For $795,000, you can own a wedding chapel, church or artist’s nook. Do what you will if you purchase Swan’s Trail Chapel, the little white church on the hill.
Owners John and Theresa McCullough rented the old church above the valley east of Everett for about 450 weddings. For six years, it’s been a popular site for couples to say "I do" in a quaint setting.
My friends Kate and Rob were married at Swan’s Trail Chapel one sunny day a few years ago.
They said their vows on a grassy knoll outside the church. The chickens behind a fence next door amused younger guests. Inside, where the reception was held, the 1915 building, formerly a Lutheran church, was perfect for a party. It can seat 300 guests who may enjoy a view of the Snohomish River Valley.
It’s been a good 10 years, they said, but the McCulloughs are heading back to city life with their two children. John McCullough, 41, works at Hubspan Inc. in Seattle developing software. He used to use the chapel as a home office, but went back to commuting a year ago.
A decade ago, the McCulloughs wanted to leave the city for the country. They answered an ad for a 1930s Dutch Colonial house with a church next door.
They bought the chapel that same afternoon.
"It was just gorgeous," John McCullough said. "We didn’t have a specific reason to buy a church."
The building had been a studio for an artist. When John McCullough made the chapel his office, he put his desk on the stage where the altar sits.
It was so quiet, he said, you could hear cows chewing their cud outside the windows.
Folks would stop by and ask if the church was for rent. In 1997 they started their wedding business. The couple learned the ropes through research and trial and error, they said. John McCullough is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church and performed about half of the 450 ceremonies.
The couple could only remember a couple of wedding glitches. They ran into a few difficult mothers of the brides. One groom canceled a wedding the night before it was scheduled.
And they saw some really ugly bridesmaid dresses.
One time a skydiver dropped in and airplanes have flown over and tipped their wings. There was a gothic wedding, and many couples used a Victorian or cowboy theme. Folks were married on New Year’s Eve or Halloween. The son of Richard Bach, author of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," was married there. A couple of world-class snowboarders chose the chapel to say their vows, too.
In August, Vince Decker and Danielle Devine were married at the chapel.
"The space was so intimate," Devine said. "It was beautiful. This is the kind of building a bride envisions."
She said she always wanted to get married in a little chapel on a hill. The Seattle String Quartet played at their Aug. 23 reception.
"I didn’t look at options," Devine said. "I wanted the wedding to be a reflection of where we lived."
For Theresa McCullough, 44, most of the receptions were nothing but fun. She said she will miss the social aspect of running a wedding business.
Weddings may still be booked at Swan’s Trail Chapel until the right buyer comes along. For more information, call 425-743-4894. There is no telling if a buyer will want to rent the chapel for weddings. It could become a nice parish, a conference center or an artist’s studio.
The McCullough family will take fond memories of the chapel back to Seattle.
"It’s been a lot of fun," John McCullough said. "We got to be there at one of the happiest moments of their lives."
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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