Here Comes the Guide: Northern California: Wedding Locations and Services [Paperback]

Lynn Broadwell (Author), Jan Brenner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2004 | Series: Here Comes the Guide Northern California

Often called the "location bible," Here Comes The Guide features over 400 Northern California event sites, including private estates, historic gardens, yachts, museums, wineries, hotels, and many other venues. Engaging descriptions give readers a clear picture of each place, while details about pricing, services, and amenities help streamline their selection process. Also included are over 150 prescreened vendors such as photographers, caterers, florists, and cake makers, along with tips on how to hire and work with event professionals. This comprehensive and timesaving resource makes it easy for anyone to plan a wedding, special event, or business function.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1100 pages
• Publisher: Hopscotch Press; Ninth edition edition (November 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885355114
• ISBN-13: 978-1885355119
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,617,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good book but run by advertising, March 26, 2005

By 

L.T. (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Here Comes the Guide: Northern California: Locations and Services for Weddings and Special Events (Paperback)

I just pinned down a wedding venue, and I found this book helpful, with a few caveats. Firstly, brides-to-be should know that every venue in the book must pay "Here Comes the Guide" to be included. This engenders a lack of objectivity for the writers judging these locations. I am a travel writer myself so I felt a litle cheated by not having access to a trustworthy critical eye in the site reviews. Secondly, I was frustrated with the lack of photographs and felt the "Here Comes the Guide" website was much more helpful in this regard. All the locations in the book are online, and it's free there.

I actually found a gorgeous venue in Mendocino that wasn't included in the book or website. Just remember while "Here Comes the Guide" is a good place to start, you can find rare gems and less-travelled venues that aren't in the book. Talk to friends and experts who have gone to a lot of weddings. Another good place to look is the Chamber of Commerce website of the city in which you're planning to get married.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for all N. CA Brides, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Here Comes the Guide, Northern California : Locations and Services for Weddings and Special Events (7th Edition) (Paperback)

I was given this book as a gift soon after my engagement. At the time, I hadn't given much thought to where I wanted to hold the event. This book was a great help in finding several locations that were ideal. As the wedding market in Northern CA is rather busy, it was very nice to have several choices so that we could find a venue that was availible on our desired date.

This book contains accurate descriptions of venues, with information pertianing to the size, cost, and other key factors. It also contains less important but still useful information on catering options at each venue, music limitations, and other factors which can help a bride and groom say yea or nea to a location that is still site unseen.

I called over 20 phone numbers in this book and all were up to date and correct. I also found the pricing information almost dead on. The black and white pictures also gave an accurate impression of the venues.

This book was essential to my planning of a wine country wedding and I highly recommend it to anyone that is arranging a wedding in the bay area.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book that Saved My Wedding, July 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Here Comes the Guide, Northern California : Locations and Services for Weddings and Special Events (7th Edition) (Paperback)

I absolutely dreaded planning my wedding and this book was the only thing that saved my fiance and I from spiraling into madness. We are both from the East Coast, relatively new to the Bay area, and had no family here to help us. Neither one of us had ever been married before or helped plan a wedding. Here Comes the Guide was the single most useful tool for planning our wedding, and is reliable enough that we didn't feel the need to interview a ridiculous number of vendors for each service before choosing one. If a vendor we liked was recommended by the book then we knew they had to be good. Here Comes the Guide is concise, recommends cool traditional and non-traditional reception sites, and provides all of the information you need to plan your own wedding without the help of a wedding planner. The only area which was lacking was limousines and transportation. Pretty much everything else, including bands, calligraphy, invitations, cakes, vendors, tuxedos, reception sites, and florists, was there in abundance.