how to plan a San Fran wedding in 30 days or less

July 15, 2013 2:43 PM

We just decided to get married in San Francisco, in about a month. Do you have any recommendations for a wedding planner who will help with venues and food? We are thinking of an outdoor ceremony followed by a dinner at a restaurant or catered venue. Or a boat cruise with decent food. We don't need flowers, music, dancing, invitations, decorations or seating arrangements. We basically need someone to suggest an available venue (and get the requisite permits if needed) and organize the food reception afterwards. This will be for about 20-30 guests. Any suggestions on a specific location, or for a wedding planner? The goal is something like a cross between eloping and a wedding. Fast and fun!

Unfortunately, we can't get married at City Hall - it's not open on the weekends for regular weddings. We are flying in specifically for the wedding weekend, so I can't verify locations ahead of time, but can probably get a friend to help if needed. If you have other beautiful but easy suggestions, I'd love to hear them, especially if you have a good idea for ceremony + food location. Maybe a great patio that can be rented out, especially overlooking the water? Any recommendations for boat charter companies with good food? Or ones to avoid?

posted by anonymous to Human Relations (6 answers total)

August can be foggy as fuck here. Yes, even in the East Bay, though at least there it's more likely to burn off by noon. In the city itself, fog can hang around all day, especially along the water. It's not guaranteed, of course, but foggy and cold (well, for values of cold that include mid-50s to low 60s) is more likely in August than in September or October (our summer).
posted by rtha at 3:09 PM on July 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Greens is a great restaurant and has a lovely view, and does special events. It's vegetarian, but my boss (for example) is a devoted carnivore and he has said that it took going there three times before he even noticed that they didn't serve meat.

The Presidio has a number of venues that can be rented out, several with stunning views.
posted by janey47 at 3:25 PM on July 15, 2013

Speaking of Greens, which is a seriously good restaurant, by the way, there are some smaller spaces at Fort Mason. I would worry that it would be seriously expensive, but perhaps not many people want rooms that fit only 30 people on a weekend.

You can also get married in a park. (I'm the sort of person who thinks getting married in a park and then having people walk to a nearby restaurant would be cool.)

Are you set on San Francisco or is elsewhere in the Bay Area acceptable? You can get married in the Berkeley Rose Garden, for example. (But it'd be a fairly steep walk down to a restaurant.)
posted by hoyland at 3:50 PM on July 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Goodness, I totally forgot about this venue -- Last year, some friends were set to be married at the Palace of Fine Arts and about 3 weeks before the wedding (which had been planned for more than a year), they were notified that the city was going to be doing round-the-clock construction on the highway leading to the bridge that weekend. So on a moment's notice, they found this art gallery and had the wedding and reception there. There are no views to speak of, but the rooms are beautiful (many of us remarked that we couldn't imagine the original venue being as nice -- in part because it turned out to be a cold day and they were originally going to be married outside) and they evidently can accommodate last-minute planners. :-)

They had also originally planned to have their reception at the Exploratorium in its previous location. The new location has several venue options, all of them rather large in comparison to what you've proposed, but perhaps worth considering for the views?
posted by janey47 at 4:04 PM on July 15, 2013

I got married in the tiny garden at the then-Radisson Miyako (now Joie de Vivre Kabuki) in Japantown. It was basically a scheduled elopement. :) I'm not sure how many people can fit in there. 20 standing, probably no problem. Their events manager had never had such a request but made it happen for us. They can probably do a reception afterwards (they have lots of event rooms, if they're not booked for the Street Festival or something). We went to a restaurant after though (Zuni is nearby, but they claimed to have lost our reservation, so we wound up at Juban Yakiniku House of all places).

I would be shocked if there's any availability in the Berkeley Rose Garden or the grove nearby with only a month of lead time.
posted by wintersweet at 9:24 PM on July 15, 2013

I was also going to suggest the park as per hoyland's comment. I went to a wedding in Stern Grove and it was lovely, you'd never think 19th Ave was just outside. It felt secluded and intimate (had about 50 guests with reception in the clubhouse afterwards).
posted by like_neon at 4:38 AM on July 16, 2013