Wedding locations in the California Wine Counties?

[rocky16]

My fiance and I are getting married this coming December (already!) and are looking at renting a vacation house in northern california to hold the ceremony and the reception. This will be a very intimate family-only wedding, with no traditional structured program (like cake cutting, toasting, whatever). We are having another bigger wedding abroad, that is why we are keeping this one simple.

Both of us are in grad school, so imagine how cost-conscious we are. Our wonderful families even volunteered to cook for the reception to cut costs! Hehe.

If you have any experience marrying in the Wine counties... those near SF... like Sonoma, Point Reyes or Napa Valley, please let me know. I would really love your inputs and to hear your experiences.

We only have about 20-30 guests, and the wedding will be a few days after Christmas day.

Our budget... $5-6k.

Thanks, and let me know!

 

[gongjoo143]

I just got married last month in a Sonoma winery! It was a bit bigger, with a larger budget..but you can check out my website for ideas.

There are so many great places to get married in the wine country!

www.jen-andy.com

 

[KimberlyH]

There are some beautiful wineries in Amador County, one that comes to mind is Villa Toscano. I have had nothing but good experiences at these wineries, most of which (not Villa Toscano) have a very small, mom and pop shop feel to them (which is what I prefer). Here''s a few links:

http://www.amadorcounty.com/vineyards.htm

 

[flutterby]

i believe charger girl is getting married at a vineyard.

And if you go to this link it is one of my fave knot bios of a wedding at the firestone vineyards, it obviously was a bit pricey, but was gorgeous!

http://talk.theknot.com/boards/User/Profile.aspx?bioname=soon2bmrs.stone

It takes a minute to load....

 

[flopkins]

I posted in this thread a while back of some local weddings I loved: Winery Weddings!

But, in my understanding, most wineries are quite expensive to rent out for weddings. But, if you're just planning a small family gathering, on an off day, it might work - you'd have to call around. I'd recommend Sonoma county vs. Napa, the wineries are usually smaller and not as impacted. Or the Santa Cruz area also has some up and coming wineries.

Perhaps you can find a nice bed and breakfast that can accomodate you?!!

Also, that time of year, it might be quite chilly, I would highly recommend an indoor ceremony and reception!

Good luck!



ETA: try searching herecomestheguide.com !

 

[VRBeauty]

I don''t have experience marrying in the wine country, but I do have a little wine tasting experience! LOL!

In February a friend and I went wine tasting in the Russian River area (Sonoma County) at an event sponsored by the Russian River Wine Road: http://www.wineroad.com/. We visited over 30 wineries in 2 days

-- not to worry, all of the venues also served food, and I was barely sipping on the second day (my day to drive).

Anyhow, there were many beautiful, smaller vineyards that would be a nice size for a smaller wedding.

One I vowed to go back to some afternoon is the Arista winery:
http://www.aristawinery.com/arista/page/tasting_room.jsp

Their tasting room reminds me of the main hall in a mountain lodge. It''s not too big, and has a fireplace as the focal point. What really caught my eye however was the grounds. It has a small Japanese garden, complete with a waterfall, hidden behind a large rock outcropping. It also has a large grassy area and a large barbecue pit. When I asked the owners how I could enjoy all that beauty -- since they don''t have a restaurant or cafe -- they said just bring a picnic lunch and enjoy! In other words, they''re flexible.

Other smaller venues that we visited include Armida: http://www.armida.com/ , and Hanna: http://www.hannawinery.com/.

There are lots of well known larger wineries in the area. Some of the less well known Hopkiln (very memorable facility!): http://www.hopkilnwinery.com/go.asp?page=landmark and Trentandu: http://www.trentadue.com/event.html.

Good luck hunting and planning!

 

[Mara]

wineries can be expensive for weddings, even just for a rental fee it's usually at least $3k...my suggestion to you is to find a place that has an opening on a sunday or friday which are much cheaper, with less minimums for things like food/drink etc. saturdays are just insane for wineries. my friend is planning her wedding now in Sonoma, and it is getting pricey. also, it's expensive to stay in sonoma and that area, all the B&B's are like $200-400 a night...my cousin is getting married in Sonoma in Sept and we are trying to find a place to stay that is cute but not too pricey so we can make a weekend out of it. there are also many wineries in napa, sonoma etc etc...so you have a lot in terms of volume to choose from, it just depends on who is willing to accomodate you and your timeline within your budget.

one other idea is something like mendocino, jorman just got married there in some beautiful coastal location. good luck!!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

MsFlutter- that wedding is TO DIE FOR!! Talk about my "dream wedding!"

FI & I are huge winos, so having our wedding at a winery was a natural choice for us.

We LOVE the Russian River & Sonoma wine countries (napa is overrated, IMHO) If money were no object, we would be getting married at St. Francis in Sonoma. It's gorgeous, and I've worked with the event staff a couple of times. They put on fabulous events! Alas, our pocketbooks (we're paying for it) couldn't handle it.

Another issue we ran into was the minimum number of guests that many venues (not just wineries) impose on weddings. We want a medium-ish wedding, but weren't finding many wineries that would welcome us and our 75 guests. Lastly, the winery of choice had to produce good wine. There was no way we were going with less than ideal wine!

So we ended up with a small, family-run winery in Temecula. The location is perfect, as we live in L.A, but have friends in San Diego and Las Vegas. The winery is brand-new, and is still a work in progress, but FI and I are confident that everything will turn out OK. What sold us is that the owners were willing to bend over backwards and work with our requests. And their wine passed our taste test.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[rocky16]

Thank you all so much for your help!!! You have very good input!