Thomas Fogarty Winery

The winery is a beautiful place to have the ceremony and reception together. It overlooks the vineyards and the Bay Area. The place doesn't require much decoration so you can save on that. There is plenty of room for guests to move around. There are no surrounding buildings so it's intimate. The rental fee includes tables, chairs for both ceremony and reception, and large market umbrellas. The event coordinators there are very attentive. I've asked so many questions throughout the planning process and they answered everything promptly. The winery coordinator for our wedding was Becky Thatcher and she did a very good job in keeping things in line and facilitating the vendors. She was also available at the rehearsals to give us pointers. With Becky and Henry(the DJ), we didn't need a DOC!

Despite the gorgeous facility, there are a few negatives. They have a lot of rules. You must select from their list of caterers and DJs, but we selected the two vendors that were great anyways. So this isn't a negative at all. You cannot bring in other alcoholic drinks and must buy their wine. If you choose beer, you must purchase a set amount of wine, depending on total number of guests. This was the most annoying rule of all and made us have second thoughts but in the end, we sacrificed the beer. However, we chose the wine only option and whatever unopened wine was left after the wedding, they would buy back. You can only have a single ceremony musician if you choose to have ceremony in the lawn area. There is no A/C in the Hill House except for the dancing area but the doors were left open all day so we really didn't feel any A/C. The groom's changing area didn't have A/C but the bride's changing room did. On a hot day, this makes a big difference! We had our reception at the covered pavillion.

The winery is not a budget facility, but you get what you pay for. In addition to the fee, they require insurance and a $500 refundable deposit. They do have discounts for off season and weekday weddings. Originally we were planning a Saturday wedding. Because we loved this facility so much, we changed it to a Friday to be able to afford it. We thought people might not come for a Friday afternoon wedding but they did, and they thought it was a beautiful place for a wedding.

Paid $4500 when we booked in 2005

I had my wedding here in April 2006. It could not have been more beautiful. The venue is definitely more pricey than some others but you can get around it by having it off season, on a Friday or Sunday. You have to buy their wines which are nice and you can sell back any wines that were not opened. We bought 3 cases of red wine and 3 cases of white. We ended up selling 3 cases back and was refunded some money. This was nice! They include the chairs and tables (both round and recatangle) and you can have dinner inside or outside on the deck. There are a lot of different options to go with. The ladies that are in charge of events are responsive and very helpful. I could not have asked for more of a beautiful place!

Other notes:
You will have to choose from their preferred list of Caterers and DJ's. The caterer's range in price but I found that Schumann's Four Seasons and Melons Catering to be the most affordable (off their list).

If you have your wedding here - you will have no regrets!

This place was just perfect. It was absolutely gorgeous, the room was gorgeous, the scenery was gorgeous, really just a fairytale winery wedding! I was so happy with it :). The coordinators were also very helpful during the process and I really appreciated their attention to detail. No brainer 5 stars!!

What a gorgeous place. The only think I did not like was how the dancing room was separated from the place where people would eat. Some older generations at our wedding might not want to dance, but I can see them feeling left out since they wouldn't be able to sit and watch everyone dance.

The ladies were great, very friendly. Again, the place is absolutely desirable. Perfect for a wedding off-season because of pricing!