The Venue

After my initial disappointment with the venue I thought we were going with, I went back to square one and did a ton of online research on venues throughout Northern California. We didn’t do the San Francisco route because we are homebodies at heart and we’ve had enough of cities after living in Los Angeles for 4.5 years. (We didn’t want our guest stuck in traffic or stuck on one way streets because over half of the guest would be coming from out of town.)

(The following list show places that cost approximately 6,000 or less in rental fees because of budget constraints, but these places still had that touch of elegance and simplicity that I love.)

Some of the places that I liked were: Villa Montavo (it was beautiful and had a scenic garden, but it wasn’t a vineyard/winery), Garre Vineyard and Winery (it was gorgeous and the coordinator was so helpful, but Mr. Starfish didn’t like the powerlines on the edge of the property), Murrieta’s Well (it was beautiful and rustic—I almost went with this one), Rio-Lovell Vineyard and Winery (it was nice outside, but the none of the buildings matched they were painted odd colors –think pink and orange—which might work if those are your colors—ours are blue and cream), Wente Winery (it was great, but I wanted a more vintage look for the reception area), and then there was Byington Vineyard and Winery (the one!).

I love Byington Vineyard and Winery because it is exactly what I envisioned for our fall wedding: tall-well established grapevines on rolling hills beautiful for the ceremony surroundings, a beautiful mansion that could host the reception, and even a cave for some romantic nighttime photos. Moreover, I really got a sense that things would be taken care of because Maggie, our wedding coordinator at Byington was just fabulous—totally responsive and friendly. She was very open about the costs, since it was one of our determining factors. Byington really gave me a sense that if you look hard enough, you will find something wonderful that fits your budget as well as expectations. I’m hoping this applies to photographers because that will be the next hurdle.

What do you think? I just love wineries.