el Prado, Palo Alto

My first time rolling up to el Prado was an exemplary experience. The streets of Palo Alto were shimmering in a soft, NorCal, late-morning glow. We easefully pulled right up to the main doors, where the doorman offered to help us unload our DJ gear (never happens). Instead of just using my nice dolly (named Jimmy CARTer actually, as it’s gray, distinguished and liberal around turns), we loaded gear onto the big bellman’s carts. Even with a photo booth, load in took only 10min with this assistance!

Once inside el Prado, the front desk attendant also greeted us kindly and offered to help us find the events manager Jesse Bresnahan. Knowing venue event managers to be a bit “overworked”, I was bracing for impact when Jesse walked up with a big smile and offered to show me around. What a nice and helpful guy Jesse turned out to be!

I was struck by the open courtyard of the venue. I immediately fantasized myself standing on the 2nd floor with my guitar singing for a 1st dance going on below (was this your future wedding?)! We explored the rest of the venue, which was extremely clean, elegant and easy to work with. He even showed me that vendors have their own “green room”, helping us feel like the rockstars we grew up dreaming of becoming one day. Our green room days have come at el Prado!

The ceremony took place upstairs in a daylight window lit long room easily capable of fitting over 100 guests. We even had elevators to help us get our gear upstairs. No lugging 100’s of LBS up flights of stairs today!

Cocktail hour took place on my aforementioned dreamy patio outside(ish). I hid my speakers in the bushes so no one knew where the music was coming from (one of my favorite DJ magic tricks).

We had our photo booth set up next to the bar in the main ballroom, as these attractions go hand (or drink) in hand. Guest immediately rushed the booth the moment we opened the doors to dinner! I love how much guests love the photo booth. Believe it or not, I built our two booths myself during the pandemic (when I had no DJ work).

The ballroom for this wedding was set up perfectly for uplights to rule the room. We had 12 uplights, all sync’ed together by my DMX lighting system, so the whole room was color-paired to the gorgeous chandelier. Speaking with our venue coordinator Jesse before the event, he agreed that it was near essential to have uplighting in that space. I absolutely love being able to control the energy of a space like that.

Thanks to such powerful lighting control, we had the ability to build the energy of the room consistently. And paired with the powerful dancing-loving energy of this crowd, this wedding was a total banger!

To quote our groom, “I did not think our wedding would end on a mosh pit, but we **** loved it” referring to the end of the night where I experimentally “quick-mixed” three Blink-182 songs into each other and the crowd ended the celebration with an explosive bang, as seen above!

If you’re in the market for classy, but reasonably priced Silicon Valley wedding venues, el Prado should absolutely be considered! I recommend reaching out to Jesse and taking a tour!

Jesse Bresnahan | Director of Events

a: el PRADO | 520 Cowper Street, Palo Alto, CA | 94301
e: jesse@elpradopa.com | w: www.elpradopaloalto.com
p: 650.323.1912 | d: 650.543.2217

I can’t wait for my next wedding at el Prado! Will it be yours??

Leonard Lake Reserve

Deep in the Mendocino Wilderness, CA

I’ve played at Leonard Lake twice now and I always plan to stay AT LEAST one extra day, because this place is impossibly amazing! Imagine a glistening blue lake draped with lotus lilies. Imagine a dense forest of Redwoods and Oaks surrounding you and your guests. Imagine your ceremony under the drapery of old Oak tress nestled up against the lake. Imagine dinner on a lush green lawn overlooking the lake. Imagine dancing on the top of it all, overlooking everything but the trees and stars above them. Please bring me back here. Let’s do this.

Here are some photos from the times I’ve played Leonard Lake

FRENCH OAK RANCH

Santa Rosa / Calistoga, CA

This venue is top notch! The desert Napa hills, with a gorgeous lake at the base of a canyon is the backdrop. The ceremony can be held in multiple outdoor locations and the Dinner & Dancing can be both outside or inside. I prefer outside because the sound there is the best I’ve ever heard. My QSC speakers sound their best at this venue outdoors. I also pointed some lights at the hills across the lake and the distance made the shapes HUGE on the hills/trees. It looks awesome and people were kinda freaking out.

French Oak Ranch Website
(415) 250-5642
2636 Calistoga Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Barndiva

Healdsburg, CA

Obscure Venue Ideas

Cabrillo Lions Community Center

Santa Cruz, CA

I showed up to DJ a ceremony at this venue and I immediately asked “why are we not throwing the entire event here?” This place has EVERYTHING and is TOTALLY off the wedding venue map. I took a video to help you get a sense of it.

Favorite Venues