We were planning on having our wedding in our home state of Colorado in June or July of '06, but because of my father's health issues, he can't handle the high altitude. We're considering having our wedding in northern CA instead. We've never lived there, but we've visited a few times and love the area. I'm looking for suggestions on venues that offer views and charm. We're considering SF, Sausalito, wine country, and coastal towns. Any recommendations? For those familiar with both states, our favorite options in Colorado were Arrowhead Golf Club, Seawell Ballroom in Denver, and the Donovan Pavilion in Vail. From a search of the Knot.com, I found Hotel Nikko in SF, Wine and Roses in Lodi (where's that?), and Hotel Monaco in SF. I'd appreciate any advice I can get!
-Heather

I worked with a woman who's adult son lived in Lodi. Her description of the place: "5 houses in the middle of nowhere".

And lately it was in the news with terrorism connections.

I forgot to mention that we anticipate having about 60-100 guests and that we're hoping to keep the food and beverage costs under about $100 a person.

Hello,
I grew up and was married in the Napa Valley. While I highly recommend it for the true beauty of the area, it is very expensive and June is prime season. If you do a search of some of the Napa visitor's sites, they have a full wedding section with locations and vendors. Very few wineries are able to do weddings, but several hotels and inns would be lovely spots for a wedding. As the previous poster said, I don't think Lodi would be a good spot at all. It's pretty remote and not very pretty in my opinion.

Hi hwinokur, Lodi is in the Central Valley, it is located just a bit east of I-5 between Sacramento and Stockton. Although I have fond memories of Lodi as my grandfather had vineyards in Lodi it is probably one of the last places I would think of for a wedding. It is a smallish town, certainly nothing sophisticated about it and also it can get very hot in summer. Not the most charming place for a wedding and so out of the way.

There was a post here on Fodor's just the other day by MelissaH. She loves to visit SF but spent a few days in Sonoma Valley at a wedding and was very disgusted by the cold and impolite attitude of the various employees toward the wedding party and guest. Believe it is due to the fact that Sonoma Valley has become such an "in destination" and it sounds like they had to deal with people that are burned out on weddings. So just something to watch out for if you do decide to investigage Sonoma Valley. As I understand it Napa Valley does not allow weddings at the various Napa wineries so your options there would be more limited.

You mentioned the Hotel Monaco in SF. Their restaurant is the Grand Cafe. This is part of the Kimpton Group. If you will go to www.kimptonhotels.com you can check out all their SF properties. IMO they are truly a good hospitality corp. and all their properties have their own individual feeling and ambience. I have always found the restaurants that are part of the Kimpton Group serve very good food which is a plus. Almost all the employees have a good attitudes and I know Kimpton is big on employee training.

Also, SF has so much to offer your guest and it sounds like the location would be perfect for your father.

Just another thought. If you are having 60 to 100 guest I imagine a lot of them will be flying in. If so your guest can either fly in to SFO or the Oakland airport. Both airports offer travellers the ability to take BART into SF. That might make things easier for a lot of guest also. You could even check out if you could get a group rate if a lot of people will need hotel rooms.

And needless to say San Francisco is considered to be a very romantic city!

Have fun searching for your wedding site and very best wishes to you.

It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to find a hotel in downtown SF proper that will host a wedding for less than $100/person. However, that doesn't mean you should be discouraged as there are a lot of options in the city and outside that would be viable.

What vibe are you looking for? I'm unfamiliar with the locations in Colorado you referenced. Do you want a night, formal wedding or a daytime outdoor wedding? The suggestions you had are all very different. A wedding at a hotel in the city has a very different vibe than one on an estate or in Napa. In June, you are better off being outside the city for an outdoor wedding.

Look on this website www.herecomestheguide.com. It will be very useful to you - it was for me (I got married in SF in Oct. 04). The size of your wedding will provide you with many different options. I visited most of the SF wedding sites if you have any questions.

i don't know what the restrictions might be, but mumm napa offers their facility for private parties. dinner is a bit higher than your budget ($110pp) but it might be worth a look.
http://mummnapa.com/visit/events/private.cfm

Here's an article I referenced yesterday
if you like I can post the link:

"Sonoma County hosts about 200 to 400 destination weddings a year - roughly half of them at wineries - plus another 2,000 or so weddings for local residents. It's such a lucrative business that Napa County, which does not allow weddings at its wineries in order to limit social events on agricultural land, is considering easing those restrictions."
July 10,2005 Press Democrat<I/>

Towns surrounding SF might be the ticket. I went to a lovely wedding 2 weeks ago at the newish Mill Valley
community center in Marin-the couple
arranged a had a nice catered buffet.
www.millvalleycenter.org/Facility%20Rentals.htm
Half the guests were from Boulder and Denver, BTW.

I've been to many a wedding at Pt. Reyes
and Bodega Bay as well, so that's worth a look.
Happy Planning !
R5

OOOOOOpps sorry forgot to close my
italics!
R5

If you are interested in the Sacramento area, check out Amador County wineries. Villa Toscano and Bella Piazza both do weddings/ receptions. Another possibility is Karmere. You could also fly into Reno to get to this area which is between Sac and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra foothills. It is very pastoral and beautiful. Karmere is a new winery that has a beautiful indoor facility and an outdoor area as well. It might be less expensive than the other two I mentioned but I think they would all be much less than Sonoma, SF.

Jet519 makes a GREAT suggestion. The Amador county wineries around the village of Plymouth (all three he mentions are w/i 3 miles of Plymouth) produce great wines, are surrounded by really pretty scenery, and are in the gold rush foothills so there are lots of interesting things for your guests to see/do. There are B&Bs and motels scattered all along hwy 49 (the gold rush hwy)

But flying into Reno probably isn't the best idea if you are concerned about altitude. Your father would have to travel to nearly 7000' elevation to get there from Reno. But flying into Sacramenti is closer anyway - only about an hour away.

That should be Sacramento . . . . .

Other foothill suggestions: Ironstone in Murphys and Deaver Winery near Plymouth. By the way, although Lodi is not a "destination", Wine & Roses is a very nice site to hold an event.

The Grape Grower's Wife,

MichelleY

Hi Michelle, I sure hope I didn't insult you with my comments regarding Lodi. I would not think of my city (Vacaville) as a destination for a wedding either). As I said Lodi is a special place to me as my German born grandfather had vineyards in Lodi. Lots of relatives graduated from Lodi HS. And I understand that Lodi is coming into its own finally as another spot in CA that produces wonderful wine. I need to get back over there one of these days. Best wishes.

Hello there and congratulations! I live in Sausalito and after much looking, in Marin, SF and the wine country, we decided to get married in Carmel, at Mission Ranch. It was the perfect blend of casual, elegant and tied to nature and the beach. We had 90 guests and a great band and outdoor ceremony by a meadow. Carmel is great for guests- lots to see, especially for golfers and those who love the coast. Cost was about 100/pp. Sausalito has some sopts but the didn't have the indoor/outdoor possibilities we wanted. We wanted a lawn and places for people to meander a bit. The Alta Mira in Sausalito does have great views, but there are no grounds really. The women's club is pretty special (julia morgan building) but parking is tough. Let me know if I can be of help- we saw about 30 places! Oh, we are not into wine but do enjoy the occasional glass and the wine country felt to us too much about wine. We also love water and you just don't get the same feeling there as you do on the coast. We also are not big city people, so SF didn't feel quite right. Good luck!

Dear Loveitaly:

No offense taken. I don't live in Lodi(I live in the Delta), but have attended a few functions at Wine & ROses. The Central Valley just isn't a "destination" for a wedding.

PS: I also LOVE Italy!!!

Take care,
MichelleY

Hi Michelle, we had a boat in the Delta for years. I still miss my boat and the Delta. You are in a special place IMHO. Know you are probably having real hot weather also but hope you are having a happy summer.

Dear Loveitaly:

We had a great Delta breeze yesterday, but it died out during the night. We are trying a US trip next week: going to Sedona & the Grand Canyon. We've been to Europe 4 or 5 times, but have hardly seen the US. But my heart is still in Italy.

Good night & take care!!

MY

Just remembered a neat place in the wine area: http://www.beltaneranch.com/

Unique, outside, love it!

I got married at Hans Fahden Vinyard in Calistoga. It is a working winery with what has to be the most beautiful gardens in Napa. Acres and acres of flowers.

They do tons of weddings there. I don't think we could have gotten better wedding pictures anywhere.

If you look at their website they have a big variety of packages. We hooked up our own caterer, music, photog, etc. but I think they have some good recommendations.

We have developed a friendly relationship with Anton Fahden since our wedding, in fact I order a case of wine every year for my husband for our anniversary.

Good luck.