally said something about it towards the end and he seemed to put in more effort. Face to face, Bob is charming, friendly and refreshingly direct. He has been planning weddings for a long time, he knows his stuff, just don't expect a lot out of him during the planning or in a timely fashion. Be prepared to have to chase him down at times for routine items that he says he will provide in a few days (like contract or menu options). It can take weeks and multiple phone call/email reminders after that before he makes time. We didn't get some of our stuff until a week before the wedding and had to make some very quick decisions. His style... you basically tell him your dream, and he makes it happen. Bob is very good at turning a vision into a reality. The venue - stunning! Everyone loved the venue, they were blown away. It also provided tons of photo opportunities for our photographers too. The lighting can be difficult, but a good photographer will know what to do. Note... the sound in this venue can be difficult. We had a DJ tell us during an interview that he despises this venue because the sound bounces off the walls. We did not hire him due to his distaste of the venue, but... sadly, he was correct. It was difficult to hear the DJ announcements, toasts and speeches. Music sounded ok though. The food... sadly again... I was a bit disappointed. On a good note, I will say that the food was fresh, high quality organic, and cooked well. However, it was extremely bland, and some of it was cold. Our guests were not impressed, which was a bit embarrassing since my fiancé and I enjoy hosting and cooking so much. I mentioned this to Bob early in the planning because I had read the same thing about the food in a review, so we asked for a tasting. He said they don't provide tastings and said "We don't drench our food in salt and seasonings. Steak should taste like steak, salmon like salmon", etc. True, yes, we agreed and that eased our worries. But on our wedding night... we understood what people meant.... And yes... it was very bland, and some of it was cold. We let Bob handle the alcohol selections and he did a fantastic job at that. He knows what to pair. Jackie is one of the coordinators we had, and she was great. She was friendly and helpful. She was there at 7am for set up and stayed until about 7pm (long day). Paying the extra for a coordinator (which I believe Bob is making mandatory now) is totally worth it. I would also recommend having things buttoned up before she leaves your event. A few things fell apart in regards to the schedule and we had to make multiple requests to make sure stuff on the schedule was done after she left. All in all... my wedding day as a whole was great. In all honesty... you are basically paying for the beautiful venue. The food was not anything to rave about, and the hiccups along the way were pretty upsetting, but I will have beautiful photos and memories that will last a lifetime from this unique location. I hope this review was helpful. Feel free to contact me with any questions! read more

I have been trying to work with the contact for this venue, Bob, for a length of time. I had been warned about him from numerous people. As it turns out - he really is as difficult to work with as his reputation proceeded. He is impossible to get a hold of both by phone and email. When you do hear from him he is extremely curt and unhelpful. It has been clear in my interactions that he does not care whether guests are able to book the space or not - instead he acts as if his interactions are an inconvenience and nuisance. read more

After reading the reviews for Court in the Square I was a little hesitant to book this venue, but being a super-planner, I thought I would be able to handle the issues other people had warned about...but I was mistaken. Bob, the owner, loves to tell you that he can give you whatever you want at whatever price point you want. He doesn't offer standard menus, standard prices, or any general guidelines for the event. Everything is custom and determined by what you want. It was rather daunting to be forced to come up with the entire menu on our own, and was made worse by the fact that Bob never actually listened to our requests (or seemed to remember who we were when we called or met with him in person). My husband and I were trying to keep our menu simple and our costs reasonable, but the first two proposals Bob put together for us were more than double our price range and didn't include any of the menu options we had discussed. It took months of emails, phone calls, follow up phone calls when Bob did not respond to the original email/phone call, and face to face meetings to finally come up with a menu that was acceptable to us. Even when the menu was in line with what we wanted, Bob added in multiple hidden costs that would suddenly be removed or reduced when we called him out on them. Despite our persistent attempts to nail down the final details with Bob in the weeks leading up to the wedding, he was often unresponsive and, when we were finally able to get a hold of him, was lackadaisical in his response. It wasn't until TWO DAYS before our wedding that we came to an agreement with Bob on menu and price. Yes, the facilities were beautiful, the reception was amazing, and the food was great, but it was NOT worth the stress that Bob gave us. With two days to go before your wedding, you should not be hoping that you will actually have food at your reception. Unless you want to add another layer of stress to your wedding planning, stay away from Court in the Square. read more

Could not have been happier with Bob, the entire staff and our wedding here!!! From planning, to the rehearsal to the day of, Bob and the team were extremely accommodating, kind and professional. I was nervous about communication, due to the reviews below, but I found Bob great. I chose to plan every detail myself, so I would just send him my plans and they made everything happen perfectly. As long as you are doing the planning and can clearly explain your vision, they make it happen. On the day of, no request was too big for them and they really made me feel taken care of and special. There were several instances where I did not receive an immediate response, but never to questions that needed immediate answers and it never caused any stress. For the food, I gave them recipes that they followed perfectly and made the most delicious meal. For the drinks, I was able to provide the types of beer and wine we wanted and they took care of all of the details. If you do not need someone to plan every detail for you - this is by far the best location in the Seattle area. They work extremely hard to make your vision come true. Thank you Bob, Jackie and everyone at Court In The Square!!!!!!! read more

Our daughter had her wedding reception there 5/28/16. We are from out of town. The venue is interesting and the staff did a great job of moving chairs, tables, etc. around to accommodate this multi purpose space. We were very concerned that our daughter was never allowed a tasting before hand which is unheard of, in our opinion, for a wedding venue. There is a reason you aren't allowed to try the food. It is barely edible. So not only was my daughter unable to choose the appetizers and main course. She was never allowed to taste it before hand. Everything was very dry and very bland. In addition, peculiar choices were made They actually served corn on the cob. Corn on the cob at a wedding. Seriously? Why not with spinach so we can all walk around with spinach and corn in our teeth for the pictures! Also, the bar was very cheap with the booze reserved specifically for us. Beware people. I have heard it said that people never remember the food at a wedding. Well they remember it if it is bad and this was bad. read more