A place to grow, connect and share your love
Venture Retreat Center, was founded in the early 1960's by a group of Bay Area pioneering individuals. The group was rooted in what was later coined "The Human Potential Movement," and held workshops, retreats and training sessions to explore the big questions of, "Who are we? Why are we here?."
In the decades since, Venture have remained an active retreat, workshop and training hub in Northern California for groups dedicated to personal, spiritual, ecological, and community growth. In addition to retreat groups, we host nature-loving couples who want to create a magical multi-day experience for their family and friends for their wedding!
Weddings at Venture Retreat Center include:
5 Reviews for Venture Retreat Center
Recommended by 95% of couples
Chandra · Married on 10/11/2014
Venture Retreat Center is a wonderful place to have a wedding. We had our ceremony on the beach and our reception at Venture. Bob was great and very flexible with us about all the logistics. We built an entire lighting rig in the space beside the pool to go over our tables and took it down in plenty of time- the place was transformed and we had everything we needed.
Sent on 02/10/2016
We highly recommend it- its just beautiful. Recommended for a smaller wedding- as parking was just a little tricky but not a problem. This is a rural site and that's why we chose it.
We loved having places for our wedding party to stay on site. Some folks camped. The pool and the hot tub were a great bonus. The kitchen complete with just about all the supplies we needed was awesome.
We love Venture and want to come back for other occasions....we'll be in touch Bob! <3
Thank you Bob!!!
Chandra and Jay
Chris · Married on 09/29/2012
Venture Retreat Center was the ideal venue for our wedding. We had a big vision with a small budget, and Venture was the only place that gave us enough flexibility to realize our vision and not completely break our budget. Other venues had so many rules, restrictions, and added fees - the answer to every question was either "no" or "yeah, but it'll cost you". The answers we got from Venture, on the other hand, tended to be "sure, why not, it's your wedding!" That's all we wanted hear. Venture is not "fancy", but the grounds are lovely, it was very reasonably priced, there was space for many of our guests to spend the night, and the folks running it genuinely wanted us to be able to create the event we dreamed of. And we did. Our wedding at Venture was a beautiful gathering of friends and family, and everyone had a spectacular time.
Sent on 02/16/2016
Lizzy · Married on 06/27/2015
My husband and I got married in June 2015 at Venture Retreat Center. We wanted a nontraditional ceremony and a relaxing weekend-long reception that didn't feel fluffed up by the commercial wedding industry. Venture was absolutely perfect for us. The house and the grounds are beautiful: blooming artichokes in the garden, a big fireplace in the living room, ancient trees overhead and songbirds singing all weekend long. We were married in front of a giant, brambly rosebush and afterwards our friends and family walked 50 feet to the porch of the house for champagne, dinner, a live band, and a midnight soak in the hot tub. 40 of our friends stayed in the house and camped on the lawn, which meant that we didn't need any set schedule; people just came and went, enjoying Venture's pool and the nearby hikes and beaches. We cooked most of our meals in the big kitchen (except for the main post-wedding meal, which was catered). There are so many beautiful nooks and crannies on the Venture property! The kids in attendance formed a group and went exploring down the creek trail—we only found out later because they had taken one of our disposable cameras! Bob was incredibly kind and helpful during the planning process and the event itself. He let us visit the property while we were planning, so we could imagine how it would all work, and he connected us with a flower farm down the road, who stocked us with flowers at wholesale. Mainly, he was laid back, friendly and a genuinely nice person to work with. Venture is pretty much a dream place to throw a party: a giant house in the woods, where you can swim and dance and do a lot of nothing with a hundred of your favorite people. If that sounds like a good way to spend your wedding, then Venture is for you.
Sent on 02/05/2016
