The Palm Event Center is one of our favorite venues in the San Francisco Bay area. Located in the city of Pleasanton but in the heart of the Livermore wine country, this wedding venue caters to all types of events both large and small. One of the things we like best about the Palm Event Center is that it possesses both good outdoor photographic areas and diverse indoor backgrounds. This provides the wedding photographers with a lot of options which can be helpful depending on weather conditions. If anything, when we photograph weddings here we run out of time because there are so many great places to take our bride and groom for pictures. This includes the cellar room where you can have your wedding ceremony among these beautiful wine barrels pictured in the photo above.
Formally known as the Mitchell Katz winery, The Palm Event Center has turned into one of the premier Livermore wedding venues. One of the reasons it is so popular is because it is centrally located in the Livermore wine country and it is reasonably priced based upon what you get for your dollars spent. I also feel like people enjoy booking their wedding at a place that has a large indoor facility for their ceremony. This provides the client with added confidence that if there are weather problems they don't have to rent a tent or spend additional money for an indoor ceremony location. The Palm Event Center provides all of this and it is all included in the price. We see many winter weddings at this venue because of this. As you can see from the photo above, the indoor ceremony location is absolutely beautiful with dramatic lighting and plenty of space for a large wedding over and above 200 guests. Next to San Francisco city hall, it is probably our most frequently photographed wedding venue. We have been here for Bay Area wedding photography at least 10 times over the past few years.
We are very lucky to live in the San Francisco Bay area and have so many options when it comes to wedding venues. Specifically, there is a multitude of Venues that are centered around wine and vineyards. A couple looking for a winery for their wedding location can choose from many different destinations in Northern California. These include Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and of course the Livermore wine country that we are discussing here. As a Bay area wedding photographer evaluating the various options there are a couple of things I look for. Some of the more important factors is the facility's ability to accommodate any type of group both large and small. We know that our clients often want to book a facility for their wedding that allows for up to 300 guests and so as we evaluate various options, this would be an important factor.
From a wedding photographers standpoint, we of course want the venue to possess great backgrounds for photography both inside and out. Grape vineyards and also wine cellars offer some fantastic options for this. After photographing weddings in the Bay Area for so many years one of the things that I often see are venues that only offer one or the other. By this I mean you either can choose a wedding venue that has beautiful outdoor surroundings or very nice indoor facilities for photography. One of the things I mentioned above about the Palm Event Center is that it has both attributes and that is a huge positive. Again, from our own perspective we like to see an experienced staff who are familiar with working large events and weddings. Over the years we have become connoisseurs of how event staff work with are brides and grooms and we definitely know what works best. Listed below are some of the factors I deem to be most important to the bride and groom and wedding photographer when it comes to choosing the best vineyard destination for an event: