If you’re planning a wine country wedding, you probably have a million questions (including where the ideal venue is), but if there’s one thing you do know, it’s that the ceremony will look amazing. The rows of vineyards are the best backdrop, and the mountains and natural light complete the scene for your photos.
So, which destination best suits your ideal wedding? That’s what we’ll answer with these five suggestions in the U.S. We’ll also share some key planning tips, such as the best dates and how to block hotel rooms for wedding guests at these locations.
Charlottesville, Virginia
The Monticello Wine Trail features more than 40 wineries in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and more and more couples are choosing this area to celebrate their weddings on the East Coast. The reasons are obvious. Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, for example, can accommodate up to 250 guests, and the scener, with the mountains in the background, is reason enough to choose it.
As for logistics, your guests can fly into Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. Just be sure to block this weekend off your calendar: the third weekend in May is UVA graduation week, and you won’t find any accommodations unless you book a year in advance and agree to a minimum three-night stay.
Santa Rosa, California
Sonoma County is home to hundreds of wineries scattered throughout the Russian River Valley and the Alexander Valley. Santa Rosa is the best location because it puts you right in the middle of it all. You can get married at a vineyard in Healdsburg and still accommodate all your guests just twenty minutes away in the county’s largest city.
Currently, four airlines operate out of Sonoma County’s Charles M. Schulz Airport, so your guests can fly directly into the wine country. We recommend avoiding the peak season, which runs from late August through October. That way, you won’t have to compete with tourists for space, since many estates limit events during harvest season.
Temecula, California
If your guests assume that Napa is the only wine region, you can surprise them with this destination. In Southern California, you’ll find more than 40 wineries in the hills east of Interstate 15. For guests already in Southern California, it’s also an easy drive: about ninety minutes from San Diego and less than two hours from Los Angeles.
How about a wedding photo in a hot air balloon? Balloons lift off over the vineyards at sunrise almost all year round. It’s one of Temecula’s signature wine country experiences and an unusual addition to a wedding weekend. Plus, in the historic district of Temecula, you can explore a variety of tasting rooms and restaurants and choose the one you like best for your reception.
Traverse City, Michigan
Nobody on your guest list expects Michigan, and that is exactly why you should look at it. More than 50 wineries cover two peninsulas reaching into Grand Traverse Bay, and the Riesling and sparkling wines from Old Mission and Leelanau have earned serious attention. Sleeping Bear Dunes sits forty minutes down the shore.
Your season here runs short. Most estates host weddings from late spring through October and go quiet for the winter. The National Cherry Festival complicates your calendar further, because eight days in early July bring more than half a million visitors to a town of 15,000. Hotel availability becomes extremely tight across the region.
Salem, Oregon
The Willamette Valley gives you more than 700 wineries and eleven smaller growing areas inside it. Its pinot noir earns comparisons to Burgundy from people who do not make that comparison lightly. You will fall for the small towns, places like Dundee and McMinnville, and then discover they hold almost no hotel rooms.
Salem fixes that for you. Oregon’s capital sits at the center of the valley, with the Eola-Amity Hills just outside town and the northern wine cluster about forty-five minutes up the road. Your guests get a real base and drive out to the vineyards from there. Send anyone with a free afternoon to Silver Falls State Park. Harvest runs from September into October, so book early if you want fall color in your photos.
The Wine Comes First
A wine country wedding gives you something a ballroom never will. The setting already exists, so you spend less time decorating and more time deciding which weekend of the year you want your guests to see. That is the real question these five destinations answer, each in its own way.
Once you pick the region, everything else falls into place around it. That’s where Room Blocks by Engine comes in: a trip manager compares hotel proposals near your venue and negotiates the rates for you, so your guests stay close and you stop worrying about where everyone sleeps. Set up your courtesy room block and cross one thing off the list.
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