What to know about selecting a Bay Area Peninsula wedding venue

Venue: Filoli Gardens | Photos: Sarahi Hadden

Let’s dive into Bay Area Peninsula wedding venues and their unique differentiations in booking considerations from other California wedding venues.  

The Peninsula is essentially San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, and includes the cities of Daly City, San Bruno, Redwood City, Atherton and Menlo Park, along with the coastal communities of Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.  

San Francisco International Airport (SFO), a major hub, is located in the Peninsula, so if you have a lot of guests flying in from a wide variety of places, a wedding in the Peninsula might be work really well for your event.  

Similar to Marin County, the Peninsula has a mild climate year round due to its coastal influence, giving wonderful year-round opportunities for an outdoor wedding event.  Hidden gems in the redwoods, along the coastline, or among the rolling hills can transport your wedding away from the energy of a city, but ensures that you’re close enough to amenities like airports, freeways and hotels. 

A sunset wedding at Thomas Fogarty or Mountain Winery will feel romantic, warm and cozy.  Gorgeous estates like the Filoli Historic House and Gardens or the Ralston Hall Mansion create a stunning backdrop for truly elegant and luxurious events.

While there are many perks to the Peninsula, this tech company center means that there’s a large selection of hotels to accommodate business travelers, but that also means your wedding guests will have to compete for hotel rooms with them as well. 

Planning ahead is your best bet to ensure you can reserve the rooms you need for your guests before the business travelers book them first.  

Once you’ve narrowed down where you want to be married, be sure to read our Step By Step Guide to Picking the Perfect Wedding Venue  to help you focus and narrow down your wedding venue search.  It also includes an extremely helpful Venue Question Guide to bring along when you start touring wedding sites.  

Once you have your perfect wedding venue secured, you can start booking the rest of the wedding professionals you’ll need for a dream wedding.  How much time you have before your date will determine the timeframe for when you need to book whom.

For a good guide on what other wedding vendors to book and when to book them, just add your wedding date and location on Event Hollow and it will automatically recommend by date when each service should be booked.   

Key Considerations

High season: June-Oct

Low season: Dec.-Mar

Things to keep in mind: While venue prices may be lower mid-week accommodation will likely be higher due to tech industry business travelers.

Trends: The peninsula’s mild climate makes for a long window to hold your wedding with high certainty of optimal outdoor wedding weather. There are some great spots hidden in the redwoods along the entire peninsula that feel far away from civilization despite being a short jaunt to accommodation and amenities.

There’s a range of options along the peninsula from wineries like Mountain Winery, Thomas Fogarty Winery to estates like Filoli Historic House and Gardens, Kohl Mansion or Ralston Hall Mansion.

Congrats and have fun planning!

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out at [email protected] We’re always happy to help!




Expert Advice, VenuesJennifer EdmonComment