I got married in July 2015 and there were over 250 people at the wedding. I couldn't have asked for a better setting for my best day ever!
VENUE
Beautiful - a bay area oasis! One drives up this private road lined with trees, open fields, and wildlife (watch out for the squirrels who like to run across the road). One descends the stairs lined by vines dripping with grapes and wild flowers in between. At the bottom one is greeted with a green lawn for the ceremony and behind it, a pond with ducks, a waterfall, and trees and flowers (I feel like I sound like the faceless man in GoT saying "one" all the time lol but anyway...). One can't help but marvel at how beautiful everything is here!
Seriously, this place was amazing. All our guests commented about how lovely it was. One of my guests asked his wife why they didn't get married here :D
My husband and I love being outdoors and I wanted an outdoor wedding initially. My parents were concerned about the elderly and unpredictable weather with an outdoor wedding and they wanted an indoor wedding initially. This was a great compromise with an outdoor ceremony surrounded by nature and the reception was indoors inside a tent with the option of still going outdoors.
Seriously this place has everything:
- Openness - there are rolling hills during the day and stars at night
- Tent - I always loved the pictures of a tent wedding so this was a dream come true and helped relieve my parents' anxiety about the weather
- Patio - perfect for games and complete with a fire pit and lounge chairs
- Bridal suite - one of the largest and most well-decorated bridal suites that I have ever been to. There is a very large room with a small refrigerator, a smaller changing room, a bathroom, and a sliding glass door to the patio.
- Groomsmen area - much smaller, but we did not actually use this. But it does have a bathroom.
I'd like to comment on another reviewer's comment about a "dog running around". The "dog running around" belongs to the venue owner and every time I saw her, she was always friendly, and on the day of the wedding, I did not see her at all. Maybe because they let me bring my dog on my wedding day! Huge shoutout for them for this because it meant a lot that she was a part of my special day.
FOOD/DRINKS
We were bummed at first about having a required caterer. But actually all my guests couldn't stop talking about how good the food was. We did a buffet style but there are served options of course. They also accommodated for kids, vegetarians, and vegans. As for wine, we had the Redded Bliss and Viognier. For beer, we had Blue Moon and Anchor Steam. For the sparkling, there was champagne for the toast and apple cider.
SERVICE
Leann is so awesome. She met with us at the start and patiently answered all our questions. During the planning, she made everything that we wanted work (and I wanted a lot, she found space for: over 250 guests, DJ, dance floor, photobooth, boba bar, mini cupcake dessert bar with our small cake, gelato, and tacos for late night food). On the day of the wedding, she hustled endlessly to make sure everything was just as we had envisioned. My bridesmaids said that they saw her literally running around. Thank you Leann! Cassie was our ceremony coordinator. We met first during our rehearsal and I was a little worried because things were a little disorganized that day. But the wedding day went off well and she was a sweetheart for driving us around in the golf cart when we needed it. The sparkling wine on arrival was a nice touch which we enjoyed later! The entire rest of the staff was friendly too.
HINTS
- Long private driveway up to the venue. Our guests commented that they weren't sure they were in the right place, but that's why the venue require signs on the way up so make sure you have these and warn your guests in advance.
- The parking lot and path to and from the bridal suite is gravel and it is not well-lit. I still had no problem in my high-heeled shoes. The aisle is not gravel in case you're wondering.
- There is a shuttle if you don't want to take the stairs.
- If you don't want your aisle to be the entire stairway, they can set up a curtain half-way up. I did this since I didn't want to walk a long walk down the aisle.
- No cell phone service. Warn guests as well about this since we had a couple guests try to catch Uber or Lyft but they couldn't get service.
- Bathrooms are the luxury mobile ones (fancy porta-potties). We made bathroom amenity kits but be forewarned that there is very little space (one thin ledge) for this.
- I got married in July and it was hot, but not unbearable. At night, if you're outdoors, it can still get a little windy so bring something to cover up with. They do have heat if you really need it.
In case you couldn't tell, I am delighted that Nella Terra Cellars was available for my wedding day. I would highly recommend them! read more