We loved the setting. It was intimate and the staff was great. It was a very good experience. The food and presentation was incredible.

We hosted our wedding mass at Mission Santa Clara this summer. The church is beautiful on the inside and outside - the inside is ornately and uniquely decorated, and the outside is distinctly Spanish styled and also has lots of flowers and gardens, including a long wisteria arbor. It makes for amazing wedding photos. It’s also equipped with a pipe organ and a Steinway grand piano, which allows for flexibility in wedding music (we used the organ for the processional/recessional and piano for the rest). It seats a ton of people - we had about 85 and only filled up part of the front section, so it can definitely accommodate large weddings. The church itself is not air conditioned, though the sacristy is, so it’s a good place for the wedding party to wait in the minutes before the ceremony.

The Mission is extremely popular for weddings, so it can be hard to get a good time slot. They do 3 weddings on Saturdays and 2 on Sundays (at least during the summer). We ended up needing to go on Sunday to get a time slot that would work for us. The only problem with that is since the Mission doesn’t have any priests, you are required to find your own priest, and they tend to be busy on Sundays. Finding a priest who was available that day was the most difficult issue we had with the Mission. Other than that, it was pretty smooth and efficient. We were able to tour the Mission with the assistant director, Andrew, and he answered all our questions. Charlie, the director, led our rehearsal and made sure everyone knew where we needed to be and when.

Overall, the Mission was a beautiful and memorable place to get married! Other than finding a priest, it was one of the less stressful parts of our wedding planning.

All photos in this review were taken by Trevor & Elisebeth (@trevorandelisebeth).

I had my wedding ceremony at Mission Santa Clara in August 2012. Remember only current current students or alumni are able to to have a wedding at this venue. Cost is $1000 and you have the option of canceling 6 mo before the wedding with a full refund. You must book ~1 yr in advance to get your preferred date and time. It's an older church so there isn't A/C. The sounds system is wonderful and the coordinator did a great job. The church is gorgeous and photographs well. I'm 100% satisfied with my choice in wedding venue and do recommend it!

As another reviewer mentioned, there are tons of weddings here so you do have to be quick to book if you want a specific date and time, but the upside is they really know what they are doing. Andrew was there from the Mission staff to walk us through at the rehearsal and the big day, and he was fabulous to work with. It really is a beautiful location!

If you're fortunate enough to be married inside Mission Santa Clara, this is a great venue. It was so easy for our guests, and didn't require them to drive to the reception site. Our wedding was in late May, and even though the wisteria was no longer blooming, everything was green and beautiful. Because of the size of our guest list, an outdoor reception was the only option, which is what we wanted anyway. We had a lot of compliments from guests on how beautiful the reception was, even now 6 months later!

I would say the only downside is that it is a university campus, and if your wedding is during the school year, be prepared for some wedding crashers. With a dorm just a few hundred feet away, we had 3 students walk up to our bar (luckily the hosted bar had closed by then). I happened to see them and had my husband's uncle ask them to leave. Once the party moved inside, we had a couple girls wander in to investigate the music, but as soon as they saw me they left. They're good stories to laugh back on now, and considering those were the only issues, I'd say not bad at all! Otherwise, everything else came out exactly the way I had envisioned it!

Scheduling times to meet with them was bit tough. Part of it was because we live in Sacramento and had to make the 2+ hour drive during the week. The other part was that the Adobe Lodge has short operating hours during the week. This gave us a very small window to work in. The coordinator we were originally working with went on maternity leave and left the Ryan to do everything for the restaurant and the venue by himself. There was some miscommunication because of this, but it all worked out in the end. Our day-of coordinator said she had a good experience working with Ryan and the rest of the event staff.

I think my favorite part was that every time we got up from our table, our glasses were refilled by magical wine elves.

Weddings here are popular, that is the only reason they aren't 5 stars on flexibility. You have very set times for weddings and rehersals. The mission is absolutely beautiful, and was a dream come true to be married there. They have everything down to a science, so it is very easy working with them. They have info packets for all the paperwork you need, etc. Very helpful.