OK. Found another venue. Bay Area weather specialists please help.

[Gypsy]

It's LOVELY.

An REALLY well maintained Mission Style and Period Estate with the most amazing grounds... Oh it's SO beautiful (I will link you after I decide I want to book or not, place is WAY to popular). Will let me BYO alcohol and I've found a catering company with great reviews and a fabulous catering manager familar with the facility who is willing to serve the alcohol without a corkage fee and cut the cake without a fee AND do a brunch reception like I 'originally' wanted.

One catch. It's A SUPER DUPER popular venue that doesn't have ANY Saturday's OR sunday's available in late August or September until the last weekend in September. SO I would be having an late september/ early october wedding. It's in the Oakland Hills/Lafayette/Pleasant Hill Area-- it's off of 24. My grandparent's used to live in Piedmont and I remember it could be quite cool there in early october. But they will let me have any 8 hour hour block I want so I could do a get there at 9:00 to get ready and do pictures before hand, have the 12:00 ceremony then into a brunch (maybe some cocktail mingling in the meantime) and still get out early enough that it's lovely (and warm) around 4-5. Plus, the caterer gets another hour after the even to clean up. Nice.

Most if not all of the event would be outdoors (SUCH a beautiful place)... and I think my color scheme would still work.

What do you think? I really did want a Labor Day Sunday event, but I think this place is going to be nicer than Wente (except for the chairs, we're going to have to do something about those). But it's not as convenient (Wente did alcohol food and cake plus ceremony and dance floor... all of it).

 

[basil]

Honestly, I think popular is good. I think there''s usually a reason why places become and stay popular. They must be doing something right.

When you say cool temps, how cool are we talking? Like 60s or like 40s? Anything above 60, I think most people would be fine as long as the women were aware and brought a wrap. You could always do fun "warm" food like hot cider and such too.

I think BYO is a huge money saver. At our venue, they give you a list and say "buy this much of this". So it''s really just one big trip to the liquor store, then drop it off with the caterer. Not such a big hassle. And since you''ve already decided on a potential caterer, that wouldn''t be too big of a project. So the only extra thing left to do would be the cake. And there are a lot of places to buy cake.

Anyway, I think you should go for it! You seem excited and it seems like you love it more than you loved the other places you posted about. Plus, I think late September is a fabulous time to get married cause that''s when my wedding is

 

[isaku5]

Date: 1/17/2008 8:38:22 PM
Author:Gypsy
It''s LOVELY.

An REALLY well maintained Mission Style and Period Estate with the most amazing grounds... Oh it''s SO beautiful (I will link you after I decide I want to book or not, place is WAY to popular). Will let me BYO alcohol and I''ve found a catering company with great reviews and a fabulous catering manager familar with the facility who is willing to serve the alcohol without a corkage fee and cut the cake without a fee AND do a brunch reception like I ''originally'' wanted.

One catch. It''s A SUPER DUPER popular venue that doesn''t have ANY Saturday''s OR sunday''s available in late August or September until the last weekend in September. SO I would be having an late september/ early october wedding. It''s in the Oakland Hills/Lafayette/Pleasant Hill Area-- it''s off of 24. My grandparent''s used to live in Piedmont and I remember it could be quite cool there in early october. But they will let me have any 8 hour hour block I want so I could do a get there at 9:00 to get ready and do pictures before hand, have the 12:00 ceremony then into a brunch (maybe some cocktail mingling in the meantime) and still get out early enough that it''s lovely (and warm) around 4-5. Plus, the caterer gets another hour after the even to clean up. Nice.

Most if not all of the event would be outdoors (SUCH a beautiful place)... and I think my color scheme would still work.

What do you think? I really did want a Labor Day Sunday event, but I think this place is going to be nicer than Wente (except for the chairs, we''re going to have to do something about those). But it''s not as convenient (Wente did alcohol food and cake plus ceremony and dance floor... all of it).

Okay, I will limit my response to one question, "When''s the dancing?" As I recall, John wanted dancing at his wedding????

 

[Gypsy]

Well. I thought about that. I kinda forgot to ask WHERE they allow dancing. If it''s on the patio, and we can set the tables up on the lawn, it would work out. I DO know they allow amplified music. Because I remembered to ask about that. And the dancing would be from 2-4. That''s good right? 2 hours of dancing. Or we could do the ceremony at 11:30 and have dancing from 1:30 to 4. Interrupted by the cake cutting.

We''re only doing an intro, a first dance, and then a cake cutting. So there''s plenty of time for dancing. Right?

 

[neatfreak]

Statistically it''s a good time of year with regards to raining. Not likely to rain. But the temp can vary widely- from 50''s if it''s an early chill to 80''s if it''s indian summer. At least that is what I found out when I was researching similar timeframes last year.

 

[cara]

Without knowing the exact location, the average highs at the end of Sept. are upper 70s, and record highs are mid 90s. The chance of rain is still very minimal thru September, but rises in October, so don''t book any later for an outdoor wedding.

A realistically cool day might be 50s at 9 am, rising to a high in the mid 60s by 1-2pm, depending on the local microclimate?

How does that sound to you? (with warmer temps being more likely)

You have enough time, you are a super-organized person, don''t worry about arranging other stuff. Compare the venues and available dates and features...

 

[Gypsy]

Hmm. 50''s to 80''s. That''s about what I expected. the micro climates out here are a killer. We have to go see the place, so I''ll have John do that.

They have strict rules about no aisle runners, petals, bird seed, sparklers, rice or confetti. But that''s not really a big deal to me.