Sunday, October 23, 2011

Wedding at Stern Grove - Trocadero Clubhouse

I am writing out this post to answer the questions of anyone who might be interested in having a wedding at this location. When I first did a search, I only found a few things that showed anything on this spot and it took a bit to get any questions answered. Read through and I'll give you a lot of the answers you might have if you're considering a wedding or event here. BE SURE TO SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN FOR THE PHOTOS....

After searching and searching for a nice public beach or park to have a wedding at in the Bay Area, the best spot I found was at Stern Grove. While the reviews of the Trocadero Clubhouse are mixed, I found the antique building to have an old-fashioned charm that suited me perfectly.

The building is open for tours every Saturday morning at 9:30am. The entrance is on the corner of 19th Avenue and Sloat Blvd. Generally you have to park on the street and walk down in the grove, but parking is plentiful and free on Sloat.

Down a gravel path and into the grove there is a perfect clearing for a wedding. And literally within a few yards is the entrance to the Trocadero Clubhouse, a perfect venue for a wedding reception. The max capacity is 120 which I think would be rather squishy, but we only had about 60 people there so there was quite a bit of space.

They provide 9' tables, I think they have about 15 of them, but we chose to rent round tables because they look classier and fit better. We also rented chairs because they only have about 60 of them and we did not want to lug them up to the clubhouse after the ceremony and make everyone wait to be seated for the reception.

There is an absolutely wonderful built in bar that is made of solid hard and polished wood. The sink behind the bar is perfect for an ice tub and drinks and snacks can be lined up along the bar. We did simple wine, beer and soda and got a friend of a friend to tend. The only thing about this area is that it is right next to the men's restroom and has quite a raunchy smell. You are not allowed to burn candles unless you have a fire permit. So we sprayed air freshener and put out jars of fragrant oil, which worked perfectly.

You are not allowed to tape anything up or use nails or anything so my mom came up with some great decorations that could be hung up on existing fixtures.

I also rented table cloths for the tables, a podium for the minister and a simple sound system with an amp that hooks up to an ipod or laptop, and a cordless microphone. On the morning of, I made the horrible discovery that I was about 100 feet short of extension cord. The closest electric socket to the outside clearing is unfortunately right inside the bar of the clubhouse. So I would plan on battery operated equipment or make sure that you have at least 150 feet of extension cord if you plan on doing anything in the clearing.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for! The pictures.....

The Trocadero Clubhouse....

Inside the main room of the clubhouse....we set up 9 round tables that fit 6-8 people each. Plus 3 long tables in the front of the room for the bridal party to sit behind. And there was still room in the middle to dance. (P.S. The fireplace is able to be used!) 














 The piano is not able to be played, out of tune and absolutely filthy inside. We kept it in the bar and used it for gifts....



The front porch is perfect for the cake table. We also put a candy table and the food station out there. But you need someone to keep an eye on it because the concert grounds for Stern Grove are right next door and random strangers will come up and try to eat if you don't make it clear it's a private event. 




Front porch is also good for throwing bouquets....



Hanging decorations.... We hung these everywhere inside and out. They are soaked in coffee and cinnamon which gave them a wonderful smell. And they have beautiful pictures of Paris and other romantic scenes on them. If anyone is interested, I have hundreds left..... 





The women's dressing room and the stairway down from there. Once I got my music cue, I walked straight down that staircase and out and down the walkway. The way the guests were seated they could all watch as I exited the clubhouse for the first time in my wedding gown....

  

The ceremony clearing.... Behind that podium there is a perfect walkway for the bridal party to come down....


And that's all folks....

24 comments:

  1. Awesome! We are in SF right now to plan our destination wedding (we live in Houston) and just saw Stern Grove today and loved it. Your blog is very helpful with set-up tips. Do you mind sharing what vendors you used? Did you use a planner too, or all DIY?

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    1. Sure!! I did not use a wedding planner, it was just my friends, my mom and myself.

      I rented the tables, chairs, trash cans and podium from Classic Party Rentals: http://sanfrancisco.classicpartyrentals.com/

      I rented a small sound system with a speaker and microphone from Avista Rentals: http://www.avistarentals.com/audio-sound-equipment-rentals/sound-systems/ipod-sound-systems.html

      And we did simple catering from Panera. We bought cute little cardboard lunchboxes online and took them to the catering person at Panera who gave us a menu of various sandwiches and salads which they put in the boxes. They delivered on the morning of. This actually saved us from having to get any plates, silverware, etc. If you check on the Panera website you can probably find the number for the one in San Francisco, there's only one.

      The rest we did ourselves. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

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  2. Great blog! I'm getting married there soon, and my fiance wants the crowd to face the pond/house (nice) but the pathway brings you to the front not down the center of the crowd. How did you get over not having that "traditional" walk?

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    1. I had everyone facing the pond as well. I walked down from the clubhouse steps through that little pathway with the wooden handrails. It was actually much nicer because everyone could see me without turning their heads. And I was able to get ready in the clubhouse and didn't have to figure out how to go all the way around without being seen. We just decorated that walk way and it was lovely.

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  3. Hi! Did Classic Party Rental set up the tables and chairs for you? Did you give them a room layout? If so could you share it? Thanks!!

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  4. Ellenie, when is your wedding? How many guests? Ours is May 26, 2013 (Memorial Day weekend - Sunday brunch) with about 35 guests. Any recs you have on set-up, vendors, etc. Would be great (ESP. Since its destination for us - we live in Texas!).

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  5. Classic Party Rental did not set up the tables and chairs for me. I measured everything out and made a diagram. My friends set it up. I don't have a copy of it, but basically it was 9 of the 8-10 person tables on one side of the room, and 3 9-foot rectangle tables against the windows for the bridal party. The food and sign in tables were out on the porch. I only had to order the round tables because Trocadero has about 10 9-foot rectangle tables. I did rent table cloths for them.

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  6. Thank you so much for posting this! We just went to view the property this morning and are making our reservation today. Your wedding looked beautiful and I appreciate the information, you cinched the deal for me. Thanks again.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know, and congratulations. I remember when I was doing research on it I couldn't find much online. So I decided to post this to help.

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  7. Quick question - You mentioned that there were people wandering into your wedding. Where were they wandering from? Was there another event going on?

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  8. The amphitheater next to the clubhouse had an event that day and the clubhouse is really open to anyone.

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  9. Hi,
    I'm getting married there next week and just decided to have my hair done in the dressing room. Were the chair, table and mirror there or did you bring them yourself?

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  10. Hi, Missy! Sorry, I missed your question. I hope you had a wonderful wedding! To answer the question, in case any one has one in the future, they were already there. The dressing room had its own bathroom, a table, a clothing rack, a few chairs and a large mirror. We used it for the women, and the men got dressed in the bathroom next to the bar down the stairs. Congrats!

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  11. I'm very interested in this venue! Question - how did you guys get around the "no amplified music outside" with the ceremony? Did you have any kind of wedding march music?

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  12. This is very helpful, thank you! Did you have to get the permit/license for the bar or is that included with the venue?

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  13. some cost info would be really helpful for budget planning purposes.

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  14. Yes, please. Can you please provide an idea of the cost? Thank you so much!

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  15. You wouldn't happen to know the dimensions, would you?

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  16. This place is perfect for wedding venue. Last Sunday I also attended outdoor wedding in Diamond view Summit. The place is just awesome, nice view, excellence service and very delicious food. It’s one of the best places in San Francisco Wedding venues, I ever seen.

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  17. I missed some of the comments and messages on this blog over the years. I'm not much of a blogger and really just posted this to help. But I wanted to come back and answer some of the questions:

    We did not need a license for the bar. Or at least we didn't have one and no one had a problem with it. We purposely did a day wedding because the venue required special security and insurance for a night wedding. We did have fire and event insurance which we got through the venue.

    I believe our rate at the time was $2500 for the day, 9am to about 4pm. That included full use of the clubhouse and clearing by the trees.

    We used an extension cord from the house down in the little clearing between the trees to get sound set up and we did play music for walking down the aisle. No rules were mentioned at the time about this and no one complained. We did take the after party inside, though.

    I don't know the dimensions. We walked out our event before hand and measured everything but I didn't keep that. In the main room of the club house we were able to fit about 12 large round tables with chairs, and 3 ten foot tables across the front of the room for the bridal party. And in the little clearing we had about 50 chairs plus the podium and sound system/speakers and there was still lots of room.

    Can't remember much else....too busy being married now. :)

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  18. How difficult is it for older folks to navigate the path to the meadow for the ceremony and back? Possibly using a 4 wheel walker.

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  19. This has been so helpful to read through. I am having my wedding in Stern Grove in August and this has answered a few questions I had. Also wondering about clean up.... do you have to take trash out with you?

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