The (Affordable) Venue Hunt

I don't know where this thought came from, but I'm acutely aware than when we first started looking at wedding venues in San Francisco I honestly believed that for $10,000 we could have a November wedding and get a conveniently-located city lights view and/or waterfront venue for no more than 100 people that would include site rental fees, equipment/furniture rentals, open bar, food, lighting, audio, dance floor, music, wedding day coordinator, decorations, and a photobooth (and those are just the requirements I can remember right now).

Let me just say for the record, I was W-R-O-N-G wrong.

You can absolutely have some of those elements for that cost, but you can't have all of them.  And trying to decide what to leave off the list felt to me like trying to decide which of my two front teeth I'd rather live without.

So instead of finding things to strike from our "want" list, we began by simply trying to minimize the costs of those things we saw as necessities for our ceremony and reception: site rental fees, food, and alcohol.  After seeing a few places and ruling out those that were too expensive, we were left with 4 options.

First up, The Box SF. 

all above images from The Box SF Yelp page

The overall style of this place was such a good fit for us.  It had that open and airy loft feel and big windows with cool views.  The long table is made from 300-year old antique village gate doors from China, and in person it is simply spectacular!  The size of the space, though, would definitely have limited our guest list to no more than 75 people and we'd have to leave the space in between the ceremony and reception so they could turn it over.  Also, it's located in a fairly gritty part of town.  With the public transportation options around there, our guests would definitely have to walk through several blocks of a less-than-splendorific locale in order to reach the place - and then do it not once, but twice if we had to come back for the reception.  The deal-breaker for us?  Lack of air conditioning.  Pack 75 people into this tiny space, and those pictures are for sure going to look like they were taken at a water park rather than a wedding. 

 

Next up, Blue Sky Rental Studios. 

above 3 pictures from the Blue Sky Rental Studios website

This place just looks cool, right?  And they're ridiculously affordable, in SF terms.  I didn't bring my camera here either, so I apologize.  ( Wasn't a blogger yet.  I'm better now, I swear.)  The building is located right next to a MUNI train line so it would be super easy for our guests to get here, and the neighborhood is not that bad.  All in all there was tons of space and they seemed really open to letting us do whatever we wanted with it.  There were a few scratch-your-head-in-wonder type moments, though.  First of all these studios are located inside a massive, massive building that houses what must be hundreds of other businesses.  Getting to their front door was an epic adventure (like, I'm pretty sure we passed a sweatshop on the way - no lie), and I wondered how in the world we'd come up with enough signage to direct our guests so that they wouldn't find themselves lost in an industrial warehouse.  On that note, the warehouse vibe is crazy cool but also kind of intimidating when you're trying to figure out how to disguise the random kitchenette or hanging cabinets, how to conceal the shower in the bathroom, or how to dampen the echo off all the concrete. 

Next in line, the Fort Mason Center Firehouse. 

above 2 images from the Firehouse website

photography by Robert Domondon Photography

picture found online via a website that no longer exists

As you can see, this place is pretty tiny as well.  But it was adorable, and so affordable!  Right on the water, secluded from the other buildings of the Fort Mason Center, and a lot of nearby parking.  It had several separate rooms so that we could create a lounge area or a photobooth area if we wanted to.  They allow you to use any caterer you want, including caterers who will let you buy your own alcohol for them to serve.  Major cost saver!  Loved loved loved the high ceilings.  It's such a blank slate that it would need a fair amount of DIY decoration to make it what we wanted, plus there are some weird, umm... architectural? features, such as the old water fountains attached the wall.   The size of the space means we would again have had to leave the space after the ceremony to turn it over for the reception, but at least this venue was in a great part of town for some sightseeing. 

Right down the way from the Firehouse is the Fort Mason Conference Center. 

above 4 images from the Conference Center website

I wish I had taken my camera to this space because we really, really liked it.  The rules for catering were the same as the Firehouse, making this another good deal.  At this space there were again several rooms available to us, all with windows looking out over the marina full of sailboats.  I haven't actually been on many sailboats in my life, but it seems romantical, no?  There was a room large enough for a wonderfully-intimate-but-not-overcrowded ceremony space, and then we could adjourn to a reception space large enough for all the tables plus a bar, photobooth, and dance floor.  Another small room was perfect for the caterers to set up in, and there were restrooms in this suite of rooms so that everything could be self-contained.  The price for all-day rental was higher than the Firehouse, but we wouldn't have to leave and come back, which would save us money on transportation for our guests.  Everything was a total blank slate, and they seemed really willing to work with us to allow us to create whatever vision we had in mind.

While we were here, we were looking at each other like, "this is it!"  Even after our appointment was over we hung around outside the building, peering in through the windows talking about where we would place everything and how great a location it is.  We were *this close* to ending our venue search...


Did you come close to picking a venue, only to change your mind?