The decision for our venue was a hard one partly because we wanted a place that gave a rustic feel and could serve hard alcohol. Planning a wedding from the other side of the country didn’t help things either. I found many venues online that I thought will fit the bill on what we were looking for in a venue however, we were discouraged either because of prices, inability to serve any alcohol besides wine, some weren’t winery or didn’t have the winery scene, and one venue flat lied about what their venue offers. For those planning a wedding in California Wine country please do keep in mind that there are restrictions on serving anything other than wine at most wineries/venues so you have to do your research to find a place that will encompass everything that you are looking for in a venue.
So after so many searches online, I was so happy when we made a trip to California for thanksgiving and our planner was able to schedule site visit to approximately 5 venues that we had on our list. I am glad that we visited these venues because it turned out that the place we were going to sign with and almost signed with without visiting wasn’t anything we had hoped for. We really bit the bullet on that one. After that visit we went to Cornerstone and I was truly impressed by the variety that the gardens offered. In addition, we get the rustic feel we were looking for, hard alcohol, winery scenery, and it wasn’t as expensive as a lot of the other places in Sonoma. We knew cornerstone stole our hearts during our visit but we wanted to make sure this was the venue for us. So we visited 2 other venues and while they were awesome, Mr. FW, my Future Mother In Law (FMIL), Planner, and myself pretty much knew we loved cornerstone and there was no need to go to our last appointment. While I felt bad for blowing off the last appointment, I was comforted in knowing that we made the right decision when it came to choosing the venue.
Here is a little info on Cornerstone:
Cornerstone Gardens is an ever-changing series of walk-through gardens, showcasing new and innovative designs from the world’s finest landscape architects and designers. The first such gallery-style gardens in the United States, the nine-acre Cornerstone Gardens was created as an inspiration and resource for people interested in gardens, garden design and art.
Inspired by the International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire in France, Cornerstone Gardens aims to create a cultural and creative haven, celebrating the connection between art, architecture and nature. The gardens contribute to the art, philosophy and future of garden design; they focus on themes and ideas, establishing or uncovering new directions in garden design and art. Continually in a state of evolution, some garden installations will be in place for a season, while others will remain for several seasons.
In addition to individual gardens by select landscape architects and designers, a book is available for sale on site that provides information on the designers and the process of creating each of their installations.
In addition to the shops and gardens, Cornerstone hosts educational seminars on landscape architecture and garden design, as well as related special events.
At Cornerstone we have several options to use several areas of the property for different events.
If weather cooperate we will have our ceremony in The Vineyawn
I can't wait!!
April 2011 can't come fast enough
The Cocktail Hour and Dancing will be in The Garden Barn:
Front of the Barn
Party over here!
Dinner and Reception will be here:
Here we eat and dance a little
How amazing is that!
There are other Gardens that we plan to use for pictures and our photobooth. I like the fact that everything for our wedding doesn’t all take place in one space. I love that we will be able to give our guests different things to explore and that we kept true to what we wanted. Most importantly Mr. FW and myself are happy that we will get married somewhere as unique as Cornerstone.
What factors did you consider when picking out your venue? And how important were those factors to you and your FI?
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