When You Wish: Venue

Capay Valley Image: The Memory Journalists

I would love to nab a venue before I start studying for the bar in late May. DF will obviously need to aprove, but I'd also like my MOH to tour with me. But, DF is not into feeding my wedding planning frenzy quite yet, and MOH travels a lot with her new big time consulting job. So I'm trying to decide whether to start venue shopping yet.

After whining about finding a photog to my self-dubbed wedding twin* Kate, of The Wedding and guest blogger for My Wedding Hero, she encouraged me to create a wish list so that I can start visualizing what it is I am looking for exactly. I took her advice and started making little checklists for the major aspects of the wedding.

As soon as we started talking wedding, I instantly pictured hills, a barn and lush greenery. Those three things =rustic to me.

Wish List: Venue

1. Some sort of View-preferably rolling hills.
2. A unique reception area. No typical banquet halls/hotel ballrooms!
3. Outside caterers allowed or extremely good food within the budget
4. No corkage/cake cutting fees! BYOB allowed.
5. Chairs and tables on premises and part of package.
6. Nearby accomodations
7. One wedding a day-no wedding mills!

8. No ridiculously early end time.

9. Overall budget friendly .

10. Reasonable driving distance for the NorCal folks.

The Contenders so Far:
1. Taber Ranch-haven't been out to see it yet, but so far it meets every element of the wishlist-just wish it were a bit cheaper! Right now it's the front runner.

2. R.H. Phillips Winery-wedding site of the wedding twin, same view as Taber with a more modern feel. It's a tad cheaper than Taber with the same beautiful locale.

3. Casa de la Vista-the Treasure Island hideaway is much different, but it has an amazing view of the SF skyline and looks like a gorgeous place. At this point it's pretty pricey. And comes with lots of yucky rules!

4. The Flower Farm- this B&B seems quaint and adorable. They are definitely not a wedding mill as their website doesn't even list an email contact. Must call for a price quote!

5. Newcastle Wedding Gardens-everything about this place looks awesome. Beautiful landscaping, a seasoned staff and a barn! The price, curfew and wedding-mill vibe are turn-offs however.

So-when to tour? I think I'm going to take the DF and family's advice and chill. Since each of these venues are about 1 hour from our house, I'm going to have to group them accordingly.

And I can't wait to find the one that fits just right!

*I've dubbed Kate my wedding twin bc she is getting married on the same weekend I am hoping for, but this year instead of next! She is also getting married in the Capay Valley, the same area I would like to wed. She also lives close by and has been a wealth of knowledge and a huge help!