Our team spends a lot of time working with Pique Travel Events, an Excelsior wedding and event venue. This is not only because it is a great venue, but also because our owner, Dana Allison, is the venue manager! Having Dana as your contact at Pique is great for a couple of reasons:
- You get to work with an experienced event planner when you book your event at Pique Travel.
- You are presented with the opportunity to easily book our services to have our help through the entire planning process and on the day of your event!
This rustic and historic venue is filled with endless charm and character. To give you a better understanding of the space, we had Dana answer a few interview questions.
How old is your building, what is its history and when did you start doing events?
It was built in the 1940s and used to be a lumber warehouse. The owners bought it and converted it to a travel agency in 2013. They started doing events a year or two later after a few travel clients asked to use the space for their private events. All of the sudden, a new Excelsior wedding and event venue was born!
What do you think the best feature of your venue is?
For sure the original hardwood floors that still have the yellow markings where the pallets of lumber would sit for customers, and the original barrel-wood ceiling. We like to say people come in and they look up and look down at our venue more than other places.
What do you think is the biggest challenge of working in your space, and what are some best practices for it?
It’s definitely the size of it. We are great for smaller events, 100 people or less. Anything more than that, particularly if you are trying to have a seat for everyone to eat at once, can be challenging. We are pretty candid with people about what does and does not work in the space.
What do you think is the perfect number of guests for your venue, assuming everyone will be sitting at a table at one time? What is the benefit of having this number of guests?
It depends on the type of event. If it’s a wedding with the ceremony on-site, 50-75. If the ceremony is off-site, up to 100. If you don’t want to have to bring in extra tables and chairs, 80 or less. The fewer people you have the more room for them to move around and the less that needs to be removed for the dance if you are having one.
What is the most interesting thing someone has done at a wedding at your venue?
We had a bat mitzvah where someone brought in a light-up dance floor! Such a fun thing for that age group, but also really anyone who wants to make the space look very different than it usually does. Shout out to Kirk at Imagine Lights for the dance floor!
Do you require a professional planner or day of coordinator at your venue? Why or why not? If you don’t have one, or have one that doesn’t do a good job, how does it affect you as a venue and the wedding as a whole?
We do not require a planner or coordinator, but it’s always helpful when they have one. Because our events, particularly weddings, tend to be smaller and more of a DIY crowd, they often don’t have one. When there is not a main point of contact who is not the client or a family member, it falls to the other vendors to try and manage things, or the client or family members to get everything done. We have seen a set up where it has been family members trying to do everything and it never seems to go smoothly. It’s great when there’s someone in charge who is a professional and knows how to handle whatever may come up.
If you are looking to have your event at Pique and need a planner, send us a message. We would love to use our knowledge of the space to bring your event to life!
If you want to get an inside look at a Pique Travel wedding we’ve planned, check out Annie and Alex’s wedding day blog.
