We began our premature visits to possible locations for the wedding and reception this past weekend. Our first stop was Mountain Terrace in Woodside. It is a nice place with a large grassy area for a ceremony (and if the ceremony and reception took place in the early afternoon, the kids could run around out there). We didn't have a rough guest count so the coordinator there gave me a rough estimate of cost. The options here though would be a Sunday afternoon or a Friday evening in the fall since their Saturdays are booked until November.Our second stop was to Thomas Fogarty Vineyard also in Woodside. We visited once before and enjoyed their wines so it was a refresher really. Unfortunately, after reviewing their wedding brochure we realized that while we liked the scenery and the wine, we can't afford to get married there. Bummer. The site rental, which doesn't include catering and you need to use their approved vendors, was $9,000 for a Saturday.
The last stop we "visited" was Hakone Gardens in Saratoga but it was ten minutes before closing and we didn't get to go in. I'm not sure if you can have evening events there either. But it looked nice on the website.
Next up: Tahoe, Sonoma, Santa Cruz.
