St. Elias Convention Centre

St. Elias Convention Centre feels like a big, bright gathering place set down in front of a wall of mountains, the kind of room where a whole village can turn up for the party.

Run by the Village of Haines Junction, the centre sits with snow-capped peaks as its backdrop. Inside, the Grand Hall seats more than 200 guests for dinner, and built-in retractable theatre seating unfolds for 258 when the evening calls for speeches or a performance. Around it are meeting rooms that run from 340 square feet up to 4,000, a central registration area and exhibit space measured in the hundreds of square feet, so a ceremony, a cocktail hour and a reception can each have a room of their own.

The foyer and atrium double as a gallery for the Haines Junction Permanent Art Collection, which gives guests something beautiful to wander past between the vows and the first dance. Audiovisual equipment is built into the facility, and event coordinators are on hand before and during an event to keep the practical side moving.

Booking is straightforward: a public calendar shows what is free, and a facility booking request form starts the conversation with the village office, which prepares a customised quote.

Picture guests arriving with mountains filling the windows, dinner for two hundred under one roof, and a dance floor that lasts as long as the northern summer light. For couples who want a mountain wedding with room for everyone, this is the hall the whole valley gathers in.

• A ballroom or banquet hall
• A historic setting
• A coordinator to guide the day
• Sound system and audio-visual
• Sparklers or fireworks send-offs