Yesterday, Andrew and I went to three different vineyards to try to scope out a venue for our big day.
The first one we went to was Zenith Vineyard (pictured above.) Zenith has an amazing ballroom and a gorgeous wood patio that overlooks the vineyard. In addition they have a huge, green lawn for a ceremony complete with a wrought-iron gazebo. We first discovered Zenith on a wine-tasting trip in January and I fell in love with it then. At first we were worried that we would have to use their high-end, very pricey in house caterer, but we were relieved to find out that since we are going to have a small event we could use one of two other caterer's that are recommended. They seem to offer everything that you need for a reasonable price and the event manager Kari was very helpful in answering all of our questions. I cannot say enough about how beautiful their facilities are.
Our second stop of the day happened by chance, we had some time to spare before our next appointment and ventured out to find Beckenridge Vineyard. As we were getting lost on the backroads of Dallas, I called them and even though they are not normally open to the public, the person I spoke to invited us up. So, the low down on this place is that it is cheaper than Zenith and has an equally gorgeous view (if not better, due to it's hillside location.) The part that I wasn't the biggest fan of was the reception/dining area. It kind of seemed to me like someone's living room or oversized dining room. However, they do allow you to chose your own caterer (so you can pick your price) as well as offer a lot of rentals for reasonable prices.
The final stop of the day was to Willamette Valley Vineyards. Those of you from Oregon know this one. It is that gorgeous building on the right side of I-5 as you are heading north to Salem. It is true that building is pretty, however the inside didn't exactly thrill me. The room that they provide is upstairs and is relatively small, not to mention that the bathrooms, lawn and patio are back down the stairs. The ceremony takes place on the lawn (for an additional fee) which is right next to the road that lead to the tasting room (meaning for a pleasant ceremony, it would have to be at 6:30.) In addition, you can hear the freeway from the lawn (not exactly romantic to me.) The price estimate seemed to be way to high for what we were getting (although the catering sounded fabulous: prime rib and salmon with mango and peach salsa, yum!) and we decided that this was the venue of additional fees. We probably will cut this venue off of our list soon, if not already.
As for now, our number one pick is Zenith Vineyard. However we still want to check out Vista Hills Vineyard, Youngberg Hill Inn and Wine Country Farm.
Hopefully we will get to those in the next few weekends as well as get some price estimates from a few caterers so that we can make a decision by May.
