Viaggio Estate & Winery Reviews

My husband and I were married at Viaggio on May 4, 2019 and the entire experience was an absolute dream. From the moment we stepped foot on the property, we fell in love. We first went to the tasting room while waiting for Larry to take us on our tour. And let me tell you, the wine was SO good and the tasting room staff made us feel welcome! Larry was a wonderful tour guide; he was very friendly and seemed excited to host our wedding. My husband and I were so impressed with the entire venue, and loved that it had a backup indoor option in case of rain, as well as a gorgeous on-site villa that you could stay at.

Viaggio was the very first venue we toured and honestly, we were ready to sign the contract right there on the spot. But I remember my husband and I kept thinking that we can’t just book the first venue we tour. Afterwards, we visited additional wineries in Northern/Central California (including one that was originally my “dream” venue). However, Viaggio set the gold standard for what we wanted, and none of the other venues we toured compared. Viaggio was the perfect choice! You get a beautiful ceremony lawn, a river, a cool tasting room in case the weather is a little warm, so many areas to sit, a swing hanging from the tree, plus lots of other photo props, and flowers growing EVERYWHERE (at least in May)! Our guests are STILL singing praises of the venue.

Aside from the beautiful grounds, one of the best things that came with the venue was our coordinating team: Angelina and Bayley. I am FOREVER grateful for their help in making our dream wedding come to life. They were able to answer any and all questions that we had (which were a lot), they were willing to work around my husband’s and my work schedule when it came to meetings, and I never had an issue getting a hold of them. They were constantly in contact with me, giving me updates, and sending me reminders when “wedding brain” would take over. Not only do they display great professionalism, but working with the two of them feels like working with your two best friends who are so excited to help you plan your wedding. They are so patient and accommodating and genuinely friendly that working with them was like a breath of fresh air in the craziness that comes with wedding planning. I honestly don’t think our wedding would have been as lovely and (mostly) stress-free if it wasn’t for them.

Another perk of this venue is the AMAZING Chef Bernard. Let me tell you, that man is a culinary genius. When we first toured the venue we ran into a couple that had just gotten married there. All they were raving about was the food. We thought “well maybe they’re coming off the wedding high, most wedding food is just okay”. We were wrong. At our dinner tasting I swear my husband and I were ready to lick our plates clean. EVERYTHING was delicious. We had a lot of compliments from the guests about the dinner, many agreeing that they were not expecting wedding food to taste so good!

If you’re in-between venues, or just needing a sign from the universe to pick Viaggio as your wedding venue, this is it. My guests were so impressed that to this day they’re convinced we hosted a 100k+ wedding, and let me tell you that we definitely didn’t even spend half of that. We had guests of various ages tell us that our wedding was THE best one they had ever been to in their lives and that the venue had completely blown them away. My husband and I love this place so much, that we visited almost every month leading up to the wedding. Not for wedding planning, but just to relax, have a picnic on the lawn, and just drink some damn good wine. THANK YOU to the entire Viaggio staff for having us and making our wedding day magical!

Viaggio is an amazing space to get married. I loved everyone who helped. Even the owner, Larry was there during our reception to celebrate with us! Stephanie (wedding coordinator) is wonderful! She was so beyond helpful with anything and everything that I needed help with. Due to weather issues this winter, we had to change the location of the wedding ceremony - Stephanie was right there for me with all kinds of ideas/help to make it a perfect day! I couldn't have asked for a better person to help with my special day. I will forever recommend Viaggio to all of my friends getting married in this area!

We were over the moon about how wonderful the entire staff at the Viaggio is! Stephanie is truly a gem and helped us with every step along the way. I would highly advise booking the Viaggio for the most special day of your life!

I was married at viaggio september 24,2016 and it was everything I wanted and more! I was a very picky, very indecisive bride for every detail along the way. This venue had such a wow factor from the entrance to the gorgeous lawn, reception space and all! Every place you turn is another stunning photo op! Stephanie ( wedding planner) was amazing from the beginning to the very end. She helped me with any questions I had was always very quick with responses and any meeting we had she always covered every detail. I was very skeptical that I was not going to be able to taste any appetizers before the big day and Stephanie as well as Bernard ( the chef) assured me everything would be wonderful. When we had our food tasting of the entrees everything was delicious and it was the same day of! I had a plated meal and was nervous some may not arrive hot etc. and every guest commented on how impressed they were with the food! They all loved it from appetizers to salads to entrees. The stake was my personal favorite. I also hosted my rehearsal dinner here which again was great we had salads pizza beer and wine on the patio and everyone loved it! I stayed in the cottage the night before which was so convenient to be able to wake up and have hair and make up come right on site making a stress free day. Stephanie checked on us from first thing in the morning with snacks and sparking wine to throughout the day making sure everyone had what they needed. Right before the ceremony she made sure I had seen how everything was set up and that it was all to my liking and got us down the aisle perfectly. I used the wine trolley as transportation to and from the hotels for my guest and this too was a feature that is still talked about! Larry drove the trolley and many guests enjoyed conversation along the way. Terri also allowed us to take pictures in her gorgeous home- the whole Viaggio team was wonderful! I would highly recommend this venue to anyone looking!

We are beyond happy that we chose to get married at Viaggio on 6-18-16. The coordinator, Stephanie White, and her staff were unbelievably professional, friendly and accommodating. The grounds are breath-taking. The food and drinks were delicious. We would recommend this venue again and again!

I had booked Viaggio for the ceremony and reception back in 2014 for and we are getting married May 21, 2016. So far our experience from day one has been great. The owners Teri and Larry are very friendly and communicate well. The entire staff as well as Stephanie the wedding coordinator on site is wonderful. Stephanie has always been responsive and checks in on us to see if we are needing anything. This venue offers everything as a great package too. I'm so looking forward to our big day. I forgot to mention we are wine members and love the wines as well as events held here.

Among the most beautiful venues I've seen in Lodi. Stephanie their event coordinator is great and easy to work with. I reccomend using their vendors especially Elite DJ, Greg was awesome and so funny!!! They make planning a wedding as easy as can be, which was great for me since I was relocating to Lodi 4 months before my wedding. They accommodated all my requests and made sure everything was as I envisioned and asked. They have multiple ceremony locations and can hold a large wedding group perfect for what I needed. The food was out of this world and as good as any 5 star restaurant in LA. All my guest still can not stop talking about "how amazing everything was."

We had our wedding at Viaggio Winery and it was EXACTLY what we wanted. It was stress-free the day of due to their excellent coordinator, gorgeous location, and they worked great with all our chosen vendors. They actually recommended vendors to us for several services (vendors that had worked with them previously and knew the location, staff, etc.) and their recommendations were wondeful. They met with us several times over the 8 months we planned our wedding to give us a tour of the location including all pre-ceremony areas, plan our food and beverage menu (including a private tasting), help us select our table setting, ceremony and reception set up, ceremonial arch, etc. Their wedding coordinator helped me by answering all my questions via phone or email in the planning phase - and I had a lot of questions! She was very quick to respond and provided specific information for my questions. On the day of the event, she dealt with almost all problems on her own, and tried to come to my bridal party before coming to me for other questions. It resulted in the perfect day for me and my husband, and allowed us to focus on getting ready, having fun with our bridal party, and each other rather than stressing over event details. I would definitely recommend Viaggio Estate and Winery to anybody looking for a beautiful location for their wedding and not wanting to be stressed out with wedding details!

Can't say enough about Viaggio!! We are so happy we had our wedding here. Teri and Julie helped us have our perfect day. They were extremely flexible. From the location of the ceremony, our request to add more wine barrels to the reception, our request for family style food, to us renting out the private villa for the weekend, Viaggio was amazing. We had a wonderful wedding day. Our friends and family are still talking about the venue, our wedding and the fun day we all shared. If you are debating on getting married at Viaggio, debate no more. Just book it! You won't be sorry.
Thanks Teri, Larry and Julie!!

What can I say, this place was the perfect place to have a wedding! Everything about the site and the people who run the Viaggio is Amazing...I had the most perfect experience I could have imagined! The staff made everything about my big day smooth and stress free. They exceeded my expectations in every way! ALL the guests at my wedding said it was hands down the most beautiful wedding they have attended and probably the best tasting food they have ever had at a wedding. We LOVE the new owners!!! Thank you!!!

We had our wedding here on May 9, 2015, and we could not have been any happier. Not only are the grounds at Viaggio absolutely breath taking, the owners, wedding coordinator, and staff were so helpful in making our special day truly magical. Leading up to our big day we had three different wedding coordinators since we booked with Viaggio, which was a little frustrating. However just a few months before our wedding, Viaggio hired Stephanie, which was worth all the frustration before. She is absolutely amazing! Stephanie (wedding coordinator) made sure we had all of our T's crossed and our I's dotted. She was always readily available to answer any questions and even thought of things that had slipped our minds. For the day of Teri (owner) made sure the girls were all set with everything we needed in the cottage and continued to check in on us. She also made sure the boys were all set up in the Man Cave.

Throughout the wedding Stephanie was very patient with our bridal party and guests. She made sure everyone knew where they were suppose to be and when. She even made sure we took the time to eat a little something during the reception, which I'm glad we did. The food was absolutely fabulous and many of our guests have raved about it.

The bartenders and the rest of the staff were very friendly and made sure our guests were having a great time.

For transportation we decided to use their trolley which was a big hit. Larry (owner) drove our guests to and from our host hotel and even played some good tunes for everyone to sing along to.

Overall, I am so happy we decided to have our wedding at Viaggio, because it truly was magical. I highly recommend to any bride and groom that are looking for their fairytale wedding to consider having it here. I also, recommend using their vendor package. We loved all of our vendors.

We are so happy we had our wedding at Viaggio! We wow'd our guests and stayed within our budget. The only issue we ran into was having three different event planners in the one year of planning, however, Stephanie and Terri did an amazing job and everything went as planned! Food was incredible too!

They also hold a bridal fair and we were able to see what they have to offer and sample food and meet vendors. I loved being able to be on site all morning and not have to worry about transportation after the wedding either because we stayed in their cottage! I would recommend this venue to anyone! Very pleased!

Gorgeous venue and great food! We had our wedding their a couple of weeks ago, June 11th and it was a dream come true! Everyone raved about the wedding! We had a package deal that included everything but the videographer and it was well worth it (I don't think they're running that special anymore though) We had the mansion for the day to get ready in and take picture in and that night (we had an after party there). I can't even put into words the beauty of this place. Ken and Tamara, the owners, were great. We had a few little bumps in the road (but what wedding doesn't?!). A little heads up, Viaggio was on the market up for sale, in fact a month before the wedding it almost sold, even so they called to let us know and assured us everything would be fine. We worked with Donna for planning and she was great. She got a little stressed the day of and wasn't there for me as much as I had hoped (I only saw her once before the wedding) and they forgot to get me into the bridal cottage where I would start my walk from before the guest arrived, but it turned out just fine!

A word of advice: get EVERYTHING in writting, just to have proof. There are a couple of girls that work in the office and we found that sometimes things didn't always get communicated.

I loved having my wedding a Viaggio Winery. It was a beautiful day and the staff was very kind and very professional. I would highly recommend Viaggio to any of my friends.

I am glad to see good reviews about Viaggio as it is so beautiful and by getting married there i have the best memories there. Although, while I was working with them and planning my wedding they had gone through 2 wedding planners and the third one seemed great until the day of.. My wedding would have been a lot more memorable if they had a better wedding planner, I think about it often and get upset. :/
I suggest having your OWN DAY OF wedding planner. They don't really like it, but It is way worth having your own. I was going to but was told everything would be great. Terri the owner is nice and will do whatever to work with you. The reception area is so beautiful.
Also, a great place for Rehearsal dinner!! Their chicken pasta is very good! Look forward to visiting the grounds soon.
Again have your own wedding planner- don't chance it.

It's taken me a year to write this review, but here it goes!

My wedding was on 04.15.2023 - As someone in the wedding and hospitality industry for over 10 years, my expectations were not necessarily high, but I am overly aware of the level of service that one should receive from a Wedding Venue.

OVERALL:
While the initial experience was transactional and lacked personalization, The Viaggio Team (Terri, Jessica, Kelly) did a great job at TURNING THINGS AROUND towards the end. My Wedding turned out WONDERFUL! The FOOD WAS GOOD! The WINE WAS AMAZING! The VIEWS - even the unfortunate pound/lake were STUNNING!

SHOULD YOU GIVE THEM A CHANCE:
I say YES! IF you have an EXPERIENCED Planner on hire.

EXPERIENCE::
Communicating with the venue was extremely challenging. Getting in touch for information on availability was difficult. Once the contract was signed I received reminders of deadlines late, they canceled my tasting 2 times at the last minute - Literally hours before the tasting (we live 2 hours away so this was an extreme inconvenience).

The planning/organization of details was disorganized. There was a coordinator change - which we were not notified of until we were asked about information from a new person we had already given to the original coordinator and told that all that information could no longer be found and that the old coordinator was no longer with the venue. The new coordinator would have misinformation and provide important details to us late. Similar to previous posters below.

Too many balls were being dropped and we were being handled in a transactional manner and not in the manner of a valued customer who is entrusting you to ensure their investment in their day would be smooth. There was no level of personalization. We were just a number just a check. I WAS NOT CONFIDENT in the ability of the venue or the coordinator.

When speaking to the owner Terri and expressing our concerns her response was “We don't typically hold our clients' hands" which was crazy to me as someone in the Hospitality industry it is indeed your job to ensure a level of hospitality and communication to your clients to ensure they have all the information and instill trust.

I did have a warnful conversation with Terri at which point she assured me that things would change and what the hospitality industry deemed a standard level of service would be applied to my wedding. After this conversation, my experience with the venue DID TURN AROUND.

I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding this venue as not being inclusive - As a Black Woman - NOT ONCE DID I FEEL THIS IN MY EXPERIENCE.

We got married on 10.29.22 at Viaggio! Amazing day for us, our guests had the greatest time. Amazing location and pictures. However, we have a lot of negatives to highlight. The lack of communication and coordination by Viaggio was a complete nightmare. An appeal for us committing to get married at Viaggio was location, mansion on site, and day of coordinator. We experienced constant turnover with their coordinator since committing a year prior to our wedding date. They were unable to locate our 1st payment and they had to inquire with us the exact amount and when the check was deposited. At one point, they adjusted our food pricing to a higher amount. We were proactive in our communication and reached out ourselves as we received zero communication from Viaggio close to 30 days of our wedding. We were informed 3 days before our wedding; one of the appetizer options were no longer available. We paid additional money to extend our reception by an hour. Because of that, we had to pay a mandatory $5/pp for the alcohol. However, alcohol was not served for at least 30 minutes after our reception started. We had a line of people waiting to order drinks, including our parents. Their staff was “ taking a break.” We didn’t pay for their staff to take breaks nor is it our concern if you they didn’t hire staff members to fulfill the responsibility to support bartenders at our wedding. We have requested money back but they won’t acknowledge this happened. Sadly, there was no knife available on our dessert table to cut our wedding cake. They were supposed to provide one. Our cake was cut and was not served to either bride or groom or placed on our sweetheart table. One of our tables didn’t receive a full plate of food due to the limited amount cooked / prepared. There should have been ample food for all guests as we paid for buffet style and not plated. Our guest complained the reception chairs were dirty and dusty. Day of coordinator was non-existent until a few hours before our wedding even though both bride and grooms tribe was getting ready on property. We thankfully “hired” a friend to help with day of coordinating, if not, our wedding wouldn’t have been as smooth as it was. Our photographer and videographer, first time shooters at Viaggio were not approached by Viaggio introducing themselves or checking in with them throughout the entire day. We received multiple complaints the way day of coordinator communicated to our wedding party even our parents and our guest during sparkler send off- she was screaming at them. Supposedly due to a fire hazard, they had to keep the receptions lights on the entire night. We had at least 5 firefighters at our wedding and they had never heard such a thing during a wedding reception. Don’t waste your money and pay for the chandelier as they’ll keep it up anyways as its too much of a hassle for them to remove. All the owner cares about is money. She takes zero accountability for any downfalls by Viaggio. It is quite comical she has such a strong opinion based on our feedback but was nonexistent through the entire process! She isn’t apologetic and has lack of empathy for any negative experience a bride and groom faces during their journey with Viaggio. She admittedly deletes negative reviews. Family/friends have written reviews on other sites to share their experience- yelp, google etc and the owner ,Teri ,calls everyone liars in her response.
This venue is absolutely not worth the stress and headache prior to what is an amazing day/celebration.

This venue is not LGBTQ friendly with ceremonies but they will sit down and talk with you about a reception. Teri Lawrence,owner has responded with,

"We have thought this over thoroughly, and we would like to offer that you do everything here after you have completed the actual marriage ceremony. We have had to figure out what exactly would make the owners feel comfortable in not violating their beliefs and accommodate your comfort level as well. If you would have the ceremony elsewhere, we would welcome the cocktail hour, dinner and dancing reception here. You may come in your wedding attire and take photos and receive the same services as other guests of ours who have been married off-site and have the celebration here. It is the actual ceremony that would be violating the owners’ religious beliefs, and we cannot allow that at the Winery."

Kind of funny how your religious beliefs will prevent a ceremony from being held, but it's ok for you to have a reception. I guess their religious beliefs includes that you can take money from the LGBTQ community for something that's a joyful event.

When reaching out directly to Teri Lawrence, the owner, the response was,

"We have LGBT employees, and 2 gay sons, whom we share a close and loving relationship with. One of our sons has a married partner and we vcation with them annually. This has nothing to do with you as a person, nor the love for your partner. This has to do with our personal religious beliefs. If you could have your ceremony elsewhere and have everything else here, you nor your guests would be disappointed in our service.”

After media attention on Yelp, Teri Lawrence, owner responded with,

"All are welcome here, as long as they are not violating others (usually that only happens if one has drank too much.) We have never shunned anyone, and are sorry that you feel that you have been shunned, even though you have not. You are still welcome to come and tour the property if you so desire."

Love is love! Had booked this venue and had a wedding date of 9/26/2020. Had booked the photographer and hair/makeup and had the whole Pinterest board set up. The reputation of this place now left such a bad taste in our mouths we canceled our wedding. We explained to them that we have all orientations of people coming to our wedding and we want everyone to feel welcome... when you google Viaggio only negative headlines come up! We don’t want to start our married life at a place with such negativity. We explained to them how the reputation is tarnished and that’s not what we signed up for.. and we received an email back saying “gays are welcome” and “they wouldn’t be giving us our 3,250$ deposit back”. Terrible terrible business practices!!

Think twice before planning a wedding or any other related event here. They are more than willing to participate in an LGBTQ marriage on their property and take all the bucks for a reception, but won’t accommodate a ceremony which they acknowledge doing so is against CA state law, except they don’t want to “believe” it is. If you are a caterer, florist, musician or event planner, stop doing business with these people.

I am writing this review to try and help those who are looking to book weddings here or get a feel of the company culture that is tolerated.

Let me preface: There were few Viaggio employees that made this experience the best it could be. To those people, my largest thank you! You made it bearable.

I’ll also say yes….It’s a long review. But before scrolling to the short review, please read……..the individual replying to the negative comments here is lying. Their only priority is money no matter the cost. Charging top-dollar for below bottom service. So it's a long review but it’s everything I wish someone told me…

I had planned my wedding for two years. Frequently coming to the venue to see how it was run. I read reviews, the good, the bad. I researched several venues. Yet, I chose Viaggio because of how gorgeous it was. Most people were friendly, and the convenience it provided those traveling from out-of-town.

I would later realize, I should’ve walked away when I had the chance. I should’ve listened to the bad reviews because my experience was appalling. I thought my wedding would be different. I thought it would be the one that worked out because I am a great planner. I stayed organized, but none of it mattered. My wedding was early June 2023. This list is a VERY brief summary of what I wish someone told me, experienced firsthand at Viaggio Estate & Winery from 2021-2023.

> Went through 3 wedding coordinators, in a span of 2 years.
> I had to reach out to the venue to find out all changes, no introduction made.
> No communication for weeks during critical decisions time.
> Poor management of payments.
> No one available to received payments when I went to drop off
> Instructed to leave payments with random employees, then being blamed for doing so.
> Losing checks.
> Careless with details. I made sure details were in place at all times.
> Management was rude, discriminatory, speaking out of term, insulting friends, not catering or accommodating any needs, or not providing fair compensation.
> Did not communicate to clients the ceremony site flooded completely (1-month prior to wedding day) due to historic weather.
> Did not communicate clearly the day-of
> Didn’t show up at expected time (AM)
> All areas we were going to get ready, on day-of were locked.
> No privacy around cottage
> Random wine tasting guests + families were looking into the wedding party ready. It was extremely inappropriate.
> Wedding party had to go out of their way several times before staff stepped in.
> Father of the bride & uncles had to guard the doors.
> Ran out of water bottles for wedding guests, the wedding day was 90 degrees.
> Staff throwing drinks at the family of the bride & groom due to frustration.

> No clean utensils, dishes, etc in the kitchen.
> Garbage was confusing. Ran out of bags.
> A/C wasn’t functioning in the upper level of the Villa.
> It is CA in June, the rooms on one side were saunas.
> People walking on property.
> Minimal water pressure.
> Had to contact the property manager for WiFi.
> Extensive fines for using the pool incorrectly. To the point where it deterred us from swimming.
> Plus the spa did not turn on.

Now that the brief points have been covered. I’d like to say this – the venue itself has so much potential. I truly think Viaggio Estate & Winery used to be great, but at some point things changed. I’m not sure when, all I can speak to is my experience over the last 2 years. Some individuals were so great, so helpful and kind but those who were less favorable truly ruined the experience. If I could give one piece of advice to those looking to book their wedding here, be careful. Please be so sure in your decision. If it were up to me, I’d go somewhere else. Not because it wasn’t beautiful. It was everything I wanted and then some. What I am saying is that, in my opinion, the people who I had to deal with in the process, didn’t make it worth it.
I’m not sure if the people running the page will take this review down. Or try to deny it, similar to others that left unfavorable reviews. Further, I felt like what I had to say was necessary for myself, and others. It is just bad business.