I was just contacted by someone who was looking to use Pacific OAKS Vineyard Estate for their wedding, but was nervous about it after reading these reviews!! This is what I sent back to him...

"Everything has gone very well for us so far, although the wedding isn't for a few more months. We booked the venue 18 months in advance, as it was booking quickly. We know one other couple who has gotten married there, and everything went well. We already had a wedding planner, and Judy was fine with us using her (Lori from Alison Weddings-- they're amazing!). But you do have to have a wedding planner, and you have to rent shuttles for all your guests. I just found reviews for the vineyard-- the wedding planner everyone is commenting on isn't even one of the preferred coordinators anymore. How Judy explained it to my fiance, myself, and our planner, is that she lists planners she's used in the past and liked as a recommendation. She was fine with us bringing our own planner in-- honestly, it's more business for her if she makes more contacts, and Alison Weddings is a major planner in Aptos.

The short of it is-- the pics on the website do not do the place justice. It is gorgeous. We went to see it when it was raining and gray outside, and it was still beautiful. You have to bring in your own shuttles (and you can find decent prices on them), caterer (again, you can find decent prices-- we went with Carried Away in Aptos), florist, cake, alcohol, and some rentals (Judy provides chairs and tables for the ceremony and reception in two styles to choose from). I think alot has changed since many of those reviews were posted. My fiance and I fell in love with it the moment we went for a viewing, and have never once regretted our decision."

The website that was made for trashing Pacific Oaks was really trashing the coordinator that alot of people used-- WHO ISN'T EVEN LISTED AS A PREFERRED COORDINATOR ANYMORE!!! They are not against the venue. Judy is great-- very helpful, very accomodating, and really nice. She held our date for 3 weeks without a deposit, even though other couples were looking at the venue for our date. She provides the tables and chairs at no additional rental cost (and they are nice chairs and tables, not funky banquet room chairs). She has some lighting at the venue, and a couple heating lamps (which again, is more than alot of venues). The vast majority of complaints on Pacific Oaks are in response to the wedding planner, not to Pacific Oaks. Please do not let the judgements of some people who didn't like the wedding planner they used (with good reason to not like her) are pushing it all on to Pacific Oaks. Granted my wedding hasn't happened yet, but the experiences I've had so far have been great. We chose every vendor we are using (most have never worked at Pacific Oaks before and are new to Judy) and have not received any flack for it from anyone at the venue. I will be back to post after the wedding in July, but honestly, our experience there has been nothing but great!!