Venue Shopping 1 - Hotel Vitale, San Francisco
Venue Shopping 2 - David Girard Vineyards
After an intense month of spreadsheets, trips to venues, and exhausting our online resources, we finally settled on a venue that we both loved. What is really special about getting married at a winery we frequent is that we can come back often and reminisce.
image from villatoscano.com
Knowing that I was going to pull this wedding off with all my bridesmaids out of town and my mother making frequent trips out of the country, I was interested in sites that provided lots of “handholding.” Villa Toscano winery provides just that. They’re fairly all-inclusive, which means for the $6500 site fee they provide:
- exclusive use of the winery from 5pm-10:30,
- wedding coordinator (including a day-of-coordinator)
- all tables, chairs, tableware, linens, gift and cake tables
- full service waitstaff
- full service bar staff
- cake cutting, and service
- set up (they set up all your centerpieces, decor, linens, etc)
- tear down
Other than hiring a cake person, DJ, florist and officiant, the wedding almost takes care of itself. Food and Wine (1/2 bottle per person) is $100 per person, which sounds a bit steep, but compared to all the rentals you would need at other wineries in the area, the pricing is really competitive and comparable, only here there is much less work on the bride’s end.
We are really excited at how low-stress the events coordination staff has made our wedding process, and we’re thrilled to be getting married here!
A few pics:
The ceremony will take place in front of the winery doors, under the overhang:
The reception will take place in the tent:
images below from villatoscano.com
Villa Toscano Winery
http://villatoscano.com/
10600 Shenandoah Road
Plymouth, CA 95669
United States
Tel: (209) 245-3800
Really gorgeous! Did I understand that cost correctly though? $6500 just for the venue rental, supplies and waitstaff, but that doesn’t include any food or beverage? That seems extremely steep to me, but then I’m in a different market so maybe it’s not.
Oooooh! That venue looks amazing! 
Beautiful! How exciting to get the venue down! Our wedding was at a vineyard/winery as well in Northern CA, with the reception in a tent. LOVED IT!!!!
Anyway, I follow wedding photography, especially those whose photography I like, and remembered seeing a slideshow from Villa Toscano. It is on this blog, her Sept. 26, 2007 post: http://ablakephotography.blogspot.com. Figured you’d enjoy the pics, even if you already have a photographer! If you don’t, I know a couple GREAT ones…
Niglesbride - Thanks so much for that great photog find! I did already book, (and not that i dont love my photog) but I’m having a little buyers remorse seeing some of the wonderful talent that there is out there
smartl- You’re absolutely right, $6500 at first to us sounded a little steep, but we crunched the numbers at a few other winery contenders and found that this price is really competitive with the other wineries we liked, only we had much less work to do here, because they provide most everything we need, so the “value” to me really lies within the convenience. There were a few in the area that had much cheaper site fees, but the grounds werent really what we were looking for, and some would even allow for more than one event at a time, whereas I was looking for “exclusive use” of the grounds. We by no means thought that our venue was a “bargain,” but more “fit our needs.” I guess you could say it was my “big splurge”
smartl - $4000-$6000 is range for site rental fees in CA which isn’t bad because most allow you to bring your own caterer (sweet). The worst that I have seen is a $10,000 rental for this particular mansion in Malibu. Yikes!
Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
It’s lovely! It sort of looks like Tuscany transplanted… I guess that’s where they got the name.
Great deal, Miss Penguin! The setting is going to make for amazing photos!