Wedding Blog

Venue Shopping 1 - Hotel Vitale, San Francisco

At first, we were reluctant to look outside of the Bay Area for venues. Mama Penguin begged me to consider how much easier it would be to plan a wedding closer to my hometown, and how there were already several venues that we were already intimately familiar with right around the Sacramento/El Dorado County Area.

I knew if we were going to have all our family and friends flying in from out of town, we’d better find an event space that was unique to our area, one that the majority of our guests wouldn’t find in their own hometowns.

We headed straight for the Gold Country wineries, and found a couple that we really liked. The first was the David Girard Vineyards, who provided a beautiful Tuscan ceremony site:

As well as a hilltop tent overlooking the vines for your reception.

I loved their site, which rented out on peak month Saturdays for $4800, but you had to bring in everything (party rentals, catering, linens, full staff, even portable bathrooms) yourself. So it was great for the couple that really wanted a uber custom wedding, because you’re provided with a clean slate and can go as big (or as little) as you’d like to. One downside was that half of the tent remained closed, so you kind of had a indoor/outdoor look:

I like the idea of a completely open tent…why block the view?

We, on the other hand, were looking for more “handholding” if you will…the thought of organizing (or putting someone in charge of organizing) a dozen vendors on the day of our wedding seemed to be a little more than we wanted to deal with…plus, I don’t handle vendor interviews very well (more on that later), so the less vendors, the better. Stay tuned for our final choice!

For more information on hosting your wedding here, contact:

David Girard Vineyards
http://www.davidgirardvineyards.com/
741 Cold Springs Road
Placerville, CA 95667
weddings@davidgirardvineyards.com

All photos courtesy of the David Girard Vineyards website.