What to know about selecting an East Bay wedding venue

Venue: The Brazilian Room | Photos: Simone Anne

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

The Bayfront of East Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, includes the communities along the San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, including Oakland, Walnut Creek, Danville, San Ramon, Alamo, Berkeley, Orinda and Castro Valley. 

Very busy with people, traffic and freeways, this wedding locale also offers a wide variety of wedding venues with many trending towards an urban and modern feel.

Imagine a waterfront wedding venue with views of the sailboats and the bay.  Easily find a unique and quirky restaurant or historic landmark to host a wedding reception that matches you and your fiance’s own unique vibe — like the 16th Street Station in Oakland.  

Don’t be afraid to consider out-of-the-box wedding venues either — wedding sites that might mean a lot to you and your partner, but might not necessarily be a first consideration for a wedding reception.  

An example in the East Bay Bayfront is the Chabot Space and Science Center.  If you’re looking for more traditional indoor wedding venues, the East Bay Bayfront also offers the Claremont, the Brazilian Room, or the Berkeley Country Club. 

High season   — meaning the busiest and probably more expensive date range — for this area ranges from June to October and low season runs from December to March.  

During the spring and fall months, it’s common to have quite cool and foggy mornings and evenings, so if you’re having an outdoor wedding make sure your guests bring sweaters or you provide heaters. 

The summer has warmer days, but still cool evenings, and in the winter months, the cold temps and possible rain showers should move you towards an indoor wedding venue.

One last piece of advice about planning a wedding in the East Bay Bayfront of Northern California: if your wedding ceremony and wedding reception sites will be at two different locations, please be aware of traffic delays during work commute hours, holiday weekends, concerts, or large sporting events.  

Guests caught in peak stop-and-go traffic is not how you want to start a wedding reception celebration.

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:

Low season: Dec.-Feb

Things to keep in mind: If you’re going from a ceremony to reception keep and mind traffic and sporting event seasonal schedules.

Trends: These locations are great for outdoor summer weddings as they are sunny and warm without being too hot. Waterfront venues, views of the bay are very popular. Restaurants and quirky venues are in abundance like the historic 16th st station or the Chabot Space and Science Center. There are iconic venues like the Claremont, the Brazilian Room, or the Berkeley City Club.

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 Edmon8 Comments