I booked pillows and picnics for my engagement and let me say - this was one of the best decisions…read moreI made for my surprise engagement! They were very responsive in their communications and really helped coordinate with my photographer for my surprise engagement. They helped me setup the whole thing on Monastery Beach near Carmel by the Sea inclusive of the the exact colors, style, and location. They were very upfront with pricing, extremely professional, and accommodating. They waited by the setup until we arrived and were there promptly to help clean it up. As the photos show it was absolutely beautiful and my significant other could not be happier (plus she said yes during the proposal). Truly - props to Pillows and Picnics - could not be happier with the outcome - highly recommend for special events, thanks for making my engagement one to remember forever. Thanks so much for everything!

Pillows + picnic exceeded my expectations in every way. They created a magical atmosphere that made…read morethe day even more special. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a luxurious outdoor experience.

Nice outdoor space in downtown Monterey - I went here for an evening reception associated with the…read moreconference I was attending earlier this week. The food and drink served were excellent - I enjoyed a Lemon Drop cocktail along with a beef slider, blue cheese, sausage, and some tasty hors d'oeuvres. There was plenty of space to network both outdoors under the stars and full moon, and inside the "barn" which was warmer and also had several tables with chairs. Pro-tip: If you visit during the day time to check this space out, stop by the superb Alta bakery next door and get yourself a tasty treat.

I'm here attending a friend's wedding. This is probably the prettiest looking barn I've been to!…read moreGarden entrance and outdoor space leading up to the barn where the wedding took place. Cocktail hours was served outside the barn. The nice thing about this location is that everything is done here so no need to travel to different destinations for ceremony and reception.

If you are considering Holly Farm as the venue for your wedding, and you just want the tl;dr, then…read morehere are my three most important suggestions for you: 1) You should absolutely go with Holly Farm. 2) You should accept every piece of advice Erin, Ryan, and the rest of the incredible team have for you along the way. 3) You should start getting excited right now about La Creme because their food is out of this world. Picking Holly Farm as our venue was the first choice we made in our wedding planning process, and trust me when I say that it was by far the best one. The pictures speak for themselves, and yes, it's as amazing as it looks (though if you haven't visited, you should take the excuse - it's truly stunning in person), but the real game changer is the team. The Holly Farm fam has been at this for decades, and it SHOWS. They cater to your needs and your vision, whether you want to be super hands on and into the nitty gritty on everything, or whether you want somebody to completely take the reins for you. We were so so appreciative for Erin's help during the planning process; any time we were stuck on something, she had a recommendation ready that was never just "off the shelf". We didn't want to be totally consumed by wedding planning all the time, and even though Erin had a big list of vendors ready to go, we were more than happy to listen every time she said "here's the 2 who I think you guys would love". It's really really telling to me that every single vendor we spoke to - without exception, including the ones we didn't end up choosing - all said some version of the same thing: "oh man I LOVE doing weddings at Holly Farm". Here's what I'll say about the weekend itself - it truly feels like you are staying at a luxury resort where you and your friends are the only guests. The entire staff is so attentive, so friendly, and they take care of all the details and logistics so that your only job really is to just enjoy the weekend and stay relaxed. We cooked a huge friends and family dinner in the Adobe and they cleaned the entire kitchen for us! Anytime we were hanging out in the evenings they rolled the portable heaters up without us asking! They moved our rental equipment around to make cool outdoor spaces for us so that we could get more use out of it than just the wedding itself! And nothing felt so satisfying as passing by Ryan on a path and hearing "hey I just lit your fireplace for you!". Of everything we loved about our wedding, the thing we loved most was getting to have this full weekend experience with our closest friends and family in one place, made truly special by the care the entire Holly Farm team put into making us feel at ease and at home. And one final thing - lest I leave you with the impression that this is only about good vibes - the operations for the wedding itself were incredible. Every vendor knows the team and knows the venue, everything works like clockwork without you having to supervise anything, and Erin, Ryan, and their staff have things so tightly coordinated that we didn't have to stress about logistics at all once the weekend got started. I can't emphasize enough how big a difference that made to us compared to some horror stories we'd heard from other weddings. Here are some final quick hits on other things you might be wondering about - but seriously, pick Holly Farm: - I didn't write an entire review for Tamie and La Creme, because it would be just as long, but they do amazing work. This is straight up excellent food, not excellent "wedding" food. - The rooms and buildings are very cool and very comfortable. - Yes, the Paraiso suite is "open air". Yes, it really does stay warm. Having a roaring fire in there, plus a heated blanket on the bed....A+. - The optional River House for extra space is definitely walkable (~3 mins), but it's nice to have flashlights at night. - Having the flexibility to use the space however you want for the entire weekend is a highly highly underrated perk. We had people hanging out on Thursday and Friday and it was a ton of fun. Highly recommend making plans that utilize the space every day. - We were nervous about the higher cost at first, but asking friends and family who stayed on site to pay for rooms turned out to not be a very big deal, and what we charged them was still way less than area hotels. - The music has to switch from DJ's speakers to house speakers at 9:30pm, but the house speakers can stay on all night if you want. We had just as much fun after the switchover. - No curfew is also a huge perk not to overlook. Erin and Ryan if you're reading this THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN YOU GUYS ARE ROCK STARS!!

As my husband and I drive up the central coast to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, we…read morethought this was the perfect time to share a little bit about our insanely incredible experience getting married at Holly Farm. Our wedding was an absolute dream come true. The love we had for each other and for our family and friends that traveled from across the country to celebrate with us was reflected in the beauty and spirit of Holly Farm and all of the wonderful folks that work there. From the moment we arrived, we were blown away by the warmth and charm of the space. It was as if every inch of the venue was designed to make us and our guests feel at home, while still capturing an elevated, magical atmosphere that was simply unforgettable. Everyone at Holly Farm went above and beyond to ensure each detail of our wedding weekend was flawless. Their attention to detail was extraordinary, and it was clear they genuinely cared about making our day perfect. Ryan and Erin were so caring and attentive, and they made us feel like family. They were there for every little detail and made us feel completely at ease. The food, catered by La Creme, was nothing short of five star restaurant quality. We've received countless compliments from our guests about how delicious everything was! This was a big deal, especially coming from our families who are used to extravagant New Jersey weddings with an abundance of food. They all told us it was the best wedding food they'd ever had, which is about the highest praise you can get from a family who knows food! Everything about The Holly Farm was perfect--from the gorgeous, tropical setting that felt like a hidden paradise against the coastal backdrop of Carmel to the impeccable service and food. We couldn't have imagined a more beautiful, heartfelt, and memorable experience, and our friends and family STILL haven't stopped raving about it! Our wedding weekend was made even more special thanks to the onsite haciendas where we, along with some of our close friends, stayed. The houses were cozy yet luxurious, and perfectly appointed with a level of service that truly felt five-star. Each detail was perfect, from the unbelievably comfortable beds to the wood burning fires that were lit by hand each night and the wonderful house staff that made everyone feel at home the moment they arrived. Getting to spend the whole weekend in such an enchanting space made the whole wedding feel so much more special, a truly immersive experience vs a single-day event. We loved discovering the countless nooks and crannies throughout the property where our friends and family could relax, chat, and soak in the surroundings. It created a sense of intimacy and closeness that made the entire experience feel so special. When the weekend was over, we genuinely didn't want to leave. Heck, we may even crash the wedding that's probably getting ready to kick off this weekend! The Holly Farm made every moment magical, and we will forever cherish our time spent there with the people we love most.

I've been planning events for my company for about 20+ years, and Linda and her team are by far the…read moreBEST I have ever worked with. The team is sooooo good, that we paid extra for them to go from Carmel all the way to Napa for our recent event; and they still met our budget. I was introduced to Linda through one of the venues we had an event at in Carmel. Linda and her team did such a crazy amazing job, that we asked if she would come out to Napa. And there, she just wrapped up a 450-person, 2-day event for us, and we so many compliments. Even my banquet coordinator in Napa said she would keep Linda at the top of her list. What I love most about Linda is that she is super creative. We provide her with a theme, some ideas of what we are visualizing, and she makes it come to life. We don't have to do any of the thinking; she does it all and we just say yay or nay. Linda and her team truly make our jobs as event planners much easier. Looking forward to working with you for many more years to come.

Illusions was the Vendor that transformed our school gym for Carmel High School Sober Grad 2019…read morelast week. It was the most beautiful rain forest we could have imagined. My ask as committee chair in the beginning was for the kids to not feel like they were in a gym and WOW did they succeed. The staff was helpful, solved a couple snafu's I hadn't thought about and when the seniors and parents walked in, everyone expressed their awe! Thank you Illusions for making this the most special night we could have imagined!

I just got married at this venue, and honestly, it was fantastic. Like other reviewers have…read morementioned, you get nothing but the venue space when you pay for it, with a few other perks- 1) The park ranger will be onsite most of the time in order to lock doors, assist vendors in finding power outlets, and to facilitate the drop off and pick up of supplies directly to the venue. This was not something we planned on, and it was nice to see. 2) The venue is extremely cut-off from the noise of the outside world. Aside from the occasional jet flying overhead, we heard no sirens, no traffic, and no rowdy groups of people going by during the ceremony. That's really about it in terms of perks. The flowers were amazing and add an element of elegance to the whole thing. Overall I would highly recommend the venue to anyone else. One word of warning- the summer weekends book FAST there, so if you're thinking about summer wedding, pull the trigger quickly when you've chosen a date, and have a couple backup dates in mind.

Garden Footprint…read more Historical garden located outside the Pacific House Museum and is part of the Monterey State Historic Park. Designed in 1927, this garden is now mostly used as an event space for weddings, receptions and banquets for 150 to 300 guests, depending on the event. Please see this website for more details: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24737 If the garden isn't in use for an event, then visitors are free to mill about smartly throughout and enjoy the architecture and flowers. It's worth a visit if you're in the area and especially if you're already visiting the park.

I had my wedding here on October 2025. The weather was beautiful and I could not believe how…read morebeautiful this place is. If you're considering this place I strongly suggest you look for inspo on how you want it to look because it really is a blank slate. You get to bring in your own caterer and decor which is nice. We went with Elma's Catering based in San Jose but omg their food is amazing. We still get compliments on the food. I know they say your guests don't remember the food. But ours did which makes me feel good about our decision. Elma's catering did most of our event which I highly recommend from food to the draping from Pillar to pillar and indoor/outdoor Photo Booth. I saw other people enclosed their guest using tents. Personally, I feel that's blocking the beautiful scenery in the back. We decided to do pillars and drape them around so the space feels open yet elegant and decorated. We also brought in someone to do our Italian string lights from Chic Event rentals. They did beautiful lighting for a romantic night vibe. Casa Maria does have a flood light which did came in handy towards the very end. But I wanted the night to be more romantic and less of a bright light in your face while dancing. We used the inside for cocktail hour and had the guest sit down outside for dinner. I loved that our guest had places where they can look around or step outside for a smoke on the deck. If you're looking for a nice romantic vintage Spanish vibe this is it. They are strict on alcohol but what we found is that people really like micheladas. We had shmack_shak_ cater our micheladas and they were a hit. We bought all the alcohol and also had a bartender from Elma's catering come and manage the bar indoors. You can definitely have a really nice wedding here if you're willing to dress it up as much as you want. It's a really beautiful and historic place.

My husband & I searched for about six months for our wedding venue and were sold on the Casa Maria…read moreHall moments after walking in. The venue is breathtaking! It has amazing views all around it and the hall itself had a rich Spanish/Mediterranean feel to it. Very eloquent which Call's for minimal decor since the venue really speaks for itself. The venue staff was very kind and helpful. William who runs it was very attentive and answered all my questions in a timely manner anytime I had any. He was there the day of the wedding to open up the venue for us so our team could prepare for the arrival of our guests. He manned the bar the evening of and our guests really enjoyed him. He had the bar as fully stoked as he could keep it but our people kept him on his toes. He had to do three liquor runs throughout the event because our people kept buying drinks. The venue itself was pretty useful. We were able to use the stage for our band, the courtyard for our dinner and special dances, the kitchen for our families to warm up food, & the reception hall to have our ceremony. This venue is very easy to use and I'd highly recommend it. The only other thing I would highly recommend is making sure to have your event fall or early spring as San Juan Bautista can be very hot. We got the perfect date doing it Labor Day weekend. Also, make sure your team works in a timely manner if not they will eat into your deposit if they stay longer than the time allotted to clean up. Disclaimer: If you are LGBT you cannot legally get married on the Casa Maria grounds as it is part of the Catholic Church. However, the loop hole we found is getting married ahead of time and having a ring exchange ceremony at Casa Maria in front of our friends and families worked just fine.

We've been together 13 years and finally decided to make it official in 2025. We wanted something…read moreintimate and meaningful, and choosing Weddings in Monterey was the best decision we could have made. Brian guided us through everything--location, flowers, dinner, hotel recommendations--and made the entire process effortless. He was warm, patient, and open to personal touches in the ceremony, including a special bible reading that meant a lot to us. Heidi was incredible. We're two grooms who are not comfortable in front of the camera, yet she made us feel relaxed and confident. Our photos are stunning--both classic and editorial. She captured the emotion and beauty of the day perfectly. What we planned as a simple elopement became a deeply meaningful wedding experience. We are forever grateful to Brian and Heidi for giving us a day we will never forget. Highly, highly recommend.

This review is way over due. We got married 01/01/2024 and it was the best experience. From the…read morebeginning Brian was super commutative and kind. He did an amazing job with the ceremony and included everything we wanted. Heidi did an amazing job with the pictures. We are so glad we chose Heidi and Brian for our elopement we couldn't have asked for a better day. Highly recommend them for your wedding you won't regret it.

My husband and I got married August of 2013 at the Old Whaling Station and had our reception at…read moreMemory Garden. We were so lucky that we ran into The lovely Dana at a bridal show in Monterey. The two of us and my mom liked her immediately and thank goodness we trusted our instincts. From the beginning, Dana and the amazing team working with her made us feel happy and at ease. They definitely have a way of calming those wedding nerves! We first went to a tasting at the beach house - Chef Claire knows how to cook it! It took us forever to decide our menu because everything was truly mouth watering perfection. We are foodies and wanted the food at our wedding to be beautiful, delicious and memorable. After the tasting my mom booked them to cater our shower, and it was a hit (with pink guamosas all around)! Luckily, they were the preferred caterer for our venue. They know what they are doing, trust them!! Every step of the way, Dana was there for us, keeping tabs, updating us, and always there to answer any questions we had. I am really big on decor and atmosphere and especially antiques and all things vintage and so Dana introduced us to Ana Marie. Ana Marie has such an eye for making things look just right. She did such an amazing job with the decor for both our shower and wedding. She rented out some of her personal pieces as well! (Also, Dana recommended an amazing florist - Kate Healey from Big Sur Flowers.) On the big day, it all just came together so perfectly. What we also loved was that they all made sure we enjoyed ourselves, and that we had the time to enjoy the food! Chef Claire made the most delicious rabbit I have ever had - it was just what we wanted! We had gorgeous mussels, an amazing salad with edible flowers - it was truly perfection. The staff was amazing and we really felt that they were there for us. I could go on and on which is why it took me so long to write this review. I know this sounds beyond cheesy but I do recommend them, they are beyond five stars because you aren't just hiring a vendor, they felt like part of the family. Thank you guys so much! You were all so wonderful and made our day perfection! We were blessed to have found you! Alex & David PS. We hope we can get you guys to cater our future baby shower! (far future tho, no baby yet lol)

**Update** I learned last week that someone from Grapes of Wrath called the bride and asked her if…read moreshe would talk to me and ask me to remove my review. I would like to state that absolutely nothing in this review is anything but my observations and opinions based on what I saw and was informed by the catering company that night. I do not work for any competing catering company - I'm a stay at home mom - and I was only helping out as a favor. I helped out a wedding at the Old Whaling Station Adobe house and Grapes of Wrath handled the catering. I had not been in attendance to any meetings beforehand so my observations are based solely on the hours before the event and a few hours into the event. The staff was very friendly and were very efficient in setting up the tables and bar area. However, once the event started I noticed that they hadn't really changed clothes except for adding vests to their white shirt black pants ensemble. Some were in really grungy tennis shoes, girls with long hair not pulled back, black aprons were filthy looking. Mostly they looked pretty unprofessional. After the ceremony the chairs were moved and then the tables were set where the ceremony took place. The tables all had specific numbers and a diagram was supplied to the caterer, but tables were out of order. Wouldn't have been a big deal expect the table that was mistakenly put near the back was where the mothers & fathers of the bride & groom were sitting. During the cocktail/app time it was discovered that they were serving both the wine that should have been reserved for dinner and the sparkling cider which was reserved for the toast only. About the time that the buffet should have been set up I was informed that the food was not present. They had loaded another party's food and the other party had our food. The location of the other event was 30-45 minutes away and they were just then trying to fix the issue. I worked for one of the top 5 catering companies in the Bay Area and while I don't expect everyone to live up to those standards I do expect things like having the correct food and having staff that look professional and clean at an event. I'm unsure how you can bring the wrong food to an event. Not just one or two dishes, but the entire menu. Mostly, I don't understand how this mistake wasn't at least caught earlier than right before dinner. Maybe it's because none of the food was cooked or prepared on site (which is definitely something that would have turned me away) or maybe it was because none of the staff unloading knew what the menu was for the evening? I'm not sure. Of course, I'm not saying that mistakes don't happen at events. I've seen my share of crazy things happen, but missing an entire menu? Sloppy and disheveled servers....not my cup of tea.