Having gone location shopping with Sarah two years ago (I can't believe it's already been two years!) I was a little familiar with the list of possible venues in our area. Zac and I decided that staying in town, or at least within a short driving distance of town, would be the best decision. Any out of town venue that required a hotel stay for us and our family would just complicate things and create unnecessary issues.
As a way of finding locations that we perhaps hadn't thought of (or even hadn't heard of) I checked out some wedding photographer websites. I figured that if the photos of the location look good perhaps they were worth checking out. We made a list of locations to check out, called and made appropriate appointments and got ready to go on some tours. Before heading out we reviewed our list of necessary spaces. Zac made the point that no location was going to be 100% what we needed. Each place was going to have it's own set of benefits and compromises. We needed to decide what compromises we were okay with making and what things we weren't willing to budge on. With that in mind, we began the search.
1. Engelmann Cellars
After seeing photos of this wedding at Engelmann Cellars taken by photographer Ken Keinow, we decided that checking out the location was definitely worth it. The winery is located in Fresno, west of 99 on Rolinda. They have wine tasting on the weekend and during the summer they have movie nights out on their expansive lawn. People can bring blankets and enjoy some wine and a movie. How fun, right?!
From the pictures we could see that there were photo opportunities in the vineyard...
...orchard...
...and barrel room.
The wedding would be outside on the lawn in front of a backdrop of wine barrels.
We also noticed that we could have access to the large screen used for movie nights to play a slideshow or video during the reception.
With the outdoor lighting we could achieve the fun, casual, somewhat whimsical look we were going for.
The information for holding a special event at Engelmann Cellars was as follows:
- Rather than a rental fee for the facility, the winery asked for a minimum wine purchase.
- The minimum purchase for an event our size was 10 cases of wine (which ended up being $1680.00)
- They offered minimal chairs and tables (the number wasn't specified) that could be rented at a competitive price. (We could also choose to forgo their rental and rent seating from another company.)
- We would need to bring in our own caterer, dj or band, etc.
Zac and I thought it sounded good, so we made the drive to check it out. After arriving Zac spotted something that was a deal breaker. Right by the patio which connected to the tasting room was a nice, big, green port-a-potty. The had constructed a really cool sink out of a wine barrel that was right next to the facility, but Zac and I were still turned off by the port-a-potty. We looked around for a minute or so but it seemed kind of pointless. We both knew this wasn't the place.
Benefits:
-Wide open lawn space with plenty of room for separate ceremony and reception seating not to mention space for our game time cocktail hour.
-Freedom to decorate and accessorize the venue
Compromises:
-Completely open space provides little depth for photo opportunities (with the exception of the surrounding vineyard).
-Guests would have to use a port-a-potty,
- We would be spending more money on wine than we probably wanted to.
In the end we realized that it was very similar to having the wedding at someone's house but with less benefits.
2. The Grove
The next site on our list was Hobb's Grove. We saw photos of this wedding taken by photographer Ryan C. Jones. From the photos we could see that the space was nice and open but there were a lot of trees that added some interest and depth.
After contacting the venue we received an email with the following information:
-The rental fee would be $2950.
- We would have access to the location from 8am - midnight the day of the wedding. All music had to end by 11:pm and the grounds would have to be cleared by midnight.
-We would have access to the facility for 1 hour for rehearsal the day prior to the wedding.
-The venue offered chairs, tables, and linen (with limited color options) for up to 200 guests.
-They offered a large bridal room and groom's room, each of which had air conditioning and their own restrooms.
-An event coordinator would be available for the set up as well as the ceremony and reception.
-There is a large parking area that is well lit.
-The venue would be responsible for trash disposal after the event.
After going through the list and discussing the set up of the venue and everything they had to offer, we weighed the benefits and compromises.
Benefits:
-Being a venue that regularly accomodates a large number of people for a variety of events the place provided plenty of available parking space, not to mention bathroom facilities for our guests.
-We had freedom to decorate the venue with limited restrictions.
-They offered a coordinator who would assist and be available for any questions or concerns through the day of the wedding. (This was a big deal for us as we would really love a coordinator who is familiar with the venue. We would feel bad asking one of our family members or friends to play the role as they would be missing out on the fun of the wedding.)
-The rental of the location included the tables, chairs, and linens.
-We would have access to the facility from 8am to midnight the day of the wedding.
Compromises:
- The $3000 rental fee did not include a caterer or alcohol. Not that we expected to get away with food, drinks and location for $3000 but the cost of food and drinks in addition to the rental fee would be more than some places that offered all of these things.
Realizing that the rental fee would only be a good deal for us if we were having a large wedding, we continued on our search for a place that was less expensive or at least offered more for the price they were asking.
Other places that were suggested to us:
Copper River Country Club
-Appellation California
-Wonder Valley Ranch Resort
-White Horse Inn River Terrace
-Banker's Ballroom
-Holland Park West
-The Grand 1401
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