Finding THE Venue Part III

After visiting a handful of venues, I decided I was over it. Everything started to look the same to me. Windows, check. Dancefloor, check. Generally overpriced catering, check. Oh, I felt the woes of living in Northern California, in the Bay Area no less.

I had figured out that any venue in the Silicon Valley (even after the bust) was way out of my price range, simply because there are still folks who can afford an arm and a leg. San Francisco proper was out of the question because we don't live on that side, and again I'm not willing to give up my first born for my wedding. The Peninsula (Palo Alto or San Mateo) would be a last resort, but still not ideal since guests would have to cross a bridge. Oakland was a possibility, but still a distance from the church. The pricing was in a good range, but I think the distance outweighed that factor. Finally, the East Bay and Tri-Valley area seemed like the most logical choice. And since these locations aren't in the the super high traffic areas like the city or uber expensive like one of the clubs in the South Bay, the pricing is a little more budget friendly.

Having decided that although Livermore (way out there) had lovely vineyards, unless we were having both the ceremony and reception in the same location, this wouldn't make sense. It would be a 40-50 minute drive just to get out there post-ceremony. And with the price of gas, this wasn't a good option. I liked Dublin Ranch Golf Club, but it too, was a little too far for my taste. Sunol Valley was our first initial choice, but after consideration of double bookings without question, it no longer sat well with me. Also, by the time we were ready to make a decision, both of our possible dates were booked. Finally, the last contender is nicely situated just on the other side of the hills from the church, with all the style that I had wanted.

Castlewood Country Club ascended to our top choice. You don't have to be a member to use the facility, although the rental price is higher without membership or sponsoring member. That price point was acceptable to us since their catering prices were comparable and the space was just so beautiful. There is no dollar minimum, but a guest minimum, which I thought would work out to our advantage since we would have at least the minimum number of guests. I fell in love with the space.

At first, I thought that it was too fancy for us. I thought the words "country club" would make people think that we were rich. But as a good friend of mine said, "Welcome to team 'I am getting married in a country club even though I would never have thought so in a million years.'" It just happens that it all worked out nicely. Some photos for better description...

Front entrance


Club lobby


Bar


Terrace - great for cocktail hour on a warm summer evening


Main ballroom


It has a very "hacienda" feel to it and was once owned by the Hearst Family. Yes, the HEARST's. The chairs aren't ugly, so I don't feel that money would have to be spent on chair covers. The space is big enough to accommodate our party, up to 375, were we to know that many people. I'm so excited that we have a venue! That means that I can really start working on the paper products and stationery! Yay!

Finding THE Venue Part II

After narrowing down our choices to five contenders, it was site tour time! I took a day off of work to hit up three locations. Since most offices close by 4 or 4:30pm and I don't get off work til 5pm, trying to go after work wasn't going to cut it.

I went with my mom and my sister for their thoughts and input. Since we're really wedding planning newbies, we went in with an open mind and some questions. Having reviewed some of the policies and menus, I knew that I had some questions to ask. Cake cutting fee? Corkage fee? Security fee? And probably most important, spending minimums. Since I felt the blow of sticker shock via the venue that wanted $12K for a rental fee, I braced myself to ask about the minimums. Luckily, among our five contenders, the minimum range was between $10k and $15k, inclusive. Woo hoo!

A mini tour:

Dublin Ranch Golf Club

Tracy, the Event Manager, was super nice and helpful and seemed like a wonderful resource for the wedding day. She told us the minimums, which were on par for the location, and showed us the space. Basically their banquet facility is the club's restaurant. It would be cleared out of golfers and set up for a wedding reception. She showed us some nice photos and we gathered ideas. Nice space and on a Saturday evening in July, the weather should be pleasant.

Sunol Valley Golf Club

The only wedding I've attended as an attendant was at Sunol Valley Golf Club. I had some vague memories of the place, and their pricing was very reasonable for our budget. The space was big enough, but I had a few qualms about the space. There are two rooms that the club rents out for events. A larger room that fits 220 and a smaller room that fits 150. The smaller room comes with an anteroom, great for hors d'oeuvres and hanging out pre-dinner. The larger room has a built in dance floor and bar. This venue freely books up to 4 events in a day. That means there could be a wedding next door and the smaller room would/could hear the event going on next door. This did not sit well with me. The larger room doesn't have an anteroom - not that much of a necessity, but I definitely liked the idea. The rental included free golf which was a definite plus since my dad and my future father-in-law love golf.

Fremont Marriott

I liked this venue initially because of the location. It is only 15 minutes from the ceremony site and it's a hotel, so our out of town guests wouldn't have to drive home at the end of the night. However, I wasn't impressed by the Event Manager. When we came in for a site tour, she didn't know that we were planning a wedding, what month, or what year. She rushed us along and told us that the Marriott was raising their pricing structure so we should book right away if we wanted the old pricing. I wasn't impressed by the pricing either. And the fact that it was going up by $30 a head in a few weeks wasn't great.

Wedgewood Banquets at Metropolitan Golf Links

Wedgewood Banquets is a new event tent in Oakland, very close to the Oakland Airport. They are an all inclusive venue, which includes food, beverage, cake, DJ, and reception floral arrangements. The thought of it being all inclusive was tempting. However, being a control freak didn't help their cause. On the one hand I liked that I'd only have to work through one vendor and everything else would be taken care of. On the other hand, I wanted to hand-pick my vendors, be able to talk to them, and know that they have my best interests in mind. Also, I didn't like the fact that there was no tasting. They say that the food is good, but not to be all Bridezilla, but I would like to know what my guests will be eating, not just "Chicken Marsala". The entire staff at Wedgewood was incredibly nice and helpful, and if you're not a control freak, I would definitely recommend them. Their pricing is also on par considering it's all inclusive.

Next, the location we decided to book...

Mission: Finding THE Venue Part I

For me, finding different reception venues was painless. It was finding THE reception venue that felt like a long and drawn out process. It actually wasn't that bad. We were engage March 1. We booked a venue May 10.

It took me a couple of weeks to weed out which places were potentials. I had emailed and submitted RFPs up the wazoo that I was knee deep in choices. This is probably the quickest road to frustration. I had some choices between hotels and golf courses. Then I had to take into consideration our guest list. What started at about 100 guests, quickly ballooned into 170+ after our parents chimed in with their guest lists. Actually, creating a guest list helped eliminate some of the reception sites right off the bat.

It was like magic. As soon as I had provided my phone number over the Internet to perfect strangers at different locations as well as my email, I had people contacting me. In general, I'm a shy person and prefer email to phone interaction. I started avoiding phone calls if I didn't recognize the number altogether. Basically I told the event managers my general specs: an estimated guest count and it was to be a Saturday evening reception. Luckily, at the time that I was speaking to potential vendors, I did not have date nailed down. At the time I didn't think it was so lucky, but I think now it worked out to my advantage. Event managers couldn't rope me in because I didn't have a set date in mind. It frustrated me because I didn't want to just say, "well maybe this date" but it also gave me an out.

At the same time, receptions sites hit me with their minimums. Followed by a big gulp on my part, I was able to pare down more reception sites based on their fees. One location asked for a $12,000 site fee! No joke. And for me, where $12,000 is about half my budget, that location was definitely no dice. That didn't include catering or alcohol. Simply the space and tables and chairs. By my standards, I'd rather invest in something else.

Finally, I had to decide which places I wanted to visit and tour. I wasn't even sure of all the questions I should be asking, but luckily there are a ton of resources on the Web from the Knot to WeddingBee to bride blogs that it wasn't too hard to come up with some basic questions. After discussions with my fiance and parents, we narrowed it down to about five locations...

To be continued...

Where to Begin: Choosing a Venue

This is the BIGGEST decision to be made, since the bulk of the budget gets sucked out here. And when you think about it, the choices are endless. Choosing a venue comes down to what you want based on your priorities.

After the engagement buzzed calmed, I started checking out possible reception venues in the area. My initial thought was "this is the Bay Area, this should be easy." It was actually much tougher than I expected. There were a few things that I knew I wanted: able to accommodate our large party, an elegant space, and "affordable" for the Bay Area.

When we decided that we would be getting married in July, I also considered that I did not want an outdoor reception. The Bay Area can be hot in July, especially inland. I didn't want the older folks in the family to suffer heatstroke or something like that. This helped to narrow down the choices.

My co-worker immediately turned me to Here Comes the Guide, a great resource for initial venue hunting, tailored to all of California. It's broken down by geographical area and has links out to all the venues. It's great for browsing before you inquire via email or phone.

I may live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I don't live in San Francisco. I live in the East Bay and wanted to keep the ceremony and reception in the East Bay or South Bay at the farthest. Again, this allowed more narrowing of choices.

We're getting married at my church, so a ceremony on-site was not necessary. We just needed a location to get the party started. With the location of the ceremony, we didn't want travel time to be more than half an hour to the reception site, for ease of guest travel.

With these options in mind, I started emailing. I emailed golf courses and hotels, mainly. I liked the idea that guests could attend the reception, then go upstairs to catch some ZZzz's. Then again, I also loved the idea of being at a golf course. My dad and my future father-in-law love golf. I thought it would be a great activity for the men to hang out pre-wedding day. A golf course also provided a lush background for photos and pretty scenery.

Since I have never planned a wedding or watched anyone plan one recently, I had no idea what the pricing would be like. I assumed that there would be a price to rent the space and a price per head if the catering was in house. There would possibly be a cake cutting fee depending on the venue as well as a minimum for the bar sales.

And so the search began...

Inspiring Colors: Blue

I love the color blue. A couple summers ago, on a whim, I went to Lowe's and purchased a gallon of Caribbean Blue paint. I painted two and a half of my walls. I knew that blue was definitely a color I wanted incorporated into my wedding scheme. Luckily for me, my fiance was on-board with the blue color. One time I saw girl wearing a scarf in the perfect shade of pool blue. I pointed it out to him and he said that was the color he was thinking of! It's like we have a psychic connection.

I've been scouring the internet for weddings with blue as their theme. I found a wonderful blue inspiration board on Lucky Me! blog for Lucky Designs. Thanks for featuring this one! It's just the right shade of blue that I'm looking for.


(all images courtesy of eluckydesigns.blogspot.com)