Thomas Fogarty Winery Reviews

Thomas Fogarty Winery, nestled in the heart of the Bay Area, surpassed all our expectations and created the perfect backdrop for our wedding day. As members of TFW for several years, we had enjoyed many tastings and events at this majestic venue, making it one of our favorite places. The combination of a breathtaking vista, impressive architecture, and a dedicated staff added a unique charm that made our wedding experience truly unforgettable.

What also makes TFW particularly special for us is the personal connection my wife developed with the venue long before we met. Over a decade ago, while still in school, she attended an event at TFW and fell in love with its allure. It became her dream location for the day she would say "I do." Little did I know that she had already coordinated with the management to secure our wedding date by the time I proposed. It was a delightful surprise to discover that we actually both shared the same dream location for our wedding!

The sweeping views of the Bay Area never lose their magic for us, and we were thrilled to share this special place with our guests, many of whom were left speechless by the beauty of the surroundings, having never seen the Bay Area before. Despite the unpredictable weather, the TFW staff, led by Kristin and her event team, demonstrated exceptional professionalism and dedication. When the rolling clouds, rain, and mist complicated our plans, they pivoted with our wedding planner to execute a new strategy, turning challenges into opportunities. The result was a day even more beautiful than we had imagined, with the clouds and mist adding an unexpected charm to the overall atmosphere.
From the initial planning stages to the execution of the event, Kristin and her team were always available to answer our questions, collaborating seamlessly with our planner. Their attention to detail and commitment to creating a magical atmosphere did not go unnoticed, enhancing our wedding experience.

The venue's aesthetic appeal is a common thread in other positive experiences you'll find online. The picturesque setting is not just a backdrop but an integral part of the overall charm of Thomas Fogarty Winery. And the expansive vineyard provides an intimate and romantic atmosphere for all ceremonies, and the transition to receptions at their pavilion is a seamless continuation of the natural surrounding beauty.
The added benefit to hosting an event there is the versatility of the venue. Whether indoors or outdoors, TFW allows for easy adjustments if the weather throws you a curveball, as it did for us.

Their commitment to ensuring our happiness was evident in every interaction, instilling confidence at the outset in their ability to coordinate a beautiful event with our numerous vendors.

In retrospect, choosing Thomas Fogarty Winery for our wedding was a decision we will forever cherish. The stunning venue, attentive staff, and overall magical atmosphere combined to create an experience that surpassed our every expectation for our special day. If you're in search of a venue with breathtaking views and a team of dedicated professionals, Thomas Fogarty Winery is undoubtedly a top choice.

Perfect venue!!!!!! Dream come true.

We could not have asked for a more perfect wedding venue! The staff were always very responsive and helpful and every part of our wedding day was flawless. Not to mention the incredible views and perfect sunset!

The event team (Trisha and Brenda) are extremely organized and helpful. The location for an outdoor wedding is amazing. And, the wines are top notch.

We had SUCH an amazing experience with everyone at Fogarty Winery and we can't recommend this venue enough!!

Amazing venue, top-notch location. Very accommodating and helpful throughout the entire planning process. One of the best parts was the recommended vendor list - it made our decisions so much easier knowing that the vendors had been pre-approved by Fogarty. Highly recommend!

They are very nice and helpful. Wonderful place to have the wedding.

Amazing Venue. Exceptional service. Everything went as planned.

Thomas Fogarty winery is completely worth the expense! It is like living in a fairy tale!

Be clear and upfront with your budget. The venue is expensive so that will be a large cost to consider.
However, the grounds and buildings are absolutely stunning. You do not need to do many decorations and let the view and space speak for itself. We absolutely loved the event space. So so so beautiful and we got tons of compliments.
Figure out shuttle service because it is a long winding road, especially late at night after the wedding if people have had a few drinks.
This space is ideal for any weather issues. It rained the day before and the morning of my wedding, and I wasn't stressed because I knew the pavilion and indoor space could handle my numbers and my caterer had a backup plan. This was actually a big reason I ended up picking the venue, so I didn't have to worry about tents, etc if there was a weather issue and there ended up being one!
The staff is so professional and helpful for the event. They helped store a few things for me (flowers) the day before the event, which was a lifesaver.
They were pretty prompt to respond to things.
You cannot bring alcohol in, so be prepared to work with their pricing with wine and beer. I appreciated no hard alcohol actually, it simplified things and quite honestly probably avoided some bad drunken moments.

Just for reference, our wedding was in September of 2016. It seems like most of the reviews cover the basic positives of the venue, so I'll share a little bit about details that are specific to my own experience. Looking at some of the reviews, it seems odd to me that their "flexibility" was rated lower than the other attributes (not that 4+ is low...). Throughout the whole process of e-mailing back and forth (since I was living in Boston at the time), the whole staff was very accommodating of our needs. They do have a list of preferred vendors that they suggest, but many of our vendors ended up being off the list. I don't want to give liberty for everyone to do whatever the heck they want to do, but like I said, TFW was accommodating of our requests. They did ask that our off the list vendors would be approved by them, and come check out the venue beforehand so they would have a certain level of familiarity with the place. But I consider that proper protocol and responsibility rather than lack of flexibility. Additionally, for some reason our wedding day ended up being MUCH colder than the rest of the week beforehand, even the day just prior. Our original plan was to have the reception dinner outside, but ended up moving indoors for the sake of guests who would have likely frozen to death. This change of plans was made the morning of our evening wedding, and the coordination with our vendors, as well as the setup, was seamless as if we had planned it that way since the beginning. On top of everything else, I'd qualify that is being "flexible".

Overall, we got tons of compliments on the quality of the wedding (without breaking the bank), and none of our guests regretted flying across the country (or even the world) to attend at such a great venue. TFW is a 5-Star venue for sure, and the wine was good too :)

We loved this venue and our guests loved the view. Everyone was so easy to work with.

The Thomas Fogarty Winery is a amazing location for an outdoor wedding. The set up allows you to move around organically from ceremony to reception, dinner and dancing. The views are stunning and the wines are great. It can get quite chill and windy at night, especially in the late summer/fall.

We would agree with all the positive reviews published thus far, and would like to provide some additional details that have not been highlighted so much.

- The event planning staff was prompt in responding to our questions/concerns, and made every effort to accommodate our preferences.
- The day-of event setup was flawless, since all the vendors knew exactly when/where to provide their services during the day.
- There are lot of different micro-sceneries for photo purposes. For example, there's the forest setting, vineyard setting, and city view setting. The log cabin setting and conference/pool tables also made a very interesting photoshoot.

Our wedding was wonderful. The venue was gorgeous.

After an exhaustive evaluation process of possible venues for our wedding, we chose Thomas Fogarty Winery for a number of reasons: Beauty, facilities that met all of our needs (particularly the ability to have the wedding and reception indoors OR outdoors, a very important consideration given our Fall wedding date), super helpful events people including ALL on the staff from the events people to the people in the tasting room (including Tom, Jr. himself).

I mentioned the ability to have the festivities inside or outside... and as it turn out, it drizzled very heavily on our 4pm ceremony but didn't dampen - pardon the unintended pun - the spirit and vibe of the entire event! We also found out later that because of the dampness, the Fogarty staff, along with our unbelievably great caterer - a Fogarty recommended vendor - moved all of our guest services like our place cards and other key aspects of our reception/dinner inside to keep them dry! That was initiative that exceeded expectations!

If asked to rate the "value" of the venue, my initial, gut reaction would be to say "it wasn't inexpensive" looking at our bank account. (I laugh as I write this.) However, in really thinking about it and holding to the true definition of the word VALUE; that is, "...the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something", we think they provided EXCELLENT VALUE! We could have spent less at another venue, but having all of the things that we wanted in a venue all there in one place and having the entire event come together as it did with absolutely NO intervention on our part at any time was the most valuable thing for us!

To net it all out (and it sounds bad to say this but in context it makes sense): "If we had to do it all over again, there'd be NO OTHER VENUE we'd even consider."

I did an exhaustive search of bay area wedding venues, and Thomas Fogarty came out on top as one of the most stunningly beautiful, classy, and quintessential Californian places around. Our guests, many of whom came from around the world, were blown away by the incredible views (you can see the entire bay in the background, with rolling vineyards in the foreground), fantastic wine, and intimate setting.

The staff (we worked with Becky and Trisha) were incredible from start to finish in terms of the months and days leading up to the wedding date, and especially the day-of. Massive kudos to their team for working so well with our wedding planner to execute as perfect a day as we could have hoped for and more.

The perfect place to get married. Beautiful ceremony above the Bay Area, picturesque spots for the albums, great night-time vibe. Wow.

AUSSIE BOY meets AMERICAN GIRL

I thank you for all of your help and assistance on and before Aaron and I's special day. You truly made the experience of planning our wedding easy. Choosing our Vendors off the preferred vendors list was exactly the right thing to do, because everyone on the preferred vendors list knew everything about the location and the event space. On the brochure of Thomas Fogarty Winery it says "Your Dream Wedding Come True..." to be honest our day was exactly how we imagined it to be. Dreams really do come True! The weather was beautiful! We had our ceremony in a 360 round on the lawn in the garden overlooking the most spectacular view of the Greater Bay Area stretching across the Bay to S.F. We had our cocktail hour and dining experience outside on the deck and pavilion.Words to describe our day; perfect, serene, magical, memorable, relaxed and FUN!
Forever thankful to be able to look back at our photos and relive the moments that we shared on Sept 30, 2011.

THANK YOU!
BIG HUGS,
PK + AK

It is pricey place and that was the maid concern of us but at the end of the wedding, we concluded "IT WAS WORTH IT. It is a beautiful place to have a wedding. Everything was just perfect.

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL!! The Winery is the most beautiful place to have a wedding. The view, the greenery, the vineyard and the flowers made our wedding absolutely spectacular. From the first visit until the wedding day, the people at Thomas Fogarty made it the most peaceful and easiest process ever. They answered e-mails immediately, they were free to talk with on the phone at anytime and they never rushed us. The winery provided tables, chairs, valet, an easel and anything else that was in their storage, they allowed us to use. Our wedding was at 2:00 pm on a Sunday and the weather was beautiful. The lawn was plush enough that the girls heels did not sink in the grass. They have a air conditioned large room for the Bride and a very large area for the Groom. The ceremony is separate from the reception with many areas to utilize for the cocktail hour without leaving the property. Perfect use of space. Thomas Fogarty also provided a list of vendors to choose from. I picked my caterer, Dj, and videographer from their list and LOVED everyone of them. It was the most beautiful day and site for our wedding. Highly highly recommend this venue.

We really loved having our wedding here. The views are breathtaking, the staff was helpful and friendly, and we loved the wine. We had our ceremony outside, and the reception in the covered pavillion. All of our guests thought it was gorgeous, and had a great time.

Beautiful venue! The people were so helpful and kind and great to work with. It was a dream place to have a wedding and all of the guests can't stop talking about what a beautiful spot it was!

My husband and I visited Thomas Fogarty Winery about a month before we were engaged. We fell in love with it the moment we saw it. The views are absolutely breathtaking!

Once we were engaged we went back out there for the official tour. That is when we met Ellie, one of their onsite coordinators. She walked us through the venue and gave us such a complete description that we called her back and booked the site that very day.

Ellie was amazing to work with from start to finish. She responded to all of my emails very promptly and also helped me to brainstorm ideas when I was at a lost. Ellie was also able to provide me some great recommendations for other vendors that she thought I'd enjoy working with.

My wedding ran more smoothly than I could have ever dreamed possible, and I know that a large part of that is because Ellie and her team at Fogarty were running around behind the scenes to make everything happen.

My guests can't stop telling me how beautiful the site is and how well run everything was. From rehearsal to last dance, it was all perfect!

Everyone at the events office was super helpful. We had Trish as our primary support on the day of the ceremony and she was there to help fill in those little blanks that are always there no matter how well you plan everything. Highly recommend and very delighted in the outcome.

I am so glad that I found this wedding venue and that we decided to go with it. I always feel speechless when I see the view from the venue... It's just so beautiful! During our wedding, we kept having people asking us how we found this venue and how beautiful it is. It was also a pleasure to work with their event planning staff; they were all so helpful and very responsive. The only disadvantage from this venue is their rental time. They have limited rental time, and if you want to increase the time, you will need to pay more. So usually people got ready in another place and met up at the venue to start taking photos. For the amount of the money we paid for, we really wished we could have the ability to rent the venue for the whole day. Other then that, this is honestly the best outdoor venue you could ask for in the bay area.

Our wedding was at Thomas Fogarty Winery in April, and it was amazing! The view is incredible, and our guests were amazed! I would highly recommend this venue.

We had our wedding here on April 9, 2016 and other than a little rain and coldish weather, it was the perfect day! Trisha was so helpful and walked us through the entire process. They have a great selection of vendors to choose from and the wine is fantastic! This location is beautiful and we couldn't have asked for anything better. Totally worth the money. Thank you so much Thomas Fogarty!

Beautiful venue, easy to work with staff, had a wonderful time.

We were married at Thomas Fogarty Winery. Trisha Takeda from the winery staff helped us to coordinated the event. She was wonderful to work with and the venue was really over the top. Most of our guests were surprised to find such a magnificent place with stunning views hidden away up in the hills. The overall experience was super positive. Trisha handled everything smoothly, both the expected and the unexpected and significantly reduced our level of stress. We highly recommend both her and the venue. There is one caveat to this almost perfect review though. We did give Thomas Fogarty Winery only 4/5 stars in the "Flexibility" category because they have a somewhat restrictive list of pre-approved 3rd parties that customers have to work with. Overall, the value you get from the Thomas Fogarty Winery experience will be very difficult to match at anything even close to the price (all included). It was an excellent decision to trust our special day to them.

Beautiful place to have a ceremony and reception. Has indoor and outdoor options available. Very professional staff. Excellent recommended vendors list.

We hosted our wedding here in August 2022. Excellent venue, easy to work with, views and outdoor spaces are incredible, and stunning backdrop for all your pictures. The wine is great, so we were happy to purchase it from them (a requirement). The Pavillion is gorgeous and provides everything you need for a wonderful event. The negatives: There are only 40ish parking spots, so you will need to arrange (and budget) for shuttles. The Hill House is where guests will dance - it’s a bit warm in there, even when it’s cool in the evening (they need a better AC system). Workers take smoke breaks near the storage area; bride & groom will need to pass through cigarette smoke a couple of times before the ceremony.

The ceremony on the lawn is gorgeous on a clear day. I liked having all aspects close together - ceremony, reception, dinner, and dancing. Music has to end at 10pm so keep that in mind.

Thomas Fogarty Winery is a spectacular place to get married. The grounds are impeccable and the staff is lovely, and very helpful. They have a lot of restrictions on venders and alcohol options, but we felt it was worth it. Our wedding ended up being better that I could have ever hoped.

The Winery is a GORGEOUS place to have your wedding. As soon as we stepped onto the site, we knew we had to have our wedding there. There are vineyards surrounding the winery where you can take beautiful pictures. The indoor and outdoor options are both stunning. We had to have our wedding at a winery, but the problem with most wineries is that the indoor option has an obstructed view or is not conducive for dancing and wedding parties, or you need to use a tent. However, Thomas Fogarty Winery's indoor option is enclosed with windows overlooking the same vineyards and view as the outdoor deck area. The only negatives: (1) due to noise ordinances in the community, the music must end by 10 pm (but with most people drinking wine for 3+ hours, I doubt that will be a problem); (2) you have to use their preferred caterers (which is fine because they know the area and how things should be set up -- and the list is fairly long); and (3) no liquor on the premises and you have to purchase their wines and beer. None of these negatives ended up being a problem for us. The price for the venue on a Saturday or Sunday is high, but completely worth it if you can swing it because the staff is amazing as well. I worked with Elie and Patty (mostly Patty) during the year in making payments, ordering the wines, pairings with our meal. Then Becky stepped in as site manager for the rehearsal and day of. She was so great. She and Continental Caterers worked together to make sure everything went smoothly. When we ran out of a specific wine and beer, she was able to help us get some more ordered without interrupting us at all. She helped the bridal party get set up and walk down the aisle, and helped flulff my dress before my walk. She made sure that we stayed on time with everything and helped us pack our stuff before we left. That and the venue itself were worth every penny!

We had our ceremony and reception at the winery. It was beautiful if a bit chilly in early March. The staff was super helpful and professional. The winery itself is beautiful. Our ceremony was on the lawn overlooking the bay. Couldn't ask for a nicer view. We had a great time. Highly recommended.

Gorgeous wedding site! Great staff! However, it is expensive compared to other venues out there. We fell in love with the venue though. The views are phenomenal!!

The winery is a beautiful place to have the ceremony and reception together. It overlooks the vineyards and the Bay Area. The place doesn't require much decoration so you can save on that. There is plenty of room for guests to move around. There are no surrounding buildings so it's intimate. The rental fee includes tables, chairs for both ceremony and reception, and large market umbrellas. The event coordinators there are very attentive. I've asked so many questions throughout the planning process and they answered everything promptly. The winery coordinator for our wedding was Becky Thatcher and she did a very good job in keeping things in line and facilitating the vendors. She was also available at the rehearsals to give us pointers.

Despite the gorgeous facility, there are a few negatives. They have a lot of rules. You must select from their list of caterers and DJs, but we selected the two vendors that were great anyways. So this isn't a negative at all. You cannot bring in other alcoholic drinks and must buy their wine. If you choose beer, you must purchase a set amount of wine, depending on total number of guests. This was the most annoying rule of all and made us have second thoughts but in the end, we sacrificed the beer. However, we chose the wine only option and whatever unopened wine was left after the wedding, they would buy back. You can only have a single ceremony musician if you choose to have ceremony in the lawn area. There is no A/C in the Hill House except for the dancing area but the doors were left open all day so we really didn't feel any A/C. The groom's changing area didn't have A/C but the bride's changing room did. On a hot day, this makes a big difference! We had our reception at the covered pavillion.

The winery is not a budget facility, but you get what you pay for. In addition to the fee, they require insurance and a $500 refundable deposit. They do have discounts for off season and weekday weddings. Originally we were planning a Saturday wedding. Because we loved this facility so much, we changed it to a Friday to be able to afford it. We thought people might not come for a Friday afternoon wedding but they did, and they thought it was a beautiful place for a wedding.

Great venue. Somewhat restrictive on times and options, but worth it.

From the winery grounds to the stunning views, Thomas Fogarty is gorgeous! After looking at a ton of other venues, I can't imagine a better place to get married. The winery staff will work with you and your menu to pick out complimentary wines for the event; and they are so responsive, and really help you envision the flow of the day. The winery also has heaters on site to help off-set an evening chill, and because they only do one wedding a day there, you really are able to feel like the star of the show.

The only critiques I would have of this venue is that it can be difficult for handicapped/elderly people to get around, and it is a windy drive. I had several handicapped and elderly people at my wedding, and they were able to manage, but it was not ideal. As far as the drive, I was a little concerned about out-of-towners and drunk guests having to drive to and from Skyline Blvd., but we made a shuttle available for them, and that worked out really well.

I'm torn. I love, love, love this venue and the events coordinator were super sweet but I found myself very frustrated at times with contacting them for additional information once I booked the venue was booked. I found myself sending them multiple emails about the same subject before I received a response. Maybe this is because they're super popular and have many events to plan, but regardless, I would have liked my emails answered without asking multiple times.

Other than that, the venue was beautiful. It has a beautiful view of San Francisco for the ceremony on the lawn, the pavilion for another amazing view of the vineyard and skyline, the deck for cocktail hour, and the hill house, which was perfect for dancing and dessert

Fantastic place for our wedding - was perfect place for us to get married. Only downside is the parking (valet is slow for guests) + windy road to get up there

Beautiful venue and friendly staff! We really enjoyed having our wedding here. Only issues were that the venue is somewhat expensive, there were quite a few rules, and we had limited options regarding when to have the dress rehearsal.

This venue was amazing for our wedding day. Gorgeous views and delicious wine! Response time was slightly slow and restrictions not fully explained upfront. That being said, I would go back and do it all over again at the same place.

The venue at Thomas Fogarty is absolutely beautiful. The views are stunning, they have backup plans in case of weather, plenty of space and parking, room for the whole wedding party to get ready onsite. However, the staff was hard to work with. I chose this venue because it was beautiful and a great size for my smaller wedding, and because the coordinator I met when I visited the site, Trisha, was wonderful. She's responsive, warm, and made me feel good about my decision. It was too bad that I wasn't working with Trisha anymore after I locked down my date.

I requested Trisha to be my coordinator, but was told by the office that they couldn't guarantee who would be there day-of, and they couldn't give me Trisha's email to coordinate with directly because the entire office shares one email address. That meant that each time I emailed with questions or updates, someone else would answer, creating lack of continuity/context of previous conversations. For every 5 questions asked, 1 was answered. I had to email several times before I would hear back, most likely each person in the office figured someone else would respond and left it untouched. The staff was fine on the phone, but this makes planning really hard to do when you also have a full-time job and need to do planning during off-business hours.

Additionally, they hired someone new a week before my wedding and decided to have her shadow the coordinator on my wedding day. It was unnecessary stress to find out so close that I needed to worry about an inexperienced staffer and that they expected me to prepare extra vendor meals and tips for someone they needed to train using my wedding as a guinea pig.