Weddings

Thank you for your interest in hosting a wedding at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Please review our current available dates and click here to get in touch with us for more information.

2023 Available Dates:

  • July 14-16
  • September 8-10 (maximum capacity 64)

2024 Available Dates

  • July 12-14
  • July 26-28
  • August 9-11
  • August 30-September 1   

Get married in the North Cascades

There is hardly a more spectacular place to host a wedding than beneath the jaw-dropping mountain peaks in the heart of the North Cascades National Park! The North Cascades Environmental Learning Center is an ideal venue to create your memorable wedding weekend with friends and family.

At our sustainable campus — named a "Top Three Spots in the North Cascades" by The Seattle Times and "Top Ten Great Getaways" by ParentMap Magazine — you will be surrounded by a pristine landscape, deep forests and glacier-fed lake, while being catered to by our dedicated staff. Guests can elect to participate in a number of outdoor activities on the trails and lake adjacent to the Environmental Learning Center.

Our indoor and outdoor facilities allow you to plan your wedding the way you imagine. For most dates, we can accommodate up to 92 guests at our ADA-accessible facility.

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All weddings include:

  • Use of our campus and facilities
  • Bed and bath linens for guests
  • Meals and dining
  • Onsite coordinator to make sure your needs are met*
  • Staff to help set up, clean up, and a menu of additional services
  • Outdoor learning opportunities with staff naturalists

*Please note that while North Cascades Institute staff does not fill the role of “wedding planner,” we will help to consult on your plans and provide information throughout the process for a successful event within operations at the Environmental Learning Center. 

Optional activities and services:

  • Tandem canoes (24 people, 12 at a time)
  • Big Canoe Voyage (2 boats with 15-20 people)
  • Guided naturalist hikes and fun field games
  • Wildlife lesson in our Exploration Lab
  • Nature Journaling or writing workshops
  • Campfire (with s’mores, of course!)

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Meals and Dining

Our meals feature elegant menus made with organic foods from the Skagit and Methow valleys that can be customized to match any dietary needs.

For weddings at the Learning Center, we offer custom meals that you coordinate with our kitchen staff to highlight favorite foods, dishes that are culturally relevant, and/or reflect family traditions. Leading up to your event, we’ll set up a meeting with our chef during which you’ll share some inspiration for the weekend’s meals. Our chef will then put together a comprehensive menu.

The meals are all served buffet style in our dining hall.  Our kitchen is guided by our Foodshed Initiative in which we aim to be as local and organic as possible (during the summer/fall we are about 95% locally sourced).

To ensure the best experience for all our guest, we strive for a maximum of 80 people. Groups of 88+ are accommodated by using the outdoor seating on the dining hall deck for some of the guests. The absolute maximum capacity is 100 guests.

Accommodations

The Environmental Learning Center has three beautiful, eco-friendly guest lodges, each with seven or eight guest rooms. Depending on the date of your event, we can accommodate up to 92 guests if we fill every bed.

North Cascades Environmental Learning Center Accommodations
Our Cedar and Fir lodges have comfortable group lounges with couches, a gas fireplace, and kitchenette. Each room has four twin beds (in the form of two bunk beds), two desks, reading lamps and two wardrobes with lockable compartments and can welcome up to 4 people. Lodges have shared bathrooms down the hall. 

For the wedding couple, we offer a private cabin called “Maple House” with a full kitchen and private bathroom located adjacent to guest lodges.

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Facilities

Our sustainably designed facility on the shore of Diablo Lake is LEED Silver Certified and includes the following gathering spaces:

  • Salmonberry Dining Hall (seats up to 88)
  • Outdoor amphitheater (seats up to 100)
  • Three conference rooms (seats up to 50 people)
  • Outdoor shelters
  • Wild Ginger Library
  • Lounges in lodges
  • Audio-visual equipment and indoor screens available
  • ADA Accessible


Learn more about weddings at the Environmental Learning Center on our Frequently Asked Questions page.