Past and present Napa/san Francisco/sonoma Brides! Share your wedding venue and advice!

Ask pirate bride about this. She got married at Napa valley.

How do I find pirate bride?

Also, try Earias, her wedding was in Sonoma. In the search field, type in "Earias" or "Pirate & 60s bride" -- I think they were married in late-2017 or 2018, but show up on these posts pretty regularly with great advice. Both married in N Cal.

There is also a Kelly who had a beautiful wedding in Carmel at a winery.

I am having my wedding at a small vineyard in Calistoga called Hans Fahden. It can only hold up to 110 guests. I ultimately picked it for its initimate wine cave for the reception and the ease of having it all inclusive and took a lot of planning off of me. Check out the venue in my profile. Pirate bride got married in Calistoga she is super helpful and full of information! She got married at a more well known vineyard, Calistoga Ranch I believe. Guest accommodations will probably be the hardest part. I couldn’t find wedding blocks anywhere for under $400/night during peak season on the weekends. I am excited for you though! Can’t wait to see what you decide.

For wineries, you can try looking into Gilroy! I had two friends that got married at Kirigin Cellars and I enjoyed it! Plus, I believe an event coordinator comes with the venue (I could be wrong) and she was phenomenal!!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! So nice when the venues provide coordinators!

I found my venue: Viansa Sonoma

I'm getting married at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in the financial district of SF in August. It holds I believe 300+, but we are inviting 230. We chose it mostly for aesthetic, location, and of the places we saw, I thought this gave us the most for our rental fee. I'm planning from NYC too, my fiance is from the Bay as well, so wouldn't mind sharing about the long distance planning either. There's definitely both pros and cons to it!

View Quoted Comment Thank you for sharing! Julia Morgan ballroom is stunning. I love the Art Deco feel. When is your wedding? I’ve signed for a venue as well: Viansa Winery in Sonoma.

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Here I am!

YES, venues and hotels are crazy expensive in Napa. We could afford our dream venue (Calistoga Ranch) by having an off-season (Jan-Mar) wedding on a weekday night. We saved over 50% off site fees and hotel fees. We also opted for a small guest list (15) and hosted a larger local reception (50 guests) to save on costs for us and guests (a DW is expensive for guests!). Here's our venue:

Calistoga Ranch

The year before we got married, we toured 12 venues in 4 days (wedding venues and hotels because our guests would need places to stay). Here's our trip agenda, if it helps.

What are you looking for? How many guests? I'll do my best to help!

Here's a link to my BAM (back after marriage) pics if you'd like to see the venue: Pirate Wedding at Calistoga Ranch .

We just booked the Harvest Inn in St. Helena for our venue We loved that there was a mix of being in the redwoods and vineyard feel. The brick walkways made the setting feel like a fairy tale. The location is right next to a vineyard so it's perfect for what we were going for.

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Hi BIG congrats on your wedding!

My fiance and I are considering relocating our wedding to viansa at the end of the year (had to cancel our initial date/venue due to covid). Couple questions for you;

1. which month did you end up doing it and did it rain/ was it cold?

2. was it difficult finding affordable (<$300) accommodations for guests?

3. did you have to bus guests over from the city??

appreciate any words of wisdom!

Would you consider Livermore Valley which has over 50 wineries? My daughter is getting married at Ravenswood Historical Site in Livermore surrounded by the vineyards brunch wedding). Venue is $3,000 for 8 hours.