(Happy Birthday, Tesse!)
So back to our story… we had now spent at least 8 to 10 weeks on our venue search, still didn’t have a venue, but had begun working with the fabulous Allison Van Every from Allison Weddings. After the unfortunate negotiations with Kennolyn, Allison suggested that we check out a place called Historic Sand Rock Farm. She thought that the location, ambiance, and history of the venue would be a great match for us.
After Allison gave me the recommendation I immediately went to the Sand Rock Farm website to learn more. Seated on ten acres of property in Aptos, Sand Rock Farm (SRF) is a 5-bedroom country estate located just minutes from Highway 1. A registered green bed and breakfast, SRF is known for its freshly prepared gourmet food, beautiful gardens and lush grounds, and its central location perfect for exploring the Santa Cruz Mountains or Monterey Peninsula. Hmmm… this sounded interesting.
The main house of SRF.
As a side bar for all you brides or brides-to-be out there, don’t necessarily trust that internet guides will be a comprehensive guide to wedding venues. Despite having thoroughly searched TheKnot.com and HereComesTheGuide.com for venues in the Santa Cruz area multiple times, SRF never came up as a venue that matched our search criteria. Why? Because I was using keywords such as “winery” to try and narrow down the thousands of search results but ended up missing locations because my search was too narrow. Uggggh.
We made an appointment with Kris Sheehan, the proprietor, and headed down to view the property. From the first minute that Joey and I drove up the driveway we felt as though a weight was being lifted from our shoulders. It is hard to explain without sounding cheesy but everything just felt “right”. We toured the multiple areas of the property that serve as different “wedding sites” including the redwood grove, wine grotto, upper and lower meadows, and the carriage house. Kris did a wonderful (and quite smart) job of allowing us to stroll through the grounds on our own before we sat down and talked. She knew that the beauty and serenity of the location would speak for itself; no sales pitches required.
When we did finally sit down with Kris she made us feel comfortable and at ease, and proceeded to fill us in on the interesting history of the property. The area she now owns and operates was actually the first winery on record in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There are documents proving that at one time the winery produced cases of wine but in the early 1900’s the owners mysteriously disappeared and left the property in ruin. The main structures of the winery, including the original wine cellar, still exist on the property to this day and serve as locations for weddings and events.
So let me get this straight… after all of our searching it turns out that we could still possibly get married at a winery, just one that is over one-hundred years old and filled with historical mystery and intrigue?? Yes, please!
I won’t bore you with the remainder of the negotiations with Kris but suffice to say the logistical and financial pieces all fell into place. We ultimately signed our contract and breathed a huge sigh of relief that we found our dream venue and could move on to other aspects of the planning. Every time we visit SRF, which has now been five or six times, we get more and more excited about having our wedding there. Hooray for us!
Next up: every single other thing having to do with the wedding!
