About Shaughnessy Restaurant at Vandusen Botanical Gardens
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, this restaurant offers a relaxing ambiance, casual elegance, and charming garden vistas to create a modern wedding experience. Shaughnessy Restaurant is an exceptional choice for couples seeking a sophisticated alternative to more traditional wedding venues. Make your wedding dreams a reality at the Shaughnessy Restaurant in the famous 55-acre VanDusen Botanical Garden. Shaughnessy Restaurant is located minutes from downtown Vancouver. It is approximately 13 minutes away from Vancouver International Airport.
Facilities and capacity
Shaughnessy Restaurant’s slate and wood floor reflects old-world charm and warmth. The beauty of the room, which can hold up to 200 standing guests, is enhanced by floor-to-ceiling pure drape swaths. Skylights, white gravels on the walls, and potted plants give the feeling of the lush botanical garden indoors. The beautiful dining room can seat up to 160 guests, and the heated covered patio offers lovely views of the garden which makes for a stunning backdrop for any wedding ceremony. In addition, the venue features plenty of space for a dance floor. While Shaughnessy Restaurant at Vandusen Botanical Gardens can be booked for wedding ceremonies and receptions, it also offers services for engagement parties and bridal showers.
Services offered
The passionate and energetic team of Shaughnessy Restaurant will guide couples throughout the planning process to ensure a hassle-free and memorable event. Couples have the flexibility to bring in their own vendors for additional services. Complimentary provisions include the following:
Wedding cake table and cake knife
Guest book table and gift table
Printed menus for plated meals
Tented table numbers
Standard background house music
Tea light candles
Votives
Cuisine
Shaughnessy creates seasonal, innovative, and contemporary West coast inspired comfort food. We offer special menus for weddings, and the culinary team is happy to customize the menu to suit unique needs and requirements. The wedding packages include hors d’oeuvres, canapes, plated dinner, a half bottle of house red or white wine, a sparkling wine toast, and a one-hour open bar for cocktail hour.
History
Shaughnessy Restaurant was named after two Vancouver landmarks; the old golf course that sat on the VanDusen Botanical Garden site in the 1940s and '50s and the surrounding neighbourhood. Renowned interior designers, including Wade King, helped in creating its vivacious yet intimate ambiance and decor.
I cannot explain how absolutely special Shaughnessy Restaurant and all its staff are. Planning a COVID wedding was a bit stressful as we wanted to make sure all our guests were comfortable and safe. And I will say the level of knowledge and expertise of all the staff made a Covid wedding seamless. People ask me if I could change anything what would it be and my answer is “NOTHING”
The event coordinator Carlle was so helpful and knew exactly what my vision was and how to execute it. She is amazing
The staff... “BRILLIANT”. Our guests were so pleased with the amazing service and the professionalism throughout the entire night. It made everyone feel relaxed given the times we are in. Milan was amazing that night and help make everything run smoothly and what felt effortless!
The food....oh boy I don’t even know where to begin. Shaughnessy Restaurant’s food and the menu options were soooo yummy! SOOOO GOOD! Our guest Loved the food. There were food and drink options so everyone got exactly what they wanted and they made special accommodations for any food allergies or preferences. We were so happy.
The venue was spectacular. Very little decor was needed as the space is amazing as is. The staff was amazing at setting things up to meet Covid 19 standards while making it fun and intimate.
That was hands down one of the best days and I am so happy we were able to share that space. I hands down recommended Shaughnessy Restaurant to anyone looking to host any special event. There are so many options to meet your needs and you won’t be disappointed!
Sent on 01/10/2020
Allison M.
· Married on 26/09/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Amazing experience!
Our September 26 wedding at Shaughnessy was absolutely perfect!
Carlle, The Events & Weddings Manager, was so wonderful to work with throughout the entire planning process. She was highly communicative, willing to chat anytime, and ensured that all of our questions were answered and our needs were met. We were faced with a few curveballs through the planning process, and Carlle worked patiently with us every time a new covid restriction came out to pivot our plans and ensure we could still have our special day. We are so, so happy we decided to move forward with an intimate event and are so grateful for her support in making it happen.
The setting itself is so beautiful - the covered patio is the perfect ceremony venue with the garden as the backdrop. The space feels warm, intimate, and is really such a naturally beautiful setting that doesn't require a ton of decor.
On the day of the wedding, the staff were incredible. They were so friendly, accommodating, and really went above and beyond to make sure everything went perfectly. The venue was set up beautifully, the food was absolutely delicious, and the service was amazing.
I would highly recommend Shaunessy as a venue for both ceremony and reception - we are so happy we chose them for our wedding and we are so grateful for everything they did to make our day perfect!
Sent on 25/10/2020
Carolyn K.
· Married on 09/11/2019
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Best wedding venue for amazing food and beautiful atmosphere!
Carlle and the team at Shaughnessy nailed our wedding vision - amazing food, cozy atmosphere, and an intimate setting! We are so incredibly happy with our decision to get married there and would recommend it to anyone - it is such a hidden gem and much more cost affordable without losing anything on quality than many expensive Vancouver venues!
We were able to get married outside on their covered and heated patio in November in the rain - it was incredibly beautiful, cozy, dry (not a single person got wet/no drainage issues whatsoever, and most of all warm! I was completely comfortable and warm in my wedding dress! We loved being able to have an outdoor ceremony in the middle of fall :) The food was incredibly good, and we got rave reviews about the food all night long! All the servers and bartenders were incredibly friendly and thoughtful throughout the night as well.
Carlle was incredibly great to work with, and very prompt and thoughtful with her communication and was very accommodating to my and my husband's wishes. We look forward to coming back to Shaughnessy for many years to come and it will always have a fond place in our hearts.
Sent on 03/12/2019
Kristy L.
· Married on 08/09/2018
1.8
Quality of service:
1.0
Responsiveness:
3.0
Value:
3.0
Flexibility:
1.0
Professionalism:
1.0
I don⠹t recommend this venue!
I don’t recommend this place. Overall, their service doesn’t deserve my money. I had my wedding here recently, and there were sooo many issues.
Issue with Vendor Access - My ceremony was supposed to start at 4:30 pm and my vendors couldnt access the venue until 3:00 pm because there were lunch customers sitting in the dining area. DJ, florist, and all my friends had to rush setting everything up wihtin 1 hour and that caused sooo much stress. The timeline doesn’t make sense to me. One hour is insane. What kind of wedding venue does this?
Water leakage in our ceremony area - My wedding day was raining. Water was leaking from the roof and two of guests were affected by the rain during the ceremony. I CAN’T BELIEVE this. We complained and the owner actually said that we need to contact the City Hall because it’s their responsibility. They gave me $250 refund but that’s like nothing compared to how much I spent that evening. I spent so much on this wedding and felt like nobody from the restaurant was even trying to help or facilitate the wedding.
There was a small issue with my headtable. Based on their floor chart they sent me, I was told that 8 people can fit in to the table, but learned that it’s not the case TWO DAYS BEFORE MY WEDDING. I couldn’t change my seating chart that last minute , so two people from my wedding party had to sit on the side of the headtable. I learned that TWO DAYS BEFORE. Not acceptable.
Now, another issue- there were only two children in our wedding and they charged for three meals. The owner i spoke to was insisting that they are correct, but there’s no way that one of the kids would have eatened second meal on that evening. Again, they are givining me a trouble for such a small issue. They actually said “it’s only twenty one dollars” and what’s-the-big-deal attitude.
You get enough stress for your wedding. You don’t need your wedding venue to give you any extra stress on top. They should work with you and help you. I strongly don’t recommend here.
Sent on 29/09/2018
Shaughnessy Restaurant at Vandusen Botanical Gardens's reply:
Hi Kristy,
Thank you very much for your feedback.
We sincerely apologize that the service was not up to your standards. We have been hosting weddings for over 20 years and so this definitely comes as a surprise to hear about your experience after spending time with you on email, phone, and in person to make sure everything was in order. The contract that was signed on February 1st of this year is very clear stating that vendor access is at 3pm. We were happy to accommodate an earlier start time which is wonderful and to which we always try to do within reason. Apologies you did not have enough time. As we are a restaurant, we do serve lunch/brunch service and close early to accommodate weddings always. We have been doing weddings for a long time and this has never been an issue.
In regards to the leak, thank you for your feedback and we are looking into rectifying this with the city (our landlords). I am happy to hear that the staff refunded you some of the cost. It’s hard to ever predict rain for summer weddings and our patio is covered yet open air. As such, some rain is out of our hands. We always try to accommodate seating charts as best as we can however as the structure of the restaurant is fixed, there are maximum numbers of guests that can be placed at every table. Thank you for your understanding. Our Chef and management team sent out 3 children’s meals that evening without a return. This is where the miscommunication was and we were happy to refund you the cost.
Again, we are deeply sorry that you felt stressed after your wedding. Our wedding coordinator had such lovely things to say about the planning stages with you and so we hope that overall, you are happy and enjoying being a newlywed.
Warmly,
Shaughnessy Restaurant
Laura
· Married on 30/05/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Amazing food, beautiful venue, great staff!!
My husband and I held our micro wedding here during covid. We had originally planned a 120 person wedding, but decided to scale it back so that we could get married in 2020.
Carlle, the event planner, was amazing. Super responsive, accommodating and flexible. She worked with us to set up our large scale wedding and helped us change and change again as we moved dates and plans. Even though our wedding was small, Carlle, ensured that we were the only wedding on a popular August night in order for it to feel special.
The food was also amazing and the guests could not stop raving about it (even the salad). The staff were super attentive, communicative and personable.
We used the large outdoor patio for our reception, but the entire venue is beautiful. Requires minimal decorating and the staff set up everything we needed.
I highly recommend this venue for anyone wanting an easy, beautiful wedding and amazing food. Can’t wait to celebrate future anniversaries here.
