Are You My Venue? #4-8: The SF Bay Area

Oh boy, was it a long trip of venue scouting.

Some of the questions that I asked while visiting these sites:

- how would you suggest separating the unisex bathroom for my more traditional guests?

- do people usually add flowers or ribbons to the urinals to discourage people from peeing in them?

- no parking? Could you give me an average cost of shuttle buses?

- can we play this piano? There was a rental fee for the piano at the other site.

- so, I would get married on this lawn, and there would be another wedding on that lawn?

- is there a lot of turkey poo in the meadow? How about duck poo?

To keep this as quick as possible, I'm going to list the pros and cons of each place we visited.

If you are interested in any of these venues and would like to know more, please leave a comment and I can PM you!

#4 The Outdoor Art Club, Mill Valley, CA

Pros

-Both of us liked this venue. It was quaint, cute, and could fit all of our guests.

-The fee goes towards a good cause.

-Beautiful architecture. Very SF Bay Area.

-Reasonably priced with chairs and tables (woohoo chairs!)

Cons

-What parking?

-I wasn't too impressed with the ceremony area, which I had hoped would be grass instead of concrete.

#5 UC Botanical Gardens, Berkeley, CA

Pros

-OH EM GEE--I loved it here! The ceremony area is so so pretty and feels completely secluded. I could just imagine someone playing acoustic guitar as we walked through the forest of trees to the middle of the grove. Absolutely beautiful.

-We heart Berkeley like organic jam hearts soy butter.

Cons

-I didn't really feel like asking a friend to drive a van up and down the Berkeley hills so we could save cash on a shuttle van. Yeah, you guessed it--very little parking.

-For such an amazing spot, only 100 people could attend. We'd have to break some hearts in order to keep it that small.

[Le sigh. Image from weddingmapper]

#6 Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

Pros

-We'd be supporting a good cause.

-The Golden Gate National Park--freakin' gorgeous!

-Building is most definitely unique--nothing standard about it.

-Local, organic catering in-house
-There was a beautiful piano that came with the site fee in the ceremony room. I already had dreams of walking down the aisle to a piano...here was my chance!

Cons

-The bathroom. The boy hated the bathroom set-up. It is a rather old building, so the urinals did not work and the plumbing was a little leaky. Also, it was a unisex bathroom, so we would have to put up a curtain. I could just hear my parents complaining about that on my shoulder while we were on the tour.
-The boy just didn't like the venue at all and put it last on his list.

[The urinals look super charming in this photo by Marla Aufmuth via Snippet and Ink. The boy just wasn't digging it.]

#7 Dunsmuir Estate, Oakland, CA
I can't really write pros and cons for this one. There were a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way. Enough said.

#8 The Brazilian Room in Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA

Pros
-The cost! This was the cheapest venue we saw.
-Very pretty rustic venue with a lot of foliage and flowers
-Quaint and cute
-Again, we heart Berkeley like flip-flops heart fleece sweaters.

Cons
-Parking woes.
-The drive through the winding hills got me a little car sick.
-We'd only be able to fit 120-130 with a dance floor. Bummer dude.

I'm so lucky to have such a patient partner who got dragged to all of these places. Let's hear it for the boy, and his willingness to drive all over the Bay Area and pay the $6 toll at the Golden Gate Bridge! Woohoo! **Applause**

I bet you're thinking, man Mo, I can't believe I read through this whole thing and you STILL don't have a venue. Well, lucky readers, stay-tuned for what we decided...