Getting married in Wine Country is more popular than ever.
Stepping into the crowded lobby and corridors of the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts during a mid-winter wedding expo, it became instantly clear that saying “I do” hasn’t gone out of style. Brides-to-be had wall-to-wall exposure––literally––to more than 150 local vendors showcasing must-haves for their big day, from venues to violins to vittles. Judging from the turnout on a single hectic afternoon, the matrimonial business is booming.
Weddings are a powerful economic engine for California. More than 217,000 nuptials took place in the state in 2011, according to figures compiled by The Wedding Report, Inc., a research company that tracks and forecasts spending and consumer trends for the wedding industry. The average California wedding that year cost $30,000, representing a total market value of $6.5 billion. Most big-ticket weddings were also big affairs, with 135 to 145 guests, many of whom went on to spend untold additional millions on hotel rooms and meals after the newlyweds had slipped away on their honeymoons.
It’s safe to say that Sonoma and Napa counties, considered among the most popular destination wedding regions in the United States, reaped its fair share of those dollars, and the uptick in the economy is only making things better. Sonoma County Tourism (SCT) reports that wedding leads in 2011 were up 390 percent, representing a potential economic impact of $1.7 million.
Diverse choice of venues
Brides seeking a romantic wedding venue in Wine Country, particularly those from out of state, usually check with wineries first, according to Susan Montes, sales and service manager for SCT. Of the county’s hundreds of wineries, 42 host weddings––some much more frequently than others. “Winery site fees can range from $3,500 to $15,000, so some brides will then pull back a little,” she says. “I’m often asked, ‘I have $10,000 to spend––can I still get married here?’ The answer, of course, is yes!”
Montes points out the diversity of venues in Sonoma County, where weddings are consistently popular, including such coastal sites as Timber Cove Inn north of Jenner and Inn at the Tides in Bodega Bay, as well as vineyard-adjacent properties like the Geyserville Inn. “Farmhouse Inn in Forestville also offers what they call a ‘Tiny Wedding’ special for 10 or fewer guests,” she says. “Madrona Manor in Healdsburg has different packages, too. Even Safari West does weddings.”
To encourage bookings, SCT offers complimentary wedding assistance together with a $1,500 cash incentive toward lodgings if the bride and groom arrange the booking through SCT. Called the Suite Deal, it’s available to couples holding their nuptials within the county between November and July.
“Our wedding assistance also gives the couple some businesses to investigate and links to their services,” adds Montes. “I’m always checking out possible venues for their suitability for weddings and their amenities. A lot of local businesses don’t realize SCT could be representing and recommending them.”
Most wineries and inns set facility fees for weddings based on the day of the week (Saturday is prime time, generally, from May through September) and number of guests. Other variables depend on whether everything else must be rented––tables and chairs, linens, china and glassware, umbrellas, heaters and lighting. Some venues supply these necessities and figure it into their fees. Food and drink is almost always extra and can range from $65 to more than $200 per person, depending on the venue and the menu. At some inns, the wedding party may also be required to book a minimum number of guest rooms.
“Our inn is very intimate, so for a big wedding of more than 50 guests, we require them to take all 29 rooms for the event. But they can use it as their home base,” says Jeannine Baptiste, sales manager for Kenwood Inn & Spa. “And because the guests know each other, they can meet up together for breakfast in the courtyard and stay up late without disturbing others.” The inn has four or five property buyouts like that every year, according to Baptiste, and its group business has doubled in the last couple of years mainly due to weddings. Site fees at the inn start at around $6,000.
“Huge” economic impact from weddings
“Sonoma County really welcomes weddings, and there’s a big range of venues here for all budgets,” says David Janowski, producer of the Wedding Expo that takes place twice each year at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. To date, he’s organized 17 of the gatherings; the latest attracted hundreds of local brides-in-waiting along with their fiancés, friends and relatives.
Janowski’s wife, Cirkl, is owner of Wine Country Bride, a 14,000-square-foot, full-service salon and wedding center in Santa Rosa. She bought the retail outlet during the recession, but “our sales have been fantastic,” reports David Janowski. “We did notice brides were on tighter budgets, but even when people are in hard times, it seems the value they place on getting married stays strong or gets stronger. So I don’t believe the wedding industry is as affected in a down economy as much as other types of businesses.”
Wedding planner Robbin Montero, whose company, A Dream Wedding, also hosts two local bridal shows per year, organized 52 wedding events in 2012. “Weddings are recession-proof, and the economic impact in Wine Country is huge,” she says. “Last year, my company alone did $200,000 worth of business just with one caterer, and another $250,000 with one local rental company. And there are thousands of behind-the-scenes vendors here who serve the wedding industry––people like the photographers, musicians and DJs, florists, decorators and cake makers.”
With four full-time planners in her company who arrange weddings of all sizes, Montero oversees high-end nuptials with an average price tag of about $100,000. “And some of the receptions alone can be $100,000,” she adds. Most of her clients are from out of state; only five of the weddings she planned last year were for local couples. “So we have wedding guests coming from places like England, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong, who’ve never been to Wine Country before and will usually spend extra time and money here before or after the wedding.” About 60 percent of Montero’s weddings take place in Sonoma County and 40 percent in Napa Valley.
Ordinance prohibits winery weddings
On the east side of the Mayacamas mountain range, where the restrictive Napa Valley Winery Definition Ordinance (WDO) prohibits weddings at nearly all of its wineries, other venues are only too happy to fill the void.
“Many of the brides planning a wedding in Napa Valley are interested in a vineyard setting,” says Allison Lane Simpson, vice president of marketing and communications for Visit Napa Valley. “Hotels such as the Carneros Inn and Harvest Inn are set among vineyards, so they’re very popular wedding sites.” She says approximately 14 percent of Napa County’s lodging guests at any one time are there to attend weddings and “other life celebrations, such as anniversaries.”
At the Harvest Inn in St. Helena, “we get wedding inquiries daily,” says Debbie Greene, the resort’s general manager, “though high season is just before Christmas and through March.” The eight-acre property has a fairy tale feel, with Old World-style architecture and lush landscaping that includes more than 350 redwood trees. It also borders a large vineyard with unobstructed mountain views––exactly the type of background scenery that wedding couples are seeking in Napa Valley, particularly during the peak wedding season.
“Harvest Inn will have 40 to 55 big weddings here this year, no doubt,” she says. Those events will have as many as 120 guests, the inn’s maximum for a wedding, and much smaller weddings will also be accommodated. Wedding site fees at the Harvest Inn begin at $9,500 for a Sunday or weekday, and can climb to $16,000 for a Saturday event. The fee usually includes the use of four guest rooms for two nights.
With no restaurant onsite, the inn maintains a relationship with Park Avenue Catering for weddings.
More than half of the couples booking the Harvest Inn for larger weddings are from Northern California, and the remainder from such locales as New York, Chicago and Texas. “Our bread-and-butter is room revenue, so when we have 120 guests here 40 times each year just for weddings, that’s thousands of people taking a site tour of the property,” Greene adds. “So they may come back for a vacation and tell their friends about us, too. We hear comments all the time like, ‘My friend got married here!’ Word of mouth is still the number one reason people book a venue.”
Brix restaurant, north of Yountville, with its large garden and proximity to vineyards, is also a popular setting for nuptials in Napa Valley, many of them arranged by Sharon Burns, owner/wedding planner of Napa Valley Custom Events. “Brix can offer the vineyard experience along with catering the food. It’s what I call an all-inclusive wedding venue, costing about $7,000 on a Saturday and with a food and beverage minimum of about $8,000,” she says.
The top tier of venues, Burns explains, is made up of private estates with fees starting at around $8,000, “but closer to $12,000 on average.” The middle tier is comprised of resorts or wineries, such as Harvest Inn, Cline Cellars, Charles Krug Winery and Viansa Winery, where Burns has overseen many weddings.
Though Burns maintains an extensive list of vendors she can call into service, “I have an A-team that I use regularly, because our values and vision complement each other,” she adds. “They aren’t necessarily the most affordable—or the least affordable.” Like wedding planner Montero, most of Burns’ brides and grooms live elsewhere––the Midwest, East Coast and even Canada. “We do about 25 to 30 wedding events per year, from full-service to elopements, and of those, nearly all are from out of state.”
In wedding industry parlance, an “elopement” is a small event, usually held Monday through Thursday with 10 or fewer guests. The bride and groom still enjoy the beauty and atmosphere of an inn or winery setting, but for considerably less cost.
100 weddings forecast at Vintners Inn
In Santa Rosa, Vintners Inn typically hosts 60 wedding events yearly, but the total this year may reach 100, according to Director of Sales Jessica Adams. “We have almost every Saturday from April to October already confirmed, and now we’re booking Fridays, Sundays and weekdays.” Vintners Inn is a regular exhibitor at the Janowskis’ wedding expo, Adams says, “and we always book at least two weddings from it. We’re becoming more of a wedding venue for local couples as well as a popular venue for destination weddings.”
Wedding facility fees, ranging from $3,500 to $10,000––together with the additional food and beverage costs––are quite profitable for Vintners Inn, to the tune of about $1 million per year. “And that doesn’t include the rehearsal dinners, brunches, guest rooms and so on,” adds Adams. “We had approximately 4,600 wedding guests in 2012, and assuming they each spent $50 per day dining elsewhere and shopping, I’d guess that upward of $230,000 is added to the local economy.”
Rehearsal dinners are more popular than weddings at Healdsburg’s Simi Winery. “There are no vineyards at the winery itself, but we offer a beautiful, rustic space with redwoods suitable for a more relaxed event like a rehearsal dinner,” says Damy Tamburrino, the winery’s event coordinator and manager of its visitors center. Simi hosts 10 to 12 rehearsal dinners annually, compared to five or six weddings. The maximum number of guests is 100, and the facility fee for a large wedding is $20,500.
“This year we’ve switched to a package plan for weddings using an exclusive list of vendors,” says Tamburrino. These include food from Park Avenue Catering, music provided by AMS Entertainment, photography by Paul Murphy and a wedding cake created by Costeaux French Bakery.
Weddings build brand relationships
At St. Francis Winery in Sonoma Valley, it’s the setting that sells weddings, says President/CEO Christopher Silva. “With the Mayacamas mountains and vineyards as a backdrop, we’ve become quite a desirable wedding location. Because it’s such a stunning view, people are willing to pay for an authentic Wine Country wedding that they can’t quite get anywhere else.”
Silva says the demand for weddings at the winery was so high last year that they had to turn people away. “And couples are already lining up to reserve every Saturday this summer,” he adds. The winery’s facility fees this year range from $9,800 for a Saturday, $7,500 for Friday or Sunday, and $6,200 Monday through Thursday. Wedding season kicks off in earnest for St. Francis in May and continues nonstop through Labor Day.
Giving visitors a first-class experience at the winery is paramount to Silva. “We aspire to do everything well here, and weddings are part of that. We want to make certain that everything goes off smoothly at those special events, so that’s why we use a coordinator.” (A Dream Wedding’s Montero is the exclusive wedding coordinator for St. Francis.) “But I also tell brides right from the start that some little thing will definitely go wrong, and they should laugh about it when it happens, because someday it will make a wonderful story,” says Silva.
The biggest profit from weddings, says Silva, is brand recognition for St. Francis and relationship building. “The amount of wine purchased for the wedding isn’t significant. Instead, weddings let us create more than 100 ambassadors for our wines in a single afternoon. Guests go back out into the world with warm memories of our wines and the winery. They’ve enjoyed a personal relationship with us and will be more loyal customers. It’s that simple.”
Weddings at one winery can also be good for business at others, says Silva. “Guests will stop at our winery neighbors and buy even more wine. They’re not eating their only meal at the wedding reception, so they’ll also dine at two or three restaurants during their stay and spend one or two more nights at a hotel. So we’re all in this together—to promote Sonoma Valley.”
Details, details
A walk through the Wells Fargo Center during the wedding expo illustrates just how many local vendors are standing ready to assist before, during and after the bride and groom’s big day. There are deals on tanning and teeth whitening for the wedding party, a 15-person trolley for chartering, digital photo booths for renting, travel agents for arranging honeymoons and at least two companies that supply luxurious portable toilets for those rustic, slightly off-the-grid venues.
It’s no wonder so many brides turn the details over to a wedding planner. “At what other job, on your last day of work, does your employer hug you and say, ‘Thanks for giving me the best day of my life’?” asks Burns. “It’s exciting to help brides plan their weddings. They’re entrusting me with one of the most important days of their life. It’s a very big deal.”
