ChargerGrrl - I want to talk to you about Temecula!

[esguy27]

I just got engaged and one of the places my fiance and I are thinking about is Temecula. Have you decided to hold your wedding their? Some of the wineries that we''re going to take a look at are Wilson Creek, Ponte Family Estate, Faulkner Winery, and possibly the South Coast Winery.

I''d love to hear how your planning is going.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

If you''ve never been to Wilson Creek, it''s one of my favorite wineries in Temecula...especially their almond-flavored champagne!!! To die for!!! But in all sincerity, I love their creeks, bridges, the gazebo and the mansion...they have a great large tent for acclimate weather which can be decorated to your taste....

If I was going to get remarried, I would consider Wilson Creek in a heartbeat!

 

[daisyblue]

Date: 3/16/2006 2:41:58 PM
Author: AChiOAlumna
If you''ve never been to Wilson Creek, it''s one of my favorite wineries in Temecula...especially their almond-flavored champagne!!! To die for!!! But in all sincerity, I love their creeks, bridges, the gazebo and the mansion...they have a great large tent for acclimate weather which can be decorated to your taste....

If I was going to get remarried, I would consider Wilson Creek in a heartbeat!

I agree Wilson Creek is really pretty and their Almond champagne is yummy. I think it is the prettiest winery there. Another gorgeous Winery is Bridlewood in the Santa Ynez Valley above Santa Barbara if you wanted to go that direction

 

[esguy27]

Yes, I looked at their websites. I''m looking for personal experiences, opinions, etc now.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Hello esguy!

My planning is coming along nicely.

Let me share my experience. We got engaged in Temecula last December, while on a site visit for our wedding (kinda putting the cart before the horse). We considered all of the wineries you mentioned, but quickly scratched many off our list because of a couple of things:
- BUDGET- We're footing the bill ourselves, so we had to stick to a strict budget. A couple of places were out of our range.
- GUEST MINIMUM- We wanted to keep it at 80 guests max. Unfortunately, many places had minimums of at least 125.
- WINE QUALITY- We're wine snobs, so it was extremely important to us to choose a winery that produces good wine.
- FLEXIBILITY- We had very specific ideas on what we wanted for food and beverage, and were looking at a venue that would work with us.

With that said, we narrowed it down to 2 places after our early December visit: Callaway, and Keyways (we didn't actually visit the current location, but tasted their wines at Keyways, which were excellent, so I kept them on the list) Turns out that the couple (The Frangipani's) that were operating Keyways decided to start their own winery, which officially opened this past January as Frangipani Estate Winery- (just up the road from Keyways). They didn't have any wedding package info ready when I first contacted them, but were willing to meet with us during our next visit at the end of January. Long story short, we decided to go with them. We just felt extremely at ease there, and they bent over backwards to earn our business. OK, the drawback. The place is brand-spanking new, and doesn't have many of the amenities as more established venues. They had only been open for 3 weeks when we visited, so things were topsy-turvy. For example, the landscaping wasn't done- everything was dirt! Anyway, we really had to use our imagination on what it was going to look like in the end and have faith in their vision. We're taking a gamble, but we're confident it will work out. But like I mentioned above, we just got a good feeling about the place (and the owners), and went with it. We figure that they have lots of time (6 months to go) to get everything done before our wedding. So, wish us luck!

I hope this info helps! Let me know if you have any additional questions.