Choosing a Venue: The East Bay Part 2

Our tour of the East Bay resulted in quite a few more pictures than I wanted to put in one post, so I've divided up these venues between Part 1 and Part 2. If you haven't seen Part 1 yet, I think it's worth checking out, but of course you won't be lost if you read this post first.

After we checked out the Sequoyah Country Club, we went to the Orinda Country Club, another golf course/ private club that is approaching it's 100th anniversary. Apparently the rich and famous used to visit and play golf; the interior seemed a bit more polished than the Sequoyah Country Club, but getting in touch with these people to set up a tour was very difficult-- not a great start. We finally just showed up after a couple of unanswered emails and a few phone calls going to voicemail, but the woman who greeted us was really accommodating and even left her post to show us around, even though it wasn't her job to do so! We got pretty lucky, too, they were setting up for an event so we were able to see how things looked with round tables scattered throughout the space.  The space had really nice details on the tall ceilings, and once again borrowed from the Mission Revival/ Meditteranean look that was so popular in the teens through the1930's in California architecture. It isn't exactly the Art Deco look, and trying to overlay the Art Deco touches may have backfired, but it is a really lovely space.

Where they set up buffet...

Fireplace near the bar/ cocktail hour space

The buffet and looking into the room that would be the reception space

This is where they would set up the reception; the doorway on the opposite wall opens and that would be the ceremony space.

I didn't get a great picture of the ceremony space, but it is basically just another room like the room they use for the reception. Despite having beautiful sweeping views of wooded hills  (the golf course is almost hidden since it is in a valley, lower than eye level out of the club), there was no outdoor ceremony option, which was something John and I had wanted in an ideal situation.

Unfortunately, one of the major reasons we didn't pursue the Orinda Country Club any further was the communication. After our visit I emailed our contact again telling her we'd just stopped by, and asking some specific questions... She replied, but never did answer my questions. By this point in time, we didn't want to invest that kind of time and energy into courting a venue, we needed them to be willing to work with us. It may have just been bad timing on both ends, but we had plenty of other good, affordable options. Besides, the Orinda Country Club wouldn't have been as convenient for guests; it was located up in the hills at the end of a windy road, it's a bit more out of the way than most of the other venues we toured, airports weren't quite as conveniently located, and there were no hotels in the immediete vicinity. We had also been considering what guests would do in the days leading up to and after the wedding, and they probably would have needed to travel outside of Orinda to see anything of much interest. Sorry, Orinda! You're beautiful, but there's just not as much happening there.

Our next stop was to a venue in my hometown of Fremont, Palmdale Estates. The highlight of Palmdale Estates is Best House, the Caterpillar construction vehicle magnate's modest Tudor-style mansion. Best House is now owned by a convent which is also on the grounds, and is surrounded by a couple of gardens. Because it is owned by nuns, there are a few kind of quirky rules about when you can be on the grounds, when rehearsals can happen, etc... Fun Fact: I went to school/ church across the street from Palmdale Estates for years and years and never knew it was there. In fact, I saw the fountain in one of its gardens from the street across from Church and never knew what it was. The entrance is through an apartment complex, so all you see from the street is a fence and lots of trees. Honestly, that may have been a point against it; I didn't really like the idea of getting married a hop, skip, and a jump away from the least favorite school I attended as a child, and across from Mission San Jose (where my mom's funeral took place). I have a lot of history tied up in those two square blocks, and not all of it was good; not much of it includes John, either. Maybe I'm being too sentimental here, but it did feel a bit eerie to walk the quiet grounds and look across the fence and see those places. If you don't have that kind of history with the historic Mission San Jose district of Fremont then, by all means, check it out!

Part of the lawn

When you first walk onto the grounds (and you have to walk; they are very clear that you must park in a further away parking lot and walk up to the venue- there were signs posted all over, and they suggest you hire someone to help your guests park in the correct area and then lead them to the wedding), you approach a huge lawn with the convent situated on one edge of the cirle, Best House on another, and what appears to be a carriage house or groundskeeper's cottage between them. The huge lawn, as it turns out, is one reception option.There is a wishing well located on the lawn; there is also a small pine grove in this area that is a cocktail hour option. They set up the bar within the small circle of pine trees.

Mini Pine Grove

Off to one edge of this large lawn is what they call the Sunken Garden, a ceremony option; it hosts a cute little wrought iron gazebo.

Sunken Garden

The house, while being Tudor on the outside, is very Victorian/Edwardian in feel once you get inside.

Best House

It has some pretty ornate stained glass and murals on the wall with birds being a constant theme throughout. This was the reception option we would have taken. Gold chiavari chairs were included in the rental, which was another nice perk. I could have framed this venue as a home built 20 years before the Art Deco period playing host to a fashionable period party. That could have worked, but it would have been a bit of a stretch. If we chose this venue, John and I knew we'd have to compromise on the look a bit, but that it would be pretty in a different way.

A room on the back of the house; I can't remember if they use this for dancing or the buffet. Maybe they flip it and it is for both?

GILDED

In the "buffet room", looking towards the front of the house. Notice the birds on the gilded murals.

The main dining room, in the middle of the house. Topiaries! 

A small room that fits about three tables in the front of the house. Please notice the parrot stained glass. 

There is also a patio on the back of the house that is used for the bar and-- major perk-- all alcohol is BYO with no corkage fee. This is one of the things that made this option so appealing. It was one of the more affordable options we looked at. While there, John and I couldn't quite put our finger on what felt "off" about the venue, but it was this sense of having been manufactured. It felt a bit like Disneyland (one of my favorite places, but the comparison this time wasn't 100% favorable) in that it felt like someone had built this little hamlet in the middle of Fremont. Nothing felt authentic; although beautiful, it felt surreal!

One other thing that made us nervous about booking with Palmdale was that the convent was thinking of using Best House's backyard to build apartments for some of the aging sisters, and the venue wasn't sure how that would affect them. They explained that it was solely out of the sisters' good will that they had been able to use this as a wedding venue for the last 25 or so years, and that if they decided to implement policy changes, that was their prerogative. It was easy to envision both outdoor ceremony gardens going away, or severe amplified music restrictions being put into place if apartments were built in the backyard. We did like the sense of how secluded it felt, and the way that guests could move through the space of the house without feeling like they were all in separate rooms. It was definitely more unique than many of the other venues we had looked at up to this point!

Well, that is it for the East Bay; next, we venture up to Sacramento to see what this city has in store for us...

Choosing a Venue: The East Bay Part 1

Ready to look at more venues? No? That's what John said at this point, too... But I was really anxious to see some more of our options! I grew up in Fremont and went to high school in San Jose, so I was really comfortable with the idea of getting married in a different part of the Bay Area from our home, and I'd found some really promising venues during online searches out in the East Bay. John and I planned a day and off we went.

This was after our successful South Bay hunt, and by now we were feeling like the SF City Club probably wouldn't be our venue, but we were hoping to find somewhere that would have its own charm and be within our budget, while still being convenient for our out of town guests. The East Bay wouldn't have been as easy as the South Bay; airports are a little further away, and there are parts of the East Bay that are a little rough around the edges, especially from out of towners hailing from smaller midwestern towns, but there were some great historical buildings to visit. Our first stop of the day was a different City Club... The Berkeley City Club! Built by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, it really and truly did feel like a mini Hearst Castle, between the architecture and decor. Ultimately, it was a little too ornamental for John's taste, although I thought it had a lovely period flare (if not Art Deco-specific). If it had been just me making the decision, I would have explored this option more, but it didn't resonate with John and his preference for simple, clean lines.

Price-wise, the Berkeley City Club was less than SF City Club, but still a little higher than where we were comfortable ending up. I loved the history, and it would have been almost like getting married in a museum, but we wouldn't have had much of an opportunity to infuse our personality into the space. John was concerned that the venue wasn't as well-versed in hosting a wedding as some of our other options. The rental would have included much of the upstairs area, but as we weren't able to schedule an official tour, I never did get it straight which areas were up for grabs. One ceremony space option was an upstairs terrace (which, as John pointed out, had a lovely view of the free clinic dispensing clean needles across the way).

Upstairs Terrace

The view into a small garden from the upstairs terrace!

Looking back into the Club from the upstairs terrace

Here are another two rooms that I believe may have been indoor ceremony options (although I was unclear on whether or not these were included in the rental).

And this is what would have been the likeliest reception space.

There was no nearby lodging for out of town guests, so we would have had to have figured out the parking issue at some point or another. It wouldn't have been impossible, but it's likely we would have had to ask guests to pay for parking-- not ideal! It was such a neat place to look through, though. Just for kicks, I've included a couple of other pictures of the Berkeley City Club. These are areas not included in the rental! It really is a hidden gem, if you live in the area I think it is worth seeing if you can explore, whether or not you're considering it for an event.

A small garden on the ground floor

The lobby

A lounge area

The indoor pool!

Our next stop of the day was the Sequoyah Country Club in the hills overlooking Oakland. It was a really pretty building that is just about 100 years old. The set up was a little bit funky; there was long open space that had columns separating the main hallway of the building from the reception area, and then a separate room across the hall would have been the dance floor.

The hallway; reception to the left of the columns

The reception room; I took the picture from under the columns/ arches

I didn't like the idea that people would have to walk down the hall to a different room to dance; I wanted a space where even the wall flower would be able to sit and relax and chat while watching others dance, so everyone would feel like they were part of the same event.

Dancing room!

The ceremony space was also pretty lackluster; it was just a corner of lawn outside the front of the building that overlooked the golf course to one side, and the parking lot to the other. It was so underwhelming, I didn't even take a picture... It felt very much like an afterthought. However, the building itself was really pretty and I could definitely have pictured our theme working within the space. Another mild gripe: there was a LOT of orange happening! I guess I'm pickier about color than I thought... But the awning outside of the reception/dinner space was orange and reflected orange light back into the building, the curatains in the dance room area were orange, and outside all of the umbrellas and trim were orange. One major perk was that they said they could arrange transportation from a hotel to the club, since the road to get to the venue is really windy, and the venue was a bit out of the way. However, the guy who showed us around admitted that the hotel he'd recommend is a bit out of the way because some of the surrounding areas could be a little bit rough. I think lots of parts of Oakland are beautiful, but keep in mind, my dad didn't even want me driving through Oakland when I was younger... I think he may have refused to allow his out of town family to stay within Oakland city limits! That could have been a problem.

The front entrance

Well, that's part one of our East Bay adventure! I had too many pictures to justify trying to cram in the other two stops of the day into one post. I feel like I am complaining a lot about all of the venues, and I am so picky! You're probably shocked to hear that we managed to come to a decision and choose a venue after all of my hemming and hawing... But we did! I'll tell you which one we went with soon, I promise! And I bet you will be surprised by our choice... I think John and I were pretty surprised, too!

Choosing a Venue: South Bay

Hi Guys! Welcome back to part two of my venue hunt. As you may recall, John and I were pretty stuck on the City Club in San Francisco for our dream Art Deco wedding, but as we got more and more educated about weddings, we began to realize that the little costs were going to add up to put this venue outside of our price range. We looked aroud the North Bay some, but found that venues near us didn't tend to be the style we had in mind and were, in general, very expensive. With that in mind, we decided to look around the South Bay some. I went to high school in San Jose and grew up near the East Bay/ South Bay border, so this area has meaning to me, and some of my close friends still live in the area. We drove down one day and went to the Bay Club, a health club that also hosts weddings in its facilities, and then drove to downtown San Jose and toured a bunch of lovely, historic hotels in that area, hoping that one would have a great ballroom with a bit of an Art Deco feel.

By this point in time, we had already accepted that nothing was going to look as classically Art Deco as the SF City Club, so our focus had shifted on finding a pretty space that would lend itself to that type of decor, typography, etc... and would work for what we had in mind. San Jose would be a great option since the San Francisco and San Jose airports are nearby, and downtown San Jose would have worked out perfectly because of all of the hotels in the area for our out of town guests! Here's an overview of what we found.

The first stop of the day was the Bay Club in Santa Clara. The informational packet they sent us before the meeting was promising, price-wise, and they venue looked neutral enough. Upon arrival, however, John and I pretty quickly ascertained this was not going to work for our vision. The building looked very late 70's/ early 80's in a clay tile and unfinished wood sort of way. I was reminded of Epcot- always a good association, but not what we were going for! The inside of the building had a little stream with a lot of vegetation around it going down the center, with wooden walkways on either side.

The Stream...

Off to the left was an area that they used for the reception, with a lower level nearer to the stream that was used for the ceremony.

Reception Space

Off to the right were hallways leading to the club; apparently they put up large dividers so that you can't see that area when an event is going on. I could see this venue being great for someone who wanted a kind of tropical, natural wedding while still being indoors, and it would have worked a lot better with our budget, but it just wasn't what we wanted.

Ceremony Area; they put up dividers so you can't see the opposite wall/ walkway

Our next stop was the Hotel De Anza. This is an historical hotel in downtown San Jose. The menu sounded really good, and the woman we met there was very nice.

This location looked like it would fit with our budget as well. The ceremony and reception would have taken place on their patio, which they flip during cocktail hour which is held in the hotel lounge. John liked this option, but I wasn't as crazy about it; the patio was fine, but nothing about it really spoke to me personally, and I didn't like the idea of having such a small amount of space. The lounge for cocktail hour would still be open to the public, so between that and using the same area for the ceremony and reception, I just didn't think the event would have a nice flow. The lounge and exterior had a great period feel, but the patio looked a bit Mediterranean.

Ceremony/ Reception space

They did mention that they had live jazz on weekend nights, though, which would have been such a great afterparty; after the receptions, guests could either go up to their rooms or stay and relax in the lounge, which would have been a nice way to extend the event at no cost.

Lounge 

I love me some good live jazz, so I was really into the idea of using the De Anza as an afterparty spot if we decided on a location in San Jose.

After the Hotel De Anza, we wandered downtown San Joseand went into the Hilton, which was much too modern for our event; it was decorated in Chihuly style glass and bold primary colors.

After that, it was time for food. We passed on the provocative pho.

Enlarge for double-entendre that is more like a single-entendre

Instead, we went to Johnny Rockets and enjoyed milkshakes!

Next, we went into the Fairmont, which was lovely but lacked personality. If we had just been hosting a reception, it may have been a contender, but they wanted to put is in one meeting room for the ceremony, another for cocktail hour, and a third for the reception, and all three looked nearly identical. The man who helped us here was a bit condescending, too. We were walk-ins, so it was really nice of him to accomodate us, but I was really turned off by the way he spoke to me.

From there, we walked over to the Sainte-Claire, another historical hotel.

The Sainte Claire

The Sainte-Claire was beautiful, and the catering was all handled by Il Fornaio, a small Italian restaurant chain. John and I both really liked this venue. The ceremony space, a glass-enclosed atrium, was one of his favorites that we saw in our search.

Ceremony Space

Cocktail hour would spill out of that space (which has a built-in bar in the back) into a really lovely hallway, and then the reception takes place in the meeting room on the ground floor.

Cocktail Hour Hallway

Ballroom for the reception

The lobby had painted leather ceilings, and the details of the space were just spectacular.

Lounge off the lobby

One drawback was that the hotel was undergoing a transition in owners, as it was being bought out by a larger chain (I want to say Hyatt?). Because it is a national landmark, the look of the hotel could not have been changed drastically, but policies and management may have changed from when we booked to when the wedding occurred. Also, when we ran the numbers, we realized that this was going to be one of our pricier options. Of course!

After that, we drove over to Santana Row in San Jose to see the Hotel Valencia.

Their pricing and menus both looked great, so we decided to check it out. It was very modern and sleek with an Asian aesthetic. It kind of felt like a club inside... It was incredibly dark. Awkwardly so. It was too dark for me to take any interior pictures.

Outdoor courtyard. There's a terrace up here somewhere that is used as a ceremony space!

And then we found a bar that looked like it had been airlifted out of Vegas, so... That wasn't really helping the Hotel Valencia's case. It's a neat place, but would absolutely not work for what we have in mind. However, their buffets sounded amazing! I want to go to somebody else's wedding there. And eat a lot.

It was a long day, but we got a lot of great information and saw some really inspiring spaces! I think this was the first day where we were able to let go of the SF City Club, and we also got some neat ideas about how a less specific venue could work with our vision. I'll show you guys the rest of the places we toured soon!

Choosing a Venue: SF/ North Bay

Well, we did it! We chose a venue and set a date. We aren't getting married until June of 2015, so we have some time still, but I feel good knowing the "where" and the "when". Finding a venue was harder than I thought it would be! We looked at a TON of different locations within a two hour radius of where we live. We almost immediately ruled out locations in Wine Country, our home; everything is so expensive! So, we actually started our search in San Francisco, before taking a quick look throughout Sonoma County. I'll document that leg of the search in this post, and tell you some about other venues we scouted in the rest of the Bay Area in a later post. Overall, the venue hunt was a lot of fun, but it was also much more difficult than we thought it would be. It was really difficult to find a place that worked with our budget, our theme, that would be workable for our out of town guests, and most importantly: that we both liked. There were a couple of venues that John really liked that I was lukewarm on, and vice versa.

The day we got engaged, we actually went to look at a venue that was PERFECT. It was the San Francisco City Club, which used to be the social rooms for the Pacific Stock Exchange.

The Building Lobby

 It was designed in a lavish Art Deco style, and very quickly became, quite literally, the Platonic ideal of all venues in our mind. It wouldn't take much decorating, would feel like our guests had stepped back in time, and was exactly what we had wanted without even knowing it existed. However, it turned out that it wouldn't work for our budget. Because it was the first place we looked, we weren't prepared to factor in service fees, tax, and alcohol into base prices, and it sounded like on a week day it would have been reasonably priced for us! Once we started adding everything up though, we realized that even if we could make it work on our budget, after food and venue fees we would have very little left over, and would probably end up going over budget, something we absolutely do not want to do.

Ceremony Space

Diego Rivera Mural

Reception Space

 Add to that the fact that we would have had to cut the guest list nearly in half, and we decided it wasn't worth it. We don't want to go into debt for the wedding, and we didn't want to feel guilty and stressed about the whole thing. It was a lovely dream and it has been difficult for me to put it aside completely, even though I know it would have caused us a lot of stress and upset had we decided to "splurge" on it. It also would have been more expensive and difficult for our family, who will be traveling from out of state and are not used to navigating big cities. However, most couples have to compromise on many aspects of their wedding, and I do not regret our choice.

We looked at a lot of options within Sonoma County as well, trying to see if we had missed something. We moved away from looking at wineries, which weren't really our style, and started focusing on trying to find hotels or event centers that had a classic look that would lend themselves to the Art Deco theme. Most of the places we saw were very "California/ Mission/ Modern", in true Wine Country fashion. Nine brides out of ten at work tell me they are doing a rustic-vintage-country theme, and I am beginning to see why. Other than wineries, our venue choices were barns, fields, gardens, and a handful of hotels.

We did seriously consider a couple of spaces up here, including the local Hyatt. The Hyatt would have been really convenient for guests, and they had an absolutely beautiful venue space with a huge outdoor fireplace. 

Ceremony Space

However, we didn't like the room that they would have put us in. It was cramped, and we didn't have enough guests to get bumped into the larger room (which would have swallowed our group). Plus, the colors in the conference rooms were overwhelming; everything was sage green with burnt orange accents. The coordinator showed us photos of previous weddings saying "and here's one with a white and purple theme, this couple used blush and taupe, this couple did yellow and purple..." and all I could see was green and orange, green and orange. Not what we wanted. If we hadn't wanted to decorate much and had loved green and orange, it would have been a great fit; the light fixtures, carpeting, etc... all had a lot of personality, they just weren't the style we were going for.

The larger, nicer room... But the smaller one had the same wall color/ carpet/ light fixtures, etc...

The outdoor reception option was lovely, but once again, not exactly our style; John and I don't even like patio seating at restaurants, so 6 hours outside (and in June, where temperatures at night can easily dip down into the 50's) did not appeal to us.

Madrona Manor was another venue we took a peek at that was beautiful, but not our style. It is a lovely old Victorian house painted yellow surrounded by gardens. It would have suited itself to a garden theme really well, but John and I didn't see any opportunity to bring any glamour into the mix. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of this venue... But if you're considering a Wine Country wedding, it was beautiful and worth looking at! It just wasn't a good fit for us.

The Sonoma Fairmont was my favorite venue that we looked at our way, although it was even more expensive than San Francisco City Club. It was an old California Mission Revival style hotel with a large social lobby, impeccable grounds, and little villas of clustered guestrooms, something you could imagine existing in 1930's Old Hollywood, but it still wasn't the style we ideally wanted. They had a meeting room in the main hotel buiding as well as a tent on the grounds that they use for wedding receptions.

Reception room all set up for a meeting

The empty tent

It would have been a pain for out of town guests as well; there is no major airport conveniently located to us, and the Fairmont itself is a fairly pricey hotel- we had to pay $20 to park there just to walk the grounds- but it was a really beautiful setting. We didn't seriously entertain it as a venue since if we were going to spend that kind of money on a wedding, it would have been at the City Club, but it has gotten me daydreaming about a romantic weekend excursion...

Well, there are the highlights from the first few venues we looked at... There were a few other stops around Sonoma County, but these were the most noteworthy! Next up, I'll be posting about our adventures in the South Bay, East Bay, and Sacramento, before telling you where we finally booked. Until then!