For years, the tree-studded site at Novato’s Black Oak Point was where the Bay Area’s Renaissance Faire revelers gathered each September to recreate Elizabethan England. These days the area’s beautiful oak woods sweep down to the great clubhouse at StoneTree Golf Club. With its stone columns, picture windows, rafter beams and handsome dark furniture, the clubhouse evokes the grand lines of a mountain lodge.

This is a place carefully designed to host weddings and events, indoors or out. The attractive entrance hall sets an elegant tone with its large window at the far end that drinks in the light, and a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace. From the hall, guests can head off to the Black Point Bar & Grill or to the Black Oak and Waterfall Salon, the clubhouse’s main reception room, or outside to the Sunset Terrace. Some couples use the Black Point Bar & Grill for their ceremony, reciting their vows in front of the picture window. This area is especially popular for winter weddings when the warmth of the stone fireplace adds to the intimate setting.

The Black Oak and Waterfall Salon is named after a spring-fed waterfall just outside it that tumbles down from the woods to one of three ponds near the base of the clubhouse. Every view from this spacious room is pleasant, ranging from nearby ponds and Black Point’s oaks to the intricate stonework alongside the club’s main road. The Salon, which can be split into smaller sections, has an adjacent arcaded balcony that’s visible through tall windows and accessible through French doors. The balcony’s sheltering colonnade, formed by tapering wood pillars set on stone bases, reinforces the feeling of being in a grand lodge.

The Sunset Terrace is a generous patio marked by trellises and exquisitely crafted stone walls. Its view takes in the golf course below, and a panorama that extends from Mt. Tamalpais and the San Rafael hills to the south, all the way north to Novato’s wooded ridges and Black Point’s oak woods. The golf course undulates over terrain that’s an artful mix of sharply manicured greens and natural vegetation. Wedding parties often begin with a ceremony and/or cocktail hour on the Sunset Terrace, then move to the Black Oak and Waterfall Salon for dinner. The Sunset Terrace is also perfect for a casual rehearsal lunch.

With architecture that inspires but never overwhelms, StoneTree Golf Club makes people feel that they’re part of a grand occasion. That sensibility, combined with beautiful views and masterful catering, makes this facility a prime prospect among North Bay wedding venues.