L'Abattoir is for couples who want their wedding to feel unmistakably Vancouver, a little historic, a little unexpected and built around a truly beautiful meal.
Hidden in Gastown's historic Gaoler's Mews, the restaurant's private wedding space sits inside an original brick-and-beam building where old Vancouver character meets glass, steel and contemporary design.
The entire room is intimate by nature.
Up to 50 guests can gather for a seated celebration, or up to 70 for cocktails and canapés. For something smaller still, the space can be divided into two private rooms, each seating up to 24.
That makes L'Abattoir especially lovely for the kind of wedding where everyone in the room matters.
And the whole wedding can happen here.
Couples can hold the ceremony and reception in the same private space, beginning with the vows before sending guests out to enjoy Gastown for a little while as the room transforms for dinner.
It is almost a gift built into the day.
The newlyweds disappear into one of Vancouver's oldest neighbourhoods for photographs.
Guests wander cobblestone streets, find somewhere nearby for a drink and watch the city carry on around them.
Then everyone returns.
The ceremony room they left behind has become somewhere completely different.
Tables are set.
Wine is poured.
The restaurant's culinary team takes over and food becomes one of the central parts of the celebration rather than simply something served between speeches.
By daylight, natural light moves through the room.
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After dark, distinctive chandeliers glow above the brick and beams and the intimate space begins to feel even warmer.
There may be only 50 people at the tables.
But that is the beauty of it.
Nobody is lost at the back of a ballroom.
Everyone can hear the speeches.
Everyone can see the laughter at the next table.
And when dinner finally gives way to dancing, the restaurant that spent the evening feeling beautifully refined gets permission to become considerably less sensible.
For couples who want to marry in the middle of Vancouver and celebrate over exceptional food surrounded only by the people they genuinely could not imagine the day without, L'Abattoir turns a corner of old Gastown into something wonderfully personal.
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★ Special rate · $500 off