Ceremony to Reception travel time

ElisabethJoanne · August 2011

My future husband and I got into our first wedding-related fight over the reception venue. The ceremony is in the city of San Mateo, and he doesn't like the venues we've seen in San Mateo County. I told him he should suggest venues he likes that were within an hour of the church and not across any bridges.

I know an hour is a stretch, but we feel that an hour is not too bad in the Bay Area, and we're balancing it against a place with plenty of parking and simple to get to. I also have a legitimate concern that lots of my elderly guests will refuse to go anywhere in San Francisco just because it's in San Francisco.

Thoughts on the distance? That's the main reason for my post. And if someone wants to suggest a place, I can forward it to my future husband. All my criteria are:
*Indoors
*100 people, dinner and dancing
*$1,500 (or $50/person food+$1,500+no corkage, so the equivalent with catering)
*Parking (street or lot)
*Wheelchair accessible
*Space for kids to blow off steam outside the main hall
*No sinks or acoustic tiles in the reception space
*An hour from San Mateo
*Not across any bridges

I liked the Mission Blue Community Center because it had an adjacent park and a covered patio for our November wedding, as well as clean bathrooms and two kitchens. He said the architecture bored him to tears. We like Stern Grove, but it's a tight fit, and the bathrooms are dirty (plus the SF issues). He's OK with Mountain Terrace in Woodside, but it's very much "not us." The Belmont Community Center has acoustic tiles. Freedom Hall is ugly.

aleanette · August 2011

I don't think an hour is too bad at all, but I would definitely agree that SF probably isn't a good idea. Besides being a bit pricier, the parking and driving will be really hard on elderly guests and people who aren't familiar with the area.

I would look into having your reception at a restaurant or winery. I'm not too sure about price points but there are several hotels in that area that should fit around $50 or less/pp.

mica178 · August 2011

Have you checked out Palo Alto's venues? There are a bunch of rental spaces in the city, if you can find a caterer. Also, there are a couple of winery tasting rooms in Redwood City/San Carlos that allow you to use their space -- I think you'd have to serve their wine and find a caterer.

I had my reception at the University Club of Palo Alto. If you tweak the menu, you might get them to your budget.

ucpaloalto.com
lahondawinery.com
domenicowinery.com
cityofpaloalto.org

JW28 · August 2011

I would keep checking on community centers on the peninsula. I haven't decided on my venue yet, but my budget is also small and just about everything that's not a community center or park is out of that range (about $1500).

Also keep in mind that venues like the Mountain Terrace that are up in the mountains (along Skyline or similar) can be tricky to get to, especially for people not familiar with the area. By tricky I mean dark winding roads (like 84 or even 35), and if you're serving alcohol you'd need to be absolutely sure that no one leaves driving drunk (need designated drivers or a shuttle). I mean, you should make sure of that wherever you have it, but especially on curvy roads.

bethcarrie · August 2011

I was going to recommend staying on the Peninsula too... Palo Alto, or maybe Half Moon Bay? As I'm sure you know, if you get into SF traffic, that 1 hour drive could turn out to be much longer, and that would be frustrating for guests... just keep that in mind!

ElisabethJoanne · August 2011

It's in the afternoon of a holiday weekend, so I'm not worried about traffic, unless the 49ers are playing at home. We've looked on the coastside, and everything's too small or way expensive (but we got a great quote for letterpress invitations at Paper Crane in old downtown Half Moon Bay).

We're finding that publicly owned venues are cheaper than for-profit venues. [no big surprise] San Francisco has a higher density of public venues. The problem on the Peninsula is the architecture of publicly owned spaces. I have to back away from that because one or the other of us will end up crying. I told him I can't tell the difference between the Mission Blue Community Center, which he hates, and the Portola Valley Community Center, which he likes (but is too expensive and the bathrooms are small). They're both just modern buildings with lots of windows and prominent beams.

I will pass on those Palo Alto recommendations. I'm sure that's where he's looking next. That's the thing with being on the Peninsula and nixing anything across a bridge. You can't go too far west, or you hit the ocean. You can't go east, or you hit the Bay. You can't go north, or you hit SF and the water again. South it is.

The elderly guests are from church, and the church has its annual picnic in Woodside, and everyone comes, so I'm not worried about Mountain Terrace too much (though I recognize a difference between a noon picnic and an evening dinner). The elderly guests are the trickiest, because they're the most important people to me, after family, and yet they're the hardest to figure out in terms of what they like and how they travel.

Thanks!

Bonzo2011 · September 2011

Have you looked at the Allied Arts Guild near Stanford? It's very nice, I think the interior can fit your guest count. I don't remember pricing, we had to nix it because they can only have events on Saturdays and we're getting married on a Sunday (Jewish wedding)

I'm guessing you've ruled out hotel venues? If you haven't there are a number of those around, many price ranges.

I'm not sure how it compares to the community centers you've already looked at, but I know a lot of weddings happen at the Foster City Community Center too.

ElisabethJoanne · September 2011

Allied Arts Guild was one of his first suggestions, but is not in the price range. We haven't ruled out hotels, but they rarely have good architecture. I did rule out all second churches last night. Our religious histories are complicated enough without confusing people by adding a second church to our wedding day.

I'll refer him to the Foster City Community Center. To me, it looks interesting, but, as I've told him, I can't really discern quality in modern architecture.

Bonzo2011 · September 2011

I agree about hotels, I don't like their architecture either!

One of the nice things about the Foster City Community Center is that it's right on the lagoon. One of the downsides is that the wide open windows also allow all the walkers out at night (like me!) to get a good view of your reception inside. Maybe this doesn't matter, but I figure I'll give you fair warning!

ElisabethJoanne · September 2011

I was relieved when he liked the Ritz in HMB, but for an afternoon tour, NOT our wedding, as it's way out of our price range. haha

Thanks for the warning. I don't think I mind people looking in. I imagine the kids will be running around outside. It won't be a loud crowd, but it could be a kind of spread-out crowd.

ElisabethJoanne · October 2011

An update and vent: We thought we'd narrowed the list to six, 4 publicly owned and 2 private, and presented that list to my parents, who are paying. They toured them, and of course didn't like any of them. They're worried the bureaucrat assigned to open the reception space will flake. They insist we tour Wedgewood, which has 0 of the special features we want. That is, it's the right price and size, but looks nothing like what we want. It's situations like this where I don't like being a grown-up.

mica178 · October 2011

Have you checked out the San Carlos Community Center? The Palo Alto Women's Club?

Ceremony to Reception travel time

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