Alita C.
Yelp
WEDDING VENUE REVIEW ONLY - the wine is great too :)
Overall rating: 4.5
5-stars for the venue, amenities
5-stars for overall event management services
4-stars for contract management, account management
4-stars for day-of experience
We live up in San Francisco and were fortunate to host our 25-person wedding at Zaca Mesa in May 2021. We were the first wedding to be hosted after they completed their estate renovations, including a new private tasting room, and a walkway to new outdoor event hostings spaces.
Zaca Mesa was a rare find that we stumbled on as a result of many specific factors we were seeking:
1) We wanted to be married in Santa Barbara County
2) We did not want to spend more than $5k on a wedding venue (which is nearly impossible to pull off in the City of Santa Barbara)
3) We needed our wedding to be entirely outdoors for COVID safety reasons for our family and friends
4) We wanted the freedom to pick our own vendors
We had a COVID wedding and so appreciated how great the staff was at helping guide us through all possible changes, restrictions, and questions. We booked the outdoor-only space, sight-unseen in December 2020, based on photos and videos shared by staff because they made us feel confident in their abilities to provide a great venue. And they truly did provide just that! The new site was gorgeous in springtime. They have a beautiful walkway to an open picnic area (usually reserved for tastings) that connects to the lawn and vineyards walkways. It served as the perfect entrance for the bridal party! They had ample space for wedding vignettes, guest seating, dining tables, and a large dancefloor (for up to 350 guests) between the lawn area and the courtyard under the oak tree. The lawn and vines are well-maintained and they had planted new spring flowers around the courtyard area for the event.
Prices may have changed since 2021*
1) The outdoor-only space starts at an affordable price point (~$2000 for 2 hours with an additional cost per hour for up to 6 hours).
2) You can include the private tasting and view rooms (starting at $5500 on weekdays), but if you want to book the indoor space on the weekends it costs more ($7000+) since they lose a whole day of wine-tasting revenue you rent out the winery for the day.
They plan for wedding guest arrival time to start right when wine-tasting hours are ending, so your wedding will not have random guests watching your ceremony. They WILL however host private events in their tasting room on the same day as your wedding if you only book the outdoor space unless you book the full site. Included in all their packages is access to an equipment inventory (tables, chairs, heat lamps) which help save on some rentals cost elsewhere. Wine and beer only; you must purchase their wine but they have wonderful varietals with both affordable and high-end options!
Originally, we connected with Danielle, who was their new Events Manager hire starting up their wedding venue business. She led all the initial conversations, and contract negotiations, and provided insights into the venue. Later on, we worked with Ileana who was hired onto Danielle's team and managed our month-of, day-of planning and coordinated all logistics. Both we extremely professional, responsive, also friendly, and had great vendor connections, too - they introduced us to our wedding planner! They provided 2 additional staff for the day-of who were also exceptionally helpful, especially with breakdown and clean up.
There were a few things that could have gone better. Since ZM is rather new to hosting weddings (+ COVID restrictions added quirks), it was noticeable that they were trying to figure out what were their policies.
1) They didn't put the additional costs per hour in the original contract or in the pamphlets they sent us. When COVID restrictions changed and we decided to add more time to our event we had to do more negotiations around the additional cost because it came in much higher than we expected. They were extremely kind and gave us a slightly discounted rate though
2) The change in who was managing our event was a bit abrupt and led to confusion around what equipment we could borrow from them. It took a few conversations to get realigned, but we were in great hands with Ileana in the end.
3). They were super awesome about letting us bring beer and sparkling wine from outside vendors since they do not sell/produce those items. However, they wouldn't let us one unopened, large-format bottle on site (it was our guest book), even though they stopped making that size years ago because it was from another winery. Our wedding planner decided to put it out anyway and at one point the conversation got pretty heated with the staff. We tipped them heavily for the inconvenience but for the last hour of our wedding, they weren't speaking to us much which made things awkward for us.
We loved this venue and hope this helps others find their magical day here too!