Lake Wilderness Lodge

I had my wedding here March 2016 and it was beautiful! Wonderful scenery even on a drizzly day. Staff was helpful and we regained our full damage deposit. Highly recommended!

Beautiful park! Granted, there was no one there since it was the middle of the day and it’s still winter therefore the place was deserted, but it was so beautiful and serene. There is a large dock for swimming, a big picnic area with tables, a wooded area and a private parking lot. There are also public restrooms with showers. Since I visited when it was a clear day, I was also able to see Mount Rainier, which never gets old. I imagine this being a popular summer hangout for the locals.

Me and my wife got married there 2.5 years ago. I know it took me forever for the Unilocal review, but this place is awesome. The price is very reasonable and it is beautiful inside and out. The staffs are really helpful. Parking is plenty. I went to many wedding in downtown Seattle area and the parking were nightmare. This place is pretty badass overall.

This is a great park to spend the day in with plenty of activities to keep you busy. Perfect for an afternoon stroll. They also have areas for tennis, softball, swimming, and fishing.
Overall the park is well maintained and worth it if you’re in the area.

Went here for a wedding today, and must say was very impressed with this place, very nice lake view and plenty of places to park and look around.
The building itself is very nice, and perfect for a wedding– the staff seemed non-​existent if your a guest at the wedding, so I dont know otherwise though. I most certainly would be interested in checking this place out on a day where just to enjoy the area with nothing else going on.
Overall, I think I would come back here and I would recommend this place!

Beautiful venue but horrible staff! Got married here last year with over 200 guests. We were the only one booked for the day. The manager wouldn’t let us set up earlier that day, she says I would have to pay for additional hours. And the fee for additional hours are not cheap. She was really hard to talk to and negotiate flexibility. Like seriously, we were the only one BOOKED FOR THAT DAY!
I would recommend another venue with great staff members who are understanding your budget and flexibility.
Lake wilderness lodge is a beautiful venue but HORRIBLE STAFF.

I’m giving this venue 1 star. It is beautiful and can accommodate 200 guests. However. The lady who runs the lodge is extremely unhelpful and will not attempt to give you ANY flexibility with any thing. She should be a tax lawyer.

It «looks» like a nice park, but sometimes the water looks gross, there have often been warnings of toxic algae, and they’re using herbicides, as I understand it to try to work the problem (as well as rotovation which is a good thing.) When I looked up some of the chemicals they used — there were warnings about contact regarding animals and humans — do we really want that in our lake water – ??? NO.
I’m not sure that they’re using glyphosate, but I’m left with the impression that they might use that around the shore — not sure. Here’s the thing — we want a clean lake. Free from herbicides and chemicals. Free from pollution.

What a beautiful park! Nice beach! Stocked with Trout! Saw several fish caught! Great place for children!

The location and the lodge itself is stunning! With a massive porch leading out to the lake to the vast downstairs allowing for plenty of space to mingle and dance. I was in a friend’s wedding here so I was able to see how the lodge really worked. While it was stunningly well kept, clean and the bride/​groom rooms were immaculate and large there are some major drawbacks to this place if you’re planning a wedding here.
First, the staff are on EXTREME with timing and schedule. For the rehearsal, we were lucky to even be allowed inside the venue and they promptly pushed us aside even when there were just two of us waiting. Now for the day of the wedding, we had early wedding, at 12pm. So that meant getting to the venue by 9-​ish. Why? Because the staff wouldn’t allow us to set up the night before with décor, dishes etc. Mind you, we provided everything! Oh and heres the best and most ridiculous part; they wouldn’t unlock the doors to even let us in to set up. So here was our entire bridal party waiting outside, with the rain and cold, waiting to set up for the wedding with only an hour! Can’t these people cut us some sympathy? The bride and groom are paying customers.
The ending touch for me was also the fact that we had to clean up everything — not a speck could be left on the floor. The irony is this place is meant for events/​parties but who would want to do that here if you’ve got a scolding staff with white gloves trailing right behind you?

One of my best friends got married here in July. She had a great experience coordinating with the venue, and we all had a great time here.
I’m not exactly sure how much the venue cost, but I do know we had it from 6pm to midnight. The venue people set up the alter, chairs and tables, but family/​friends put out table settings, decorations, and food. We also cleared plates and threw away food, etc.
They have a nice sound system that has outside speakers, which we used for the wedding ceremony. There’s also a sound system that’s pretty easy to operate on the inside. Good spaces downstairs (bride’s room and groom’s room) for prep.
There’s a great view of Mt. Rainier and the lake is REALLY scenic. It’s a gorgeous venue with plenty of space inside and outside. But in the summer, it does get buggy.
Just FYI, some mapping applications give you weird directions…

I was here last weekend for a very beautiful and intimate wedding. Like the other reviews, I had a wonderful time and the venue was really nice and it seems like the perfect spot for couples on a budget for their wedding and it’s also a nice «out of town» experience for folks who live in Seattle.
With lights and some decoration in this place, it could clean up real nice and you would forget about it being a community center. The stairwell in the middle of the place is a nice touch because it’s spiral and leads you up to the upstairs area where they had the photo booth and the downstairs area where it led to the outside ceremony location. The lake view is gorgeous and would be perfect on a sunny day. We were lucky it wasn’t raining, but the sun was kind of shining and still beautiful.
Parking is also easy and there are open decks for people to mingle before and after the wedding in warm weather. Overall, the venue was simple and serene.

I had a self-​tour at the Lake WIlderness Lodge at Maple Valley to look for venue for my wedding. Although we ended up with other venue, but this place is definitely a really good venue…
They have HUGE space overlooking the lake. It’s very serene and peaceful. They have lots of parking spaces, They also offer tables and chairs to use for events.
I thought the rental price was quite reasonable. A little above average from other rental space, but definitely still affordable.

Anyone interested in booking this space July 10, 2010 for 6 – 12 pm or you can change the dates, if needed. We just put a deposit down for the space but had a change in mind for venue and space. And would love our deposit back but can only do so, if some else takes our offer. It’s $ 500 OBO, can use this money toward our wedding.
It really is a beautiful venue. But due to tradition, we had to go a different route. Email me for more info.

In the summer of 2008, I got married there. We had a lawn wedding and an indoor reception for 80 ppl. It was beautiful, even though the Mt. Rainer was not out.
The Parks and Recreation were very helpful as they helped with just about everything. I thought the price was costly since I have worked with City Parks in other areas. However, I am grateful that we did it here, as I use to play at the park when I was a child. Dates fill up quickly so if you are interested in this location, make sure you give yourself at least a year or more. Maple Valley is a great little town and there are tons of local resources to help you with your wedding.

i just saw pics of my sister’s wedding from the summer. the outside area is freakin gorgeous! the lodge sits next to a lake with a mountain in the background, surrounded by pine trees. *very* pac nw. the inside is also very pac nw. which brings me to the minus one star. if u like totem poles and practical sparseness, this is the spot for u! it was great for the price and the staff were very helpful but i can’t get over the barren-​ness of the inside. which u can’t spruce up (spruce? get it… i kill myself) b/​c they have very strict rules on decorating. *also*! we found out on the day of the wedding that the ice machine sucks major fat balls!!! i had to get my insanely generously nice uncle to make like 3 trips to the nearby grocery store to get bags of ice.

I got married at Lake Wilderness Lodge. It was a perfect choice.
Since it’s a Maple Valley city community center, 1) it’s affordable and 2) they don’t provide catering, so we could bring in our own, inexpensively (see: RTC). We’re cheap, see.
So it’s a great place to get married on the cheap. However, Lake Wildernes Lodge doesn’t *feel* like a community center. It was a great place to get married and hang out with our friends and family. The lawn beside the lake was great for the ceremony, with Mt. Rainier in the background. Bonus: who needs to buy decorations with that kind of natural setting?
Then, since it was the hottest day of the whole dang year, we went into the nice cool air conditioning for the reception. They’d set everything up: oval tables and chairs for the guests, long tables for the buffet, square tables for the cake and guest book, dance floor to the side, sound system (not a great one, but it worked for us). There are two levels of seating, so we stuck the locals upstairs where they could heckle and we could ignore them. The spiral staircase from the balcony to the main floor and down to the bride’s/groom’s/kids’ rooms wraps around a big totem pole; we couldn’t decide if that was a cool Northwest touch or just plain cheesy but the out-​of-​towners seemed to like it.
Summer dates fill fast, of course, but we got it 11 months ahead of our July ceremony. It’s definitely worth a look.

I know that Maple Valley sounds like it might as well be in Kansas — but it honestly isn’t that far! Only about 20 minutes from Renton — 30 from Seattle. Its well worth the drive! The space is beautiful, air conditioned, and uniquely NorthWestern in its appeal.
The lodge is located on the shores of Lake Wilderness — a small lake that is tranquil and peaceful. You’ll see the beautiful deciduous forest and a peak-​a-​boo view of Mount Rainier as you stand on the shore of the lake or in the lodge.
The Lodge has an attached conferencing center. The conference wing has several sized rooms for all types of groups. Each room has a fridge, sink, and white board/​cork board. Perfect for a retreat or a meeting.
The Lodge is beautiful.
A three story building that is tied together by a spiral staircase that surrounds a totem poll. The bottom story walks out directly to the lake. Its a pretty bland space — linoleum floors, lower ceilings, etc… This level also has a «groom» and «bride» room — as well as a good space for kids to hang if you used the space for a wedding.
The middle story is the main activity area. The space is L-​shaped with the larger portion of the L with floor to ceiling (40′ ceilings that is) windows for a great view of the lake. The space also has a nice reception desk and leads out to a large deck overlooking the lake.
The top level is mostly a balcony area where you could easily put excess seating.
The best part of all — the staff are wonderful and accommodating. The space is reasonably priced. AND it is Air Conditioning (my favorite invention).