Venue Searching

cupcake_rampage

So.  I have searched pretty exhaustively, it feels like, for the perfect venue, and am coming up short.  We aren't too keen on the idea of paying a lot of money just for the space itself, and yet it feels like our only option.  Since I am feeling at the end of my rope, I thought I would put it out there to you all and see if I can get any advice.  Here's what we're looking for:1. Preferably, a place where there is room for both ceremony and reception.  If the ceremony can be done outside, so much the better.  Natural beauty a plus.2. A $2,000 or below venue fee, and even lower than that if possible.3. Anywhere between Healdsburg in the north and Santa Cruz in the south is up for consideration, although we'd prefer it to be limited to Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco counties, and the East Bay north of Oakland.4. Space for between 100 and 200 people (our guest list isn't finalized yet).We're considering restaurants at the moment, because we'd rather spend $5,000 on food than $2,500 each on food and location.  However, most of the restaurants I've looked at get lukewarm reviews and/or need renovation.  I'll take any suggestions, any at all - I'm going a little nuts.  Thanks!

Lindze75

I have only looked at venues in Santa Clara County so I'm not sure if this will be of much help but I thought that the Cinnabar Golf Course in San Jose had the pretties view for an outside ceremony and it was in my price range so I think it was around $1200 (I'm not sure if it was a special though.) Also, the Saratoga Country Club was running a special with very low site fees.  I think it was only for 2009 on the website but she offered it to us for 2010 and that place was one of our finalists with a site fee of $500.  They have a chef on staff and the food was pricey but seemed guaranteed to be great.  The ceremony space is outside and the view from the country club is really nice.Hope that helps!

anglyn

My friend got married at the Foxtail Golf Club in Rohnert Park. It was really nice and she said it was pretty affordable: http://www.wedgewoodbanquet.com/fox_tail/index.html

mmort06

Im always all about suggesting our venue - The Brazillan Room at Tilden Park in Bekeley, CaI believe it holds 150 people and we are paying 1700.00 total for the room for 7 hours.Outside Ceremony, Indoor reception

cupcake_rampage

Thanks, I haven't looked at most of those.mmort, their rate sheet says $2100 for a 7-hour rental for next year.  Are you getting married on a Friday?  Looking at their rate sheet really makes me want to do a Friday daytime wedding - $500?  Yes, please.

mmort06

I apologize, I forgot that they raised it after we booked.  So yes it is 2100 now. So that rate sheet is correct. It is beautiful up there, and they have an open house every tuesday evening i believe. You should check it out.

future mrs.riva

im getting married at a hotel in san mateo. there's only a rental fee for the outdoor courtyard for the ceremony, but there is a min food/bev for the reception in the ballroom. the rental fee is probably built into the $ per person package though. have you looked at community/cultural centers? a quick google search pulled up the croatian american cultural center (SF), the chinese cultural center (SF), and the basque cultural center (SSF).HTH

ms77

We are getting married in Marin County and it's GORGEOUS out there! Check out our venue. Its the Landmark art and Garden Center. You can have both the ceremony and reception there if you like and it's outside, right next to bay! It would be on the high end of your budget, but there are no added fees (corkage, cake cutting, etc) that many venues come with. (BTW- we negotiated the price down!)