Venue selection

Posted Friday, January 26, 2007 12:04 AM

Selecting a venue in the greater Bay area was an eye opener... completely.  Having been to my sister's wedding (on a similar budget as we have) less than two years ago but in the Phoenix area, my expectations over price and location were a bit... different.  She got married on this beautiful working farm, under a big canopy of trees, outside with organic catered food and lots of natural beauty.  And it was reasonably priced and they were easy to work with.

Enter the Bay area price insanity, a finicky fiance and the dilemna of how best to handle the problem of half (or more) of the guests coming from out of state.  We wanted both the ceremony and reception to be in the same place.

I originally looked at the Jack London Lodge in Glen Ellyn (Sonoma County) because it's such a nice area...

but getting the guests there was a pain, and I didn't want to worry about keeping my divorced parents in close quarters (eek!) or worrying about intoxicated guests trying to find their way home.

Scratch that.

So we started thinking closer to the city, maybe south bay.  The Hakone Gardens were at least near San Jose, and a major airport at least...

but... it's a long trip for us.

My fiance wanted something iconic and very San Francisco, like the Asian Art Museum

or the Legion of Honor. 

Ugh... right.  I have that kind of budget?  I wish!

I suggested something fun (and crazy) like the rock mecca of the Great American Music Hall,

or the Swedish American hall upstairs from the Cafe du Nord. 

The FI didn't think his family would go for it....

Budget and style (neither of us attend church regularly or hold very traditional religious beliefs) directed us to consider Casa de la Vista,

this great production studio space (Dogpatch Studios),

and the First Unitarian church. 

The latter was in the neighborhood where my FI grew up, most centrally located, and still a beautiful historic building.  The sanctuary survived the 1906 earthquake!  I'm excited!

It had our hands down vote... so now to pull everything else together!