Villa Del Sol in Fullerton

Brian'sFutureWife

Hi ladies!  I am interested in having my wedding at the Villa Del Sol in Fullerton.  I saw that a couple of you were also using that Venue.  I was just wondering how much it cost (I called today and they said that they are re-calculating their rates, I dont know if you also came across this), who you are having catering, and (if you dont mind), the catering prices.  Thanks so much!

JoKelsiC

If you rent the courtyard you have to use the Brownstone Cafe for catering. I asked for a quote from them, and altogether it came out to be around $10,000 for 125 people. That includes the courtyard rental, food ($27/person), servers, rental fees, security, etc. If you email them they will send you a personalized quote. Their email address is thebrownstone2@aol.com.

butrflydanae

You dont have to use just the Brownstone for catering. You can also go thru Cafe Hildago which was way cheaper. I originally found this place in the beginning of my search & loved the look & feel but in the end it felt too cramped for anything over 80 ppl.

Leche

Well I’m having my 04/2010 wedding at the Villa Del Sol in Downtown Fullerton. Personally I found it easier to deal with Café Hidalgo for the catering. When I got the estimate just to get a idea at first from both brownstone and hidalgo I got a more itemized list from hidalgo and it was much easier to estimate my real cost with them. It really depends on your budget and taste as well as who you’re more comfortable with. I met with Dena at Café Hidalgo and she’s a doll. She does all the even catering. I would recommend going to café hidalgo and brownstone to do a food tasting first. I’m not sure about brownstone, but Café Hidalgo food tasting is $25 dollars and is more than enough for two people trust me and if you do use them as the caterer they credit the $25 dollars towards your wedding. Dena’s really friendly and sweet. She’s willing to work with you and make the wedding couple happy! If you go there you have to try the Flan its out of this world. I actually might do Flan instead of a wedding cake on my day! But the Dunlap rental place is a little harder to work with getting a hold of and everything, but there prices when I rented it was around $1300. For the catering and tables and chair and all that set up it will be around $8000 dollars give or take.  If you email Dena at dena@CAfehidalgofullerton.com she'll help you. You just have to look at your options. Good luck!!

SerenityT

BEWARE!!! Though the Villa del Sol is a beautiful courtyard with great caterers (I had planned to use Brownstone Cafe - they are wonderful and will work with your budget), dealing with the Dunlap Property Group who owns & rents the courtyard was an absolute nightmare. I had been trying to book my summer wedding date (for 2010) since 6/18/09, when I was quoted a rate of $1325 for the courtyard & terrace regardless of the day of the week. When I called to schedule a booking appointment only two business days later on 8/22/09 and was told they would not accept my deposit because they were reevaluating their rates (they said they would be done by the end of July), you can imagine my frustration...especially since NOTHING about this was mentioned on 6/18/09! Around July 22nd, I received an email contact from a man who said he was hired by DPG as their new event coordinator and would be handling all weddings, including my upcoming wedding. He also told me what the new rates would be: $1750 for a Friday/Sunday event and $2500 for a Saturday event. He said I'd need a $1000 deposit to reserve my date. Though I was born & raised in Fullerton, I currently live in Sacramento, so I made a point to fly down and meet with him on Aug. 3rd to plan things out, hand over the deposit, get some contracts going, etc. Well, I showed up the morning of Aug. 3 for our 10:30am appointment and he didn't. After waiting for him in the DPG office at the Villa for half an hour without so much as a phone call back or an explanation from anyone who worked there, I inquired to the secretary there if I could just handle things with her since I was already there. She ran off into some back room and came back stating that they were still reevaluating their rates! Huh?? Of course, I was horribly confused since I thought they HAD reevaluated their rates, based on what I was told by their coordinator at the end of July. I let her know that I had flown down from Sacramento specifically for this purpose before I left the office. By the end of that day, I had left two messages on this coordinator guy's phone AND left him an email asking him what was going on. No one, neither DPG nor the coordinator, called me back that day. I waited until the next day before calling up DPG and asking to speak with the management since the secretary was not helpful. She took down my info and told me they'd call back. Several hours later, I got a message from her stating that they had never officially hired this guy (then how the hell did he get my contact info?? Isn't it illegal to give out info like that??) and that if I had issues, I had to take it up with him. There was no remorse, no apology...nothing. Basically, she was blaming everything on him and telling me it was my problem. She also mentioned that they would still be reevaluating their rates for another few weeks. Yeah, there goes the "we'll be done by the end of July" statement. FINALLY, the wedding coordinator guy called me back and said that he had been hired by them, but they decided he "wasn't the man for the job" (even though he's been working with them for the last 4 years, though not as their official coordinator). He had asked them to be sure to contact me and meet with me in place of him since he'd scheduled our appointment, but apparently they just ignored that message. It was unprofessional of him to not contact me when he found out he was no longer going to be meeting with me, but DPG has been an absolute nightmare. Finally, after about a month and a half of this, I've decided to give up completely on this venue and go with the Hacienda in Santa Ana. I felt bad having to let Brownstone Cafe know that I couldn't give them my business because I was so frustrated with trying to book the courtyard, but I am not interested in working with a company that is not interested in working with me. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox. This is just a cautionary tale and perhaps they will improve their questionable business practices in the future. For the time being, you might experience some sleepless nights and shed a few tears if you try to deal with them.

oddvision

I got married there in May so I thought I'd pass along what I learned if it's not too late... The Dunlap Property Group was a major headache to deal with. The price didn't change for me (thank goodness) but other terms and conditions were discussed several times. For instance, they told me I needed to purchase liability insurance if I served any alcohol (does not apply if you have your caterer buy the alcohol - they can get your event added to their existing insurance, but it took several attempts before Dunlap understood this). They also charged me to hang lights for the event and were rather difficult about what could be done - fyi, you have to provide any lights yourself. Expect to take twice as long in dealing with them as it should.But, we used the Brownstone Cafe for our catering and they were absolutely fantastic! Kim was a sweetheart and always willing to respond to my MANY questions. She gave us a free tasting dinner - plenty of food for both of us - and they are now one of my favorite restaurants. They also have a bridal suite in the back of their giftshop just one short block away - my maids and I got ready there (with champaign!) and walked over which greatly added to the fun. The food was wonderful - all of our guests commented on how good it was - and her staff made the entire night run perfectly. We also got a great deal on alcohol by purchasing through the Cafe; when I came back the next day to pay our bar bill it was easily half of what had expected it to be!Good luck!

pinkladybugz

anyone else have an upcoming wedding here and concerned that ruth has left?

jenijoyk

Me! I was wondering if there'd be others on here!

Have you contacted the Dunlap people? I did, she sent a nice email response and asked if I could give her a week to "smooth over this transition"... So it sounds like they'll be in contact.