Literally a hidden gem. I have lived near this venue for a decade and didn't know it was here! My…read moresister found it when we were desperate to find a location for a Celebration of Life service for my son. Hidden Oaks was perfect! We had a short time frame, a tight budgets (his death was a surprise, which makes for a surprise budget as well), and a whole lot of unknowns -- like how many guests there would be. That's rough event planning.
Sheryl and our coordinator Lyndsay were incredibly flexible, kind, and understanding. I will always be grateful to them for this. We paid for the additional assistance of two staffers -- Helping Hands, for $20 per hour. Well-worth it, and they were lovely. Highly recommend. Lyndsay was an absolute SAINT putting up with all our question marks on this day. She was calm, professional, and had everything under control. Since I was crying half the time, I was very thankful for her presence.
Our guests were blown away with how beautiful the venue was. Most guests were local and they were as surprised as we were!
So here's what you need to know about this venue:
--it is gorgeous, shady, clean and just lovely. Perfect for a smallish event of about 100-200, IMO.
--it is disabled accessible, although it is a historical property.
--you cannot hear the freeway at all once you are inside the venue
--pricing is VERY reasonable and you won't have a catering minimum.
--it has Padua Hills vibes, but the catering minimum there is $10K and you have to use their caterer -- no thank you.
--big money saver: they have tables, chairs, umbrellas, and they set up of all that. You only need to rent linens.
--There is a kitchen, but it is not really for cooking. More for staging and refilling. It has a commercial fridge and a freezer, so we kept ice and extra cheese and desserts to refill. The caterers used it, but we didn't cook there.
--it has both indoor and outdoor spaces, which makes it great for rain plans.
--there is no alcohol, no smoking of any kind, and music needs to be the Disney version. It is owned by a Christian church, so values need to align there. They mean these things. Respect this. For us, this was no problem, since we needed a sober venue for the respect of some of our guests. We simply printed a disclaimer on our invitations.
--you probably need extra signage at the entrance because it is easy to miss. You need to allow time for people to get in if you have a lot of guests.
--Cheryl was organized -- we had a pre-meeting where she gave us a tour and a folder of all the details (table sizes, rules, helpful vendor contacts, etc)
In our case, we welcomed guests on the north side of the building, had an espresso bar on the west patio, then directed guests to the back yard where the gazebo is. We held the "ceremony" part of the event by the gazebo, but we didn't really decorate at all (we didn't want it to feel like a wedding).
Then we invited guests into the house and to the north side of the property, where one would normally have a reception for snacks and socializing. There are lots of little rooms and places where groups of guests can socialize within the house. For us, that worked because groups of my son's friends could reminisce together in their own social groups. We had no real need for flowers, because the facility was beautiful by itself.
I hope this venue helps!
