Allied Arts Guild

It's true what they say, "finding the perfect wedding venue is like finding a great partner". We reviewed and visited SO MANY places to have our wedding and stumbled upon a rare gem in the Bay Area - The Allied Arts Guild. We discovered them on Here Comes The Guide (online wedding platform) and it looked promising! Independently, one of our really good friends also mentioned that AAG would be perfect for us so we finally decided to check it out. The second we walked onto the premises into the garden, we knew it was our place. The feeling it gave us, the wonderful weather, the local cats moseying through the rosebushes, the stunning wisteria covered trellises - everything about it was perfect. We met the venue coordinator, Tiana, that first day and we were pretty much sold.

Working with Tiana has been such a wonderful experience while planning our wedding. She is massively accommodating, flexible, kind, welcoming and a true pleasure to work with. From the get-go, we let Tiana know that we wanted to have an unconventional wedding with unique aspects that were authentic to me and my partner and Tiana was so supportive of all our ideas. She helped us figure out cool ways to use the entire space of the Allied Arts Guild, let us explore unique seating arrangements, dream up a magical cocktail hour experience, fold in an live acoustic performance and dished up the most AMAZING food + cocktails for the evening.

I just have to reiterate the food comment again - QUITE LITERALLY THE BEST WEDDING FOOD I'VE EVER HAD. The passed appetizers included mini beef wellingtons, lamb riblets and shrimp tostadas and our mains consisted of an incredible beef short rib & grilled salmon dishes that we could literally hear our guests raving about. As a bride, the biggest advice I kept getting was "make sure you remember to eat during your wedding". I mean, I already knew how good the food was from Cafe Wisteria (the restaurant at AAG who catered for our wedding) and when I say I cleaned my plate during our wedding dinner, I'm not exaggerating. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Tiana and whole Allied Arts Guild team went above and beyond to bring our our wedding dreams a reality and we had the most magical day of our lives. We have so much gratitude for everyone there, especially Tiana - it was more than we could have every imagined. So professional, welcoming and wonderful to work with. Working with Tiana has been such a positive experience for us and not only did we have the most wonderful wedding, we also gained a wonderful friendship with Tiana through the process.

Thank you to the entire AAG team for hosting our wedding. We had the time of our lives and can't thank you all enough for everything!!!

xo
Monica & Eli

Allied Arts guild was the absolute perfect venue for our mini-wedding. The guild itself is so beautiful and quaint, and the little shops are so charming. Every time we visited, we were transported into a lovely oasis. During our search for venues when we first got engaged, Allied Arts Guild was one of our top choices, but we eventually settled on a winery. But when the pandemic hit, our original venue closed down and we went back to Allied Arts Guild, since they were safely operating their businesses outdoors. The stars aligned and they were available on our date, and they offered the perfect setting to our downsized mini-wedding. Everything about the whole process was amazing, and Tiana was such an angel to work with. She accommodated all of our requests and offered her expert opinions on making our dream visions come to life. On the day of the wedding, everything was executed flawlessly and we had a perfect day thanks to her and the entire staff. We had an 11am ceremony and brunch wedding and the food was spectacular. Plus, since it is during COVID times, the staff performed all the proper safety protocols and measures. Plus, some of the proceeds benefit Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital! Our wedding was everything we hoped for, and so so much more!!

We wanted an artsy, old fashioned venue with outdoors options. The Allied Arts Guild was perfect, and a great somewhat hidden location.

We went back together for lunch last month. It brought back the memories. The only pick we had was the early curfew, but we knew that going in. Overall, very satisfied with how the wedding was handled.

An older venue, but we wanted it to be cozy with our smaller guest list. Cute/quaint!

The Allied Arts Guild is a hidden gem nestled in a historic residential community: an au naturale setting, historic Spanish colonial architecture, lush gardens laden with surprises, and an accessible location for out-of-town guests. AAG was bit pricier than the average wedding venues in the South Bay, but we knew the moment we stepped foot that it was what we were looking for. The natural setting also helped to cut down costs on florals and other periphery decorations, which helped us to stay within our overall budget. Portions of the venue proceeds will also go to benefit the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, so I felt our money went to a worthy cause overall.

The event sales coordinator, Tiana, is excellent at her job, and is on the ball with general correspondence and follow-up. She is quite busy juggling all forms of on-site events, but is very level-headed and available when needed. She responds to most email/phone queries within a day or so, and is much more accessible/available in person. She also has a lot of sway in keeping order within her realm and making sure all vendors do their bidding, which was really a godsend when we had a catering glitch during our reception. Her experience makes her an excellent asset to have on your side.

The onsite restaurant, the Blue Garden Cafe, is independently operated by JW Catering, but does a phenomenal job with food and service. Otherwise, AAG has some quirks given its residential location (ie. no outside vocal amplification, no brass bands, wedding ends at 9pm and all guests must leave premises by 9:30pm, etc) but none of this detracts from its intrinsic beauty. Our guests raved about the venue, and I know I will be going back again to stroll the gardens along with a Saturday brunch.

I desperately wanted to get married outside, during the autumn, so I had to have a venue with gorgeous trees and outside, as well as a place for a back up plan in case of rain. I also wanted to have the reception inside, because it would be getting colder as night fell. Allied Arts Guild had it all. I was skeptical at first from the pictures I saw online. But I was blown away in person. It is an old Spanish style mansion, with luscious gardens areas, and a BEAUTIFUL oak tree with multiple locations for the ceremony, both inside and out. They also allowed us to bring items to set up on the day of the rehearsal because there were no other events that day, so we could have everything ready to go easily the next morning. We also had our catering done through them, and they had amazing options. My husband does not like tomatoes, and we ordered two appetizers with tomatoes because he agreed they were THAT good. Our dancing area was in a separate room from the dining area, and I think that helped keep everyone moving and dancing, which was super fun! I also loved this venue because all proceeds goes to the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, which I think is amazing. I loved getting married here, and recommend it for anyone looking for a beautiful venue.

My partner and I were looking for an outdoor garden venue in the Bay Area with lots of flowers and foliage. From the moment we visited Allied Arts Guild, we fell in love. The grounds are beautifully maintained and we loved the different areas for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. The venue feels intimate, but also large enough for guests to roam freely.

Tiana, the venue coordinator, was so wonderful to work with. She was extremely flexible with any requests from allowing us to hang up string lights in the dance floor to letting us visit the venue several times prior to the big day. I always knew everything was under control and Tiana always had our back.

We decided to use Cafe Wisteria (which is also managed by Tiana) as our catering for dinner, and even though there are not that many reviews online, we thought the food was delicious! We thought the beef short rib was amazing, both at the tasting and the wedding! Several guests commented that the lamb appetizers were some of the best they ever had. Thank you Tiana and Allied Arts Guild for making our day so special!

Overall we loved the Allied Arts Guild. It has a number of great outdoor areas that are suitable for your ceremony, photos, or reception. We had our ceremony at the blue garden area that has a nice fountain in the middle. There are a few limitations (i.e. no amplified sound, extra $$ for rainy day tenting options, limited rehearsal times, few parking spaces) but it is still a great place for your wedding. If you aren't concerned with the details, this is a beautiful venue.

Venue Beauty: 5.0/5.0
This venue is GORGEOUS during blooming seasons (spring, summer, fall) & you can save a lot of $ with decor/flowers b/c the venue is already decorated. A plus it that there are different gardens which provides various of backdrops for photos.
Pricing, Venue Rules, Staff: 1.0/5.0
This venue is EXTREMELY expensive. If you want to have your wedding 10am-4pm, it is $4k. If you want an evening wedding, $7k for the Sunset Room/Patio ONLY. If you want to walk down the aisle on the Merner Green, add $500 . They also require you a $1k security deposit which they will definitely get from you b/c of their STRICT rules. Basically, we lost deposit b/c our caterer moved our bar inside during our speeches, & they claimed we had the doors opened the entire time. They will not negotiate price, which we were mislead about when we talked to the venue manager's assistant before we booked the venue. On the plus side, because the venue is a non-profit, your venue fees go to the Children's Hospital and is tax deductible. We saw this as a benefit that your money is not just going into the pockets of your venue and is doing some good. As for rules, beware that there is NO AMPLIFIED NOISE outside. That means even when you read your vows and music. You can have people play musical instruments outside, though. The venue staff kept yelling at my guests. We had children who were running up and down a path (not disturbing or screaming) before the wedding and the assistant kept yelling at them. During the reception, the assistant kept argueing with my planner about the caterer moving the bar and slamming the doors shut, blocking their ingress/egress. In retrospect, I LOVED the look of the venue, but I would have chosen a different venue as I feel we were looked down upon for not wanting to spend an arm and a leg on a venue by the venue manager, dealing w/ extreme rules, high prices, inflexibility, and rudeness of staff.

Buyer beware!