Clarke Estate

Gorgeous! My fiance and I just booked this site for our ceremony & reception. What I like about this place is that you can bring your own caterer / liquor / bartender, etc. and there are no special insurance requirements. Tamra is wonderful and very eager to help you. Highly recommended. I will write an update after my wedding.

UPDATE: 8/12/08
I have nothing but positive things to say about the Clarke Estate and their staff. Tamra ran the rehearsal dinner w/my coordinator and made sure everything was perfect. Everyone at my wedding was so impressed by how gorgeous the grounds at the Clarke Estate are.

We have just begun our wedding planning. We saw two locations for a venue (Clarke Estate and Pasadena Masonic). We end up picking the Clarke Estate since we concluded we wanted a venue that was outside and thought it would be relaxing and different as most weddings we go to are indoor. We instantly feel in love with the Clarke Estates, it was everything we wanted and with having a relative who is a city resident, we could not pass up the savings, which is a steal. We are having our ceremony and reception at the Estate, no driving from one place to another. The Estate is beautiful, so many possibilities for pictures. We also loved the fact that the Estate holds a large capacity for the ceremony and reception. The staff, Tamara and her assistant, have been patient and attentive to our many questions I have e-mailed to them (can we have candles, can we hang paper lanterns in the trees, etc. [which is a yes just in case you were wondering]). We are looking forward to our planning with the Clarke Estates. I will update as we progress further towards our wedding date.

I just booked Clarke Estate for my wedding next June I can't wait. Me and my fiance feel in love with this place we looked all over southern Cali for a venue that fit what we were looking for and our budget. Clarke Estate is so beautiful. There are so many reasons as to why I chose Clarke Estate:
1. Set away from the street and the public, very private
2. Full of lush greenary and flowers
3. We will be the only wedding on site that day
4. We can bring all of our own vendors (except DJ but they have a list from
you can choose) not many venues let you bring your own.
5. We can start at anytime and use the whole estate if we wanted too.

as soon as i pulled up to this venue, i knew it was perfect for our wedding. the well-kept grounds, the charming courtyard, the splashes of red, all the bamboo, the Modern architecture, and the expansive outdoor areas met our aesthetic criteria. on the practical side we loved the relatively reasonable rental fee (it's more of a steal if you are a city resident) that includes use of chairs and tables for up to 300 guests, 10 hour use of the estate (7 hours of which guests can be on the grounds), city-required security, a site coordinator, and ceremony sound equipment. ample parking is provided a short walk from the main gate of the estate, only one event is held at a time, and the expansiveness and variety of the grounds allows you to hold both ceremony and reception at the same venue, a must on our list, while still varying the feel of each portion of the wedding. there are a few regulations that must be respected due to the historic designation of the estate and its residential neighborhood, but none of the stipulations were deal breakers for us. their BYO policy for food and alcohol allowed us to save quite a bit on catering costs as well. the estate's events coordinator, tamra wilbur, was professional, pleasant to work with, accommodating of any special requests, and wonderfully organized in her dealings with us, our wedding coordinator, and our caterer.

I absolutely LOVED having my wedding at the Clarke Estate!

Pros:
I saved some money on the rental fee since my brother-in-law is a resident of Santa Fe Springs
Tamra was so easy to work with
They allow you to bring in your own caterer and alcohol (which was a huge selling point since it made our 200 guest list affordable)
They have a big parking lot for your guests with free parking
You can have your ceremony and reception at the venue. All outdoors location.
The venue is very secluded so the public will not bother you. No wedding crashers.
We used the courtyard for cocktail hour
Beautiful bamboo garden, fountain, red gates, courtyard, etc for pictures.

Cons:
Party must end at 10 pm since it is owned by the city. (We just had an after party at the hotel.)
Must use a DJ from a list supplied by the Clarke Estate (We booked Ray Tomlinson, who was great)
All outdoors location. We had no backup plan if it rained. (We were married on 5/24/09 and luckily had perfect weather!)
Gets a little chilly at night (We had the heaters out but some did not work. We warned our guests to bring a sweater. Most people were warm though by being out on the dance floor.)
No nice hotel near the venue for your out-of-town guests (We stayed at the Downtown Long Beach Hilton and rented a 57 passenger motor coach to shuttle our guests to and from the venue...didn't want anyone drinking and driving)

None of these cons really mattered to us. This venue has everything we were looking for in a ceremony/reception site. We booked the venue immediately after finding it on the internet. I HIGHLY recommend this venue! But hurry since it books up fast!

This location has so much charm! It's in the middle of a huge city and you feel worlds away when you're there. It's pretty, peaceful and beautiful.

My husband and I were married at the Clarke Estate on May 27, 2006. It was a beautiful venue. If I could do it all over again, I would...in a heartbeat; and wouldn't change a thing about it. Tamra was extremely helpful and patient with my large wedding party of 20 (yikes!) and 250 guests. You can't beat the price, for all it includes. It allowed us to splurge on other things, such as decor and honeymoon. Our reception is featured on the reception page of their website (the one in the backyard). I look at our pictures often and fall in love all over again not only with my husband, but with the Clarke Estate as well.

Our wedding was beautiful! Highly recommend this place!

I just got married here and I loved it. All of the pictures look beautiful because of the landscaping. There are many places on site that pictures can be taken. We had our ceremony and reception here and it was perfect. Our ceremony was in the courtyard!!! I loved how the tables and chairs were included in the rental fee. Tamra was very helpful and always returned calls. What was also great was that we were able to choose our caterer, we went with someone on the list they gave but you have a choice and do not have to go with someone on the list. I also loved the D.J. we hired since they have a list of D.J.'s that we must choose from, but it made my job easier!!! I am so happy that I got married here and I highly recommend this site.

I had my wedding here and it was AMAZING! Everyone was SOOOO amazed at how beautiful it was! It's such a hidden gem! Everything was BYO, which is so rare! Tamara was great! She's very upfront and honest! We love that! You do have to choose a DJ from their list, which wasn't the best. But, when you can bring everything else in...INCLUDING alcohol, you really can't complain! I highly recommend this place!!

But, hurry and book! It books FAST!

One of my favorite weddings of this year was located at the Clarke Estate. This place is gorgeous and an incredible place to have a wedding. I loved the decor of the estate. And would HIGHLY recommend checking it out. There were so many places to take photos and the place has a ton of charm!

We love the Clarke Estate - it's such a unique and beautiful reception site. We have done many weddings at this location and love the ambiance. Tamra is wonderful to work with and the staff is very organized. We highly recommend this venue as an alternative to a hotel or country club wedding.