The Locks Wedding & Event Venue

We just had our wedding here. Location: The ceremony place is extremely beautiful. You are next to the water, the background is the mountain, and you are surrounded by the trees. You have three choices for your ceremony spot and three options for the reception, both indoor and outdoor. Both have their own beauty. It is also very peaceful and not crowded even though it is a park. The ceremony site is on a small island that is walkable (next to) from a parking lot. Price: We have looked at various venues, both in Portland and Seattle. I think it has the best price with the views you get. Contact them if you do not want to purchase the entire wedding package and they are very flexible. They do not have a required vendor list which makes your wedding even more affordable. They can provide tables, chairs, linens, bluetooth sound system (in door/outdoor), arch, setup help. You could rent a bridal suite to get ready. Management: The manager Jeanetta is literally one of the kindest person I have ever met. I think she alone deserves a 10 star rating. She truly cared and went above and beyond to help with our wedding. She was flexible, thoughtful and always willing to work with you! Other staffs at the office were also extremely nice.

We got married here in September and overall, it was a perfect day. I had a difficult time choosing a venue but ultimately we went with the Locks due to the scenic location not too far from Portland, ability to have getting ready spaces, ceremony, and reception area all on one site, and the price! Our photos turned out beautiful in part due to the gorgeous setting, which was important to me, and many of our guests commented about how beautiful the venue was. It was able to accommodate the three mobile trailers we had for catering and bartending, and the on-site audio equipment worked great for our ceremony and reception. There are two things I had to dock a star for. First, because there are two wedding sites on the island, and it is operated by a public agency, you can't reserve both wedding sites just for your wedding for the whole day. This wasn't a huge deal - the coordinator reached out to me well in advance of the day that there would be another wedding earlier in the day at the second wedding site on the same date as mine. That was fine, as I was assured they were having a short ceremony and would be well out of site 1.5 hours before my ceremony was scheduled to begin. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes before my ceremony, as my bridal party and I were getting lined up, I could still see the other bride and her guests near my ceremony area, they were just leaving. I was bit annoyed about the overlap, especially since I had been assured there was no chance of that happening. The second downside was I found the coordinator a bit difficult to communicate with. It was often difficult to get answers from her over email, and both of the times we met with her on-site she was at least 15 minutes late. I really had to be proactive in getting information from her because of how long it took to get responses sometimes. I understand she was very busy, and like I said, overall the day still went great and I wouldn't have gone with a different venue - but something to keep in mind when thinking about your own planning.

I'm so surprised that there aren't many reviews here on The Knot for this venue! My now husband and I knew we wanted an outdoor ceremony that showcased a scenic setting within about an hour of Portland. We looked at a couple wineries in the Willamette Valley but then searched online for venues in the Columbia River Gorge, can't get much more locally stunning than the Gorge! Most places were beyond our venue budget, like $10,000+ for just the rental of the space. We found a gem with The Locks, which is run by the Port of Cascade Locks. Our package included the ceremony right on the river, a quaint historic house where the wedding party could get ready and a great pavilion for the reception. It is a public park, but all those spaces are designated as reserved for wedding use and we had no problem, a few park goers even wished us well on the day. Another great part of the price was all chairs, tables and table cloths were included, along with set up and tear down by park staff. If you're looking for an affordable and Gorge-ous place to get married, check out The Locks!

I just got married here, and had an amazing experience! We had our ceremony outside on Thunder Island. The venue staff did the set up and tear down for the ceremony chairs. We did our photos immediately after on the island, with the beautiful river and historic Bridge of the Gods in the background. Our reception was in the gorge pavillion. The scheduling worked out so that we were able to have access to the room early to set up tables and chairs and to allow our vendors to set up. Jan, the events coordinator, was always very friendly and helpful! I thought the insurance requirement and their clean-up requirements were very reasonable. All in all, we had an absolutely magical day! I would absolutely recommend this beautiful venue.