- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
I'm getting married in April at the Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek- it is affordable and has a pretty outdoor gazebo and rose garden for the ceremony.We are on a pretty tight budget so this was a great budget-friendly option!
We're getting married at the Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton - outdoor ceremony in a courtyard, and a beautiful ballroom reception (with a staircase for our grand entrance).
http://www.rubyhill.com/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=223855&ssid=70774&vnf=1
My 2nd choice was Oceano Hotel in Half Moon Bay - simple, outdoor grassy wedding and the option of either a tented reception or one indoor in one of their reception ballrooms inside.
http://www.oceanohalfmoonbay.com/?p=weddings
Good luck with your venue search! This was the most difficult step for us, once the venue was secured, everything else has been slightly easier. :)
My FI and I are pretty sure we're going to get married in Muir Woods. It's very reasonable, and we love the outdoors and forest--it's so beautiful! There's also no real fuss and you can't have a lot of people, which we want, though we can't have the reception there. We're thinking that the reception will be back at my parents' home.
My MOH got married last summer at Fortino Winery in Gilroy. It was a really beautiful wedding. :-)
And other places...the bay area is full of so many wonderful places (I don't live there now but it's where I grew up). Do you have any idea of what kind of wedding the two of you want? Indoor/outdoor, fancy/casual, naturey/buildingey (sorry those aren't words but hopefully you get my thought).
I think narrowing those ideas down will be a good starting point. :-)
We ended up choosing Cornerstone Gardens.
Venues we considered were:
Auberge Du Soleil (viewed in person, was serious contender)
Meadowood (viewed in person, was serious contender)
Viansa (viewed in person, didn't like it)
Vintage Estate (viewed in person, garden felt too public)
Brix (didn't view, decided against restaurant buyout)
Mountain Terrace (viewed in person, beautiful backyard but dated inside area)
Hotel Vitale (viewed in person, didn't like ceremony area, didn't like ballroom, Americano was too small as an alternative)
St. Regis (didn't view, ballroom looked boring)
Ritz, Four Seasons (didn't view, looked like typical hotel wedding spaces)
de Young, Terra (too modern and "clean", wanted more of a soft feel)
Liquid Sky Estate & Cetrella (didn't view, decided against doing the restaurant buyout thing)
We decided on Trentadue Winery in Geyserville. http://www.trentadue.com/
We chose Trentadue because we have out of state guests and wanted them to experience wine country in all its glory. Trentadue has that element plus a family-owned, friendly atmosphere, and delicious wine! It is beautifully landscaped with a variety of interesting aspects from the winery itself, the vineyards, outdoor arbor and intimate ceremony site. Lots of space to stroll the grounds, it has a great north lawn and large events room that add grandeur to the location. The room has French doors that open all around, and there are exposed rafters from which we will hang banners/coats of arms toward our Renaissance theme.
Here's a couple photos:
A very close second was Mark West Lodge in Santa Rosa. http://www.markwestlodge.com/
MarkWest is intimate and warm. Ali, the coordinator, is an absolute GEM.
I hope this helps the search!
@Mrs.Sunflower: Thank you! It was a long search but this place stood above all the rest. I hope you have great luck in your search. Keep us posted!
@Cornflakegirl: Trentadue is beautiful! We also considered Mark West Lodge and I would have chosen it just for Ali alone, she was wonderful!
We ended up going with the Garden Pavilion (across from Cornerstone in Sonoma). It's an old victorian house with gorgeous gardens and a big covered outdoor pavilion. The price was right and we get the place for 3 days, including two nights in the pool house. http://www.projectwedding.com/vendor/ww_photo/the-garden-pavilion?o=1
Getting married in North Beach, San Francisco. Wedding at Sts Peter and Paul Church (the big one on Washington Square) followed by a reception at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club.
Also looked at the Presidio Golf Course, other Presidio locations (including SF Film Center), Golden Gate Yacht Club. Another great one is SF City Hall, the rotunda can be rented on Saturday evenings.
I got married outdoors at the Randall Museum, up atop Duboce Park and north of the Castro. Here's a link to photos!
Our reception is at the Garre Winery in Livermore. It's beautiful if you're looking for a vineyard setting! We feel super lucky because early September is the harvest season for the grapes, so the vines will be at their most awesome. :)
I had my reception at the Tonga room at Fairmont Hotel, san francisco. It's very tiki/polynesian kitsch but perfect for us since we didnt want a stuffy, black tie affair. Best part: it was 90% decorated for me, all we had to do was bring in potted orchid plants for the tables & came with the house band & dance floor (live music was one of my top 3 criterias--I didnt want a DJ for a wedding). I dont have to rent chairs, tables, or worry about other misc. stuff...
The tonga room beat out my other venue (sunday brunch at Intercontinental Mark Hopkins) b/c they accomodated more ppl for me.
Any recommendations for wedding venues in San Francisco that have an art gallery, loft or another more modern space available? Our estimated guest count is 120 to 150. Terra is on our list to check out, but I'm hoping for additional options to consider.
My friend got married at the LIMN gallery in the SOMA area. It was beautiful!
Sorry, I don't know of any modern wedding spaces in SF, but I wanted to mention the website herecomestheguide.com in case you haven't been to it. I scoured it when planning our wedding. It was pretty easy to search and you can search by venue type. I did a quick search on with San Francisco & "site type" gallery and it came up with five sites:
Dogpatch studios
SF camerawork
de Young Museum
Winery SF
Terra Gallery and Event Venue
I am getting maried at Testarossa Winery in Los Gatos. It is beautiful and they have a great indoor ceremony site which is why we picked it but I know they have a great outdoor site too. I searched all the wineries in the area so if you go that route I can give you info. I dont know your budget but it around 5 to 12 ish just to have the wedding there........really wish I wasnt so set on a winery. :)
@BeanPod: Thanks so much! I've read a bunch of info on herecomestheguide and after a while it feels a bit overwhelming because everything starts to sound the same ;) I'm sure a lot of ladies can relate.
@nonapkns: Good luck with your wedding planning! I've seen some gorgeous photos of winery weddings :) We're not really outdoors people so much, so I think our first choice would be a city wedding in San Francisco. We would consider a tented reception at a farm or winery if we could do a lobster feed style event though, since my fiance would really like that for the wedding.
@Ginger123: Hmm, does anyone have any info on a recent event or wedding at Limn Gallery? I actually have been to the store recently and they reorganized their space. There is now a different furniture store in the former large Limn space. They still have a Limn gallery space upstairs on a different floor attached to a huge patio area, but the indoor space on the smaller side.
I am getting married at a winery in Livermore, Murrieta's Well. It is beautiful but only holds about 120. Their food is delicious too!
We got married where we live, Santa Cruz, at hubs' family church and had our reception at the Sesnon House in Aptos.
We are getting married at the Grand Island Mansion (Walnut Grove, CA) and it is amazing and very affordable. We are making it a 24 hour experience for our closet family and friends and rented out the suites on the top two floors for the night of the rehearsal dinner.
Ceremony under the tent:
We are most likely getting married at Thomas Fogarty Winery, on Skyline Blvd in Woodside. It's somewhat pricey (rental fee is $7000 for weekdays and Sundays year-round, more for Saturdays depending on time of year), but well worth it. They only do one wedding per day and you get the use of the whole place. And the views are spectacular--on a clear day you can see Stanford, San Francisco, San Jose, and across the bay. It is also highly recommended on several wedding websites. Check it out!
Other venues we've visited in the area include:
-Oceano Hotel in Half Moon Bay (pretty, but didn't really have a wow factor, and I figured I wouldn't like the weather)
-Byington Winery in Los Gatos (our second choice)
-Mountain Winery in Saratoga (too big and impersonal)
-Mountain Terrace in Woodside (also beautiful, but we think we'd prefer a winery)
-Testarossa Winery in Los Gatos (only fits 90 people, and it has to be an evening wedding)
-Nestldown in Los Gatos (we both loved it, but it didn't really have a wow factor for him since he grew up in Redwood Estates)
-Hakone Gardens in Saratoga (there is a fee to get in, so we just looked at it from the other side of the fence, but it looked very pretty)
-And probably some others that I can't think of at the moment....
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| ellisrobertson | 24 |
| fishbone | 22 |
| SouthernGirl | 21 |
| mypinkshoes | 21 |
| kat2014 | 19 |
| ndreighton | 19 |
 vorpalette |
18 |
| Brielle | 17 |
| Samantha7 | 16 |
| les105 | 16 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
Ceremony was at Stern Grove Concert Meadow
I was just wondering where Bay Area brides will be getting married since I'm so confused at what I want! Lol.
And if you got married, would you happen to have some photos I could see? I don
t know, photos of realy weddings help with my visions.
=] Thanks Ladies!