The French Estate

The French Estate is a cute and rustic elegant bed and breakfast. If you are going for that chic, DIY feel, book this place, many have, I heard she's almost booked entirely for the year of 2012 already!!! Sarah is super chill and such a calming force, perfect for that hectic day! She conducted the wedding rehearsal (something I could not have done with so many bridesmaids and groomsmen:17!) She went beyond her duties to make sure everything would go as best as it could... I got married in November of 2011 there and right after a rain storm episode so it got so chilly at night and I wasnt able to afford the heaters, but she took out blankets and hot water for coffee and tea without asking or extra charge!!!! I love this place....I can't wait to rent it out for other events!

I love the French Estate. I had an idea of an elegant, relaxed outdoor wedding, but so many venues I looked at were unbelievably expensive. The French Estate offered me all of the charm I was looking for at a completely reasonable rate. Sarah Pearson was a lovely, down to earth person who was very kind and easy to work with. All of the whimsical touches she has at this place (silverware windchimes, a boot as a flowerpot) brought a smile to my face. This isn't the right place if you like to party late into the night with loud music (it's residential so there are noise restrictions, and you have to be off the site by 9:30). But this place is perfect for a charming garden wedding.

Shortly after being engaged, my main concern was to find and book a venue. I searched on countless websites about an orange county venue but failed over and over again to find "the place" Most of the places I have seen are gorgeous on the internet until I clicked on their prices and my hopes of booking some of them quickly diminished. My fiance was the one who footed the whole wedding bill and I wanted to find a venue that was beautiful but will not break his back. One day, I decided to use google and type in orange county wedding venues and out of the blue, The French Estate website popped out. I was immediately dazzled with the pictures. It was a very beautiful, nicely decorated house that had an absolutely wonderful vintage theme to it. I immediately asked for an inquiry and found out that a sweet lady runs and owns the place. Her name is Sarah and she saved my wedding on so many different occasions. At one point pressure from family and other factors got to me and she decided to meet with me right away to calm my nerves. She is not a wedding factory. Her prices are way beyond reasonable and she most definitely does not treat you like a walking check book. You have freedom to use whatever decorations she has and she has the best packages in orange county. She works with a caterer who is also a gem and they work together to offer a catering package that is almost unbelievable in price. The food is great and it comes with a wedding cake! Our wedding was small and intimate and on our wedding day, Sarah made sure to make everyone feel comfortable. She coordinated my wedding and when I was getting ready at her very very spacious bridal suite, she made sure to come in every once in a while to see if I needed anything. She calmed me down a lot and all my guests couldn't stop talking about how great she is and how beautiful the day is. At the end of the day a wedding is just a wedding, its the marriage that really does matter and my husband and I have always believed in that and we were blessed to find Sarah who believes in the same thing. It made our wedding so much more special and intimate and I would not change a single thing about it!

UPDATE - POST WEDDING: So the wedding has come and gone, and it was definitely beautiful. The venue is gorgeous and needs little decor as it is beautiful all on its own. All of our guests loooved the venue, raved about the food, and although we had to end at 9pm we never felt rushed. We ended up having a dj, which worked out perfectly because they were able to monitor the timeline for us and made the necessary changes based on the mood of our guests.

I originally had 5 stars and although the French Estate was perfect for our wedding, I'm taking off one star. Not because there were major hiccups or anything. I still highly recommend the French Estate to any bride, but... just a few days before the wedding, Sarah informed me that she had to leave for a flight a few hours before the wedding and that a new coordinator would be helping me that day. Although the new coordinator, Ellen, was super sweet and did the best she could on such short notice, it wasn't what I was planning on. Slight rain on my parade, but I rolled with it and just wanted the wedding to be a positive day. I had no issues the day of, but DH was at the venue beforehand to help out and he seriously had a panic attack. I guess the coordinators were meeting with new brides the day of. He said he didn't mind if it were a few, but it ended up being a lot and he felt the day wasn't "ours". He was truly upset, which obviously made me upset.

So there you go... I love the French Estate and all in all, we were happy that we picked it, but there were minor hiccups... obviously expected with any wedding so we're not going to dwell on it, but just thought I'd let you all know :) DH and I began the day slightly on edge, but at the end of the night, we were married and that's all that matters <3

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PRE WEDDING: Our wedding is set for August 28th and so far the planning has been awesome! Sarah is so nice and she makes you feel at ease with everything. I will post an update after the wedding, but just thought I'd give a review now to let you beautiful brides know how amazing this place is. I was searching for a shabby chic/garden/backyard type wedding location and I instantly fell in love with this place. The prices are AMAZINGGGGG and she gives you the entire property for the whole day! If you're looking to do things on your own, she allows you to bring in your own alcohol which helps a lot if you have a tight budget AND you can use your ipod for your music (I'm making playlists as we speak!). I could seriously go on and on about this place, but I'll make this short. I love it... and I'm sure you will too :)

I just got married at the French Estate and it was awesome!

All the guests loved the place! It is such a beautiful place - it has a quaint garden/outside feel. The house, i believe, was built in 1895 so its technically historic.

Sarah, the owner of the French Estate, is so wonderful - she's sweet, calm, helpful and she even has vendors that she works with that are professional and great. I used her caterer, cake person and DJ - all wonderful. She even provides a wedding coordinator for the day of which was AWESOME - I am so glad they were there!!! They kept me and my husband up to date with whats going on and how the day was going - it was great.

My photographers loved the lighting in this place - GREAT PICTURE PLACE!!

All the costs were very reasonably priced as well.

This place is just so amazing for a wedding! I highly recommend!

I had my wedding in May and it was great! Sarah was very helpful during the whole process. The venue is very affordable and perfect for a large or smaller wedding. I was able to personalize the wedding to our liking, I highly recommend this venue!!

We got married here May 1, 2010.

I fell in love with the French Estate the second I found it here on Project Wedding. The wedding was wonderful & the owner Sarah was very accommodating and answered ALL of our questions and even better, all of my mothers. My only regret about the day, and the reason why the estate is getting four stars, and not five, was our DOC (provided by the estate!), unfortunately she lied to me and my mother in front of my wedding party and it caused quite a scene; something I never dreamed would happen on my special day. The DOC had issues with organizing the guests and my head tables/seating arrangement were ruined. Our WHOLE wedding party & parents ended up jammed into one 10 person table instead of the three that were supposed to be reserved for them, it really put a downer on the reception and left my mom fuming. My parents paid for and helped arrange this wonderful wedding and instead of getting to enjoy the reception, they didn't even have their own seats. Another negative was that they require guests to park a block away in a medical facilites parking lot instead of the street, and the owner shuttles in guests.

In the end, the French Estate was completely worth the cost which included the ceremony, reception, setup/breakdown, tables, linnens, food, servers, day of coordinator & non-alcoholic drinks.

If anyone would like any more information about the venue, feel free to message me!

We were married here the day before Valentine's day. I found the French Estate through some serious Google-ing but what first drew me in were the prices and how everything was included. When my fiancee and I went to visit, Sarah, took the time to sit down, explain everything, and answer our millions of questions. We loved the place and booked it very soon after. Through the whole planning process, Sarah, patiently answered all my questions and concerns regarding the details and logistics of the venue and just generally put me at ease. Her venue is very accommodating with decorations (with the exception of nails & screws...since it IS a historical place) & bringing in your own drinks & alcohol.

The venue itself just feels so cozy but at the same time, very fancy. So many of my family & friends (and our vendors) had commented to me how lovely they found our venue, many declaring it the "perfect place" to get married at.

On the wedding day, Sarah was really wonderful asking me if there was anything I needed and generally just encouraging me throughout the day. It felt like she was a close friend of mine cheering me on through the whole day. It made the whole day feel just warm and happy. I highly recommend this place for wedding or any other events. This house is a gem!

EDIT: POST WEDDING

I have to say that the venue was absolutely incredible. Sarah was SO accommodating and really made my wedding stress-free. Not to mention that the venue looked absolutely beautiful when everything was added. I will post pictures in my bio when I get them, but I would wholeheartedly recommend this venue to ANYONE who wants something unique and low-key for their big day. It was a pleasure to work with The French Estate.

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I am SO super excited to be the one to add this venue to PW! I found this venue by doing a little deep searching. Sarah, the owner, was friendly and warm and so inviting and made me feel so comfortable about having our big day at the French Estate. It's very centrally located around some really cool areas like the Orange Circle for photos, so that's also a plus. The payment plan is awesome; you can bring in your own caterer or you can have them use Elegant Affairs catering; it's about $25-30 per person which includes the cake! You are even allowed to bring in your own alcohol, which can cut the costs down tremendously!!! (You just have to hire someone through the catering company to serve it for you) The ambience is very quaint and serene it looks beautiful in the fall. You also have a lot of freedom to decorate since it's a very blank canvas, you can pretty much incoporate whatever theme or ideas you would like. The French Estate truly is a gem! Go see it, you won't be disappointed!

BTW - I will let everyone know how the wedding goes afterwards, but it is in October, so I have a little bit of time. I just wanted other planners to be able to find an affordable venue if they are on a budget, like me! :)

I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this venue. Sarah was amazing and so helpful at answering those random questions that I had about anything. The venue itself was so charming and perfect for our vintage theme. I loved everything about the venue - especially that the packages were so inexpensive for our tight budget and that we could bring in our own alcohol. I would recommend this venue time and time again to anyone looking for something with a lot of charm without breaking the bank.

The Place was so beautiful and had so much of it own beauty that we hardly had to decorate anything. Eveyone was so helpful and I would recomend 100% to anyone I think that the French estate was a great find and deal in orange county.