As a wedding photographer (15 years experience) I have been to TONS of venues. Also as not being married I view venues with two sets of eyes. One as a wedding photographer: Overall look & feel How many locations for photos The drive/access to the venue How great the light is (indoor & outdoor) Staff One as a potential bride & client: Would I or would I not get married here? Creekside Terrace is a beautiful intimate location nestled in the hills right off of the 17. It's easy to access and the views are beautiful (trees,mountain views etc). This venue is great for intimate and grand weddings. The staff is helpful and personable so it made my job easier. The only complaint (that can be fixed or worked around). The bridal "suite" is a dark cabin like room. I would highly recommend this location to anyone seeking an outdoor venue, without a set feel. You can design your own feel and look to the place. You should check it out. read more

I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding earlier this month. She gushed about Creekside Terrace for months so I was very excited to see the place. We came to the venue the day before for the rehearsal. To be respectful my FI and I, who was also in the wedding, arrived early dressed nicely for dinner after rehearsal. Once everyone showed up people began ordering everyone to start helping set up. Including the wedding party. I was very taken aback by this. Never have I ever been involved a wedding where I was expected to do hard labor. My FI helped the men take the flowers and decorations out to place them around. I helped the bride get her things, including the dress, into the AC-less house. During the rehearsal I saw that the slope of the ceremony site was almost at a 45 degree angle! It was a little scary walking down the sloped grass to the stand at the altar. On the next day the wedding didn't start on time. I have no idea why but the bride, groom, and wedding party were ready to go. We had to have 5 different fans going on at the same time on the bride so she wouldn't melt! Once the ceremony was over we got to make our entrances into the reception. When the speeches got started I noticed how the seating for the guests created separation. The guests were seated in two segregated sections. One right in front of the bride and groom's sweetheart table and the other over on the patio off to the side that maybe only half of the guests could see the speaker. I know that if I was one of the unfortunate ones sitting there I would have been irritated. Overall the view was gorgeous, the food and music was decent, but I'm not sure I would have an event here. If you come here wear flats, watch where you step, and have a hat to cover protect you from the sun. read more

The venue is easily 5 stars (I'd give more if I could). It's close to Los Gatos but feels like you're way up in the mountains. It's serene and beautiful but still convenient. Our wedding was outdoors in late August and the setting (and temperature!) were just perfect. We couldn't have found a better venue. To book Creekside, you have to book with Panetta's Elite Events; Lori at Panetta's acts as the coordinator for your entire wedding, so we never met the owner. Lori was in constant communication with her, and got her to bend a few of the [semi-strict] rules, including allowing us to have mini-kegs and a band. Other rules include having to end the reception at 10, have all guests off the property by about 10:45, and no hard alcohol. Two months after the wedding, we get a letter with the return of 3/4 of our deposit. The letter referenced some damage, about which we had [allegedly] already been advised. As we hadn't met the owner, we followed up with Lori who tried to contact the owner. Long story and 3 months later, the owner had not responded to a single email or phone call and wouldn't or couldn't provide any further information about the alleged damage. Lori ended up reimbursing us the difference out of her own business (major kudos to her!!) We would gladly have paid more up front for the venue (it's really that good!), but the way in which the owners kept more of our money was anything but straightforward. read more

The venue is gorgeous and there are a lot of great things about it, like being able to bring your own booze, its gorgeous views and proximity to civilization. Unfortunately you are stuck with the coordinators that come with the venue and like any business where clients are guaranteed, the service was, in my view as a bridesmaid, inconsistent and sometimes downright inappropriate. I understand that leading up to the day-of they were decent and sometimes helpful, but what i saw at int the days leading up to the wedding and at the wedding makes me really want to let others know what they will be getting into if they use this venue and the coordinators that come with so they can include that in their calculations. I will say, the DJ and Photo booth contractors they recommended were off the hook! There are two wedding coordinators at the venue, one of which is kind, although a bit timid and junior and the other is a very difficult and often gruff woman who spent much of the day of and before the wedding being rude to pretty much anyone within her sight. I haven't seen this many eye rolls from someone in a service role ever. As someone mentioned in earlier posts, during the rehearsal and the day of the wedding, the staff at CreekSide literally watched the bridal party carry most of the favors, decorations, and alcohol into the venue without raising so much as a finger to help us...in fact, they teased the groomsmen for not carrying fast enough and having to be helped by the ladies. Not cool. Aside from many more small things like that, they managed to ruin one of the highlights of the evening by barreling into a crowd of happy chanting guests to yell DIRECTLY at the bride and groom telling them "you need to SHUT UP" because it was "ALMOST" 9 PM, when quiet ordinances go into effect. I get that if you have a wedding venue in the middle of a residential neighborhood there are strict noise rules, but there are a million better ways to handle a difficult situation than to straight-up kill the vibe of the entire party, embarrass the bride and groom and generally make everyone angry and want to rebel. It was not yet past the ordinance hour...and pull aside and talk to anyone at the party, in the bridal party, or the DJ, don't yell at the bride and groom just because you're a stress case and overwhelmed. If the neighborhood really can't take music and dancing and cheering...perhaps weddings are not a great revenue stream. If we didn't have an ace bridal party who was ready to help and a totally on-it mother of the bride this place would have been a complete disaster. Did I mention they yelled at the bridal party after the wedding? AND that we all had to stay and clean up the whole party because one of the coordinators scooted early and they hadn't planned on how to break down the set up at all. Again, there are some great aspects to the venue, but do beware and go into this with eyes wide open about the level of service to expect. read more

Beautiful location, decent catering options. Horrible horrible staff. The "wedding coordinator" provided is actually just there to enforce a long list of overly draconian rules and be rude to guests. read more

My wife and I went here for our reception August 2014. To give credit where it is deserved, the grounds are beautiful. The food was delicious; however, be prepared to pay for it. It is not an independent site, it is a conglomerate of several sites that are ran through Lori and Panettas Catering which try to make it appear as if they are separate businesses yet they are all staffed and headquartered through the same office and secretary. Lori and Panettas are great to work with and extremely friendly, right to the point they receive your deposit, then they use the threat of losing your deposit unless you do EXACTLY what they say. As my wife met with the "planner" we were told that we could use several items such as "poppers" for the send off and a "bounce house" to help entertain the children. TWO DAYS before the wedding we received word that both were prohibited by the landowner. Obviously by this time we had already paid hundreds of dollars for those items that we could not send back, nor receive a refund. As for setting up the site, they give you 2 hours to put up the "Approved" decorations. Which entails you and your wedding party frantically working while the person you are paying to be a "Wedding Planner" sits and texts on her cell phone. And if any of your party is later than the extremely short "window" they are locked outside the gate, heaven forbid leaving the gate open for longer than 20 minutes to allow guests to enter. As for receiving the deposit in full, we are at 3 weeks and counting which is over the allotted time period. Once again, once they have your deposit they are an entirely different group to work with, very difficult to get in touch with. Will not return phone calls or emails. By a miracle once I did get in touch asking about the deposit, they replied "I will need to talk to the land owner and see when they will be able to mail the check", well pardon me but my contract was through Lori and Panettas, NOT the land owner. If the tables were reversed Lori and Panettas would be calling non-stop threatening the give your day to someone else. Going off the other review where they waited 2 months and still didn't receive the full amount... I am getting apprehensive. I would NOT recommend this place. If you have ANY OTHER options, go somewhere else!! read more

I was married at Creekside Terrace in September of 2008, the ceremony was so much more then I had planned on. The weather was perfect, just a few clouds (great photos). When I arrived on site, I was welcomed by the coordinator and one other staff member, they helped me "move in" and we got busy with my decorations, they were so helpful getting my decorations up and assisting us with flowers and favors, they did so much more then we had thought they would be doing. The decorations only took about 30 minutes (I had lanterns in the dance area and some lights on the rails) as well as a draping for the ceremony gazebo. My forest wedding dream was going to be perfect. The ceremony started just 15 minutes late, and the coordinator even helped me get down to the aisle, the guests were seated in the cute wooden benches they use for ceremonys and the reception area was just beautiful. They had great linens for the tables and did a special napkin fold for me that held the flatware, they had placed my favors at the seats for the reception. Parking was somewhat limited, but we used a couple of vans to shuttle from the Hotel Los Gatos to the venue, so there were no issues. Dinner was done by the caterer that the site uses exclusivly, which I had my doubts about, but it turned out great. We had Chicken and Beef entree's and my guests seemed very happy with the meal. The wedding cake was really yummy, it was from A Piece of Cake Bakery, and was just as pretty as it was tasty. At the end of the night the catering crew pitched in to help us get all of our personal belongings out and we were packed up in about half an hour and off to our after party. We were very happy with our choice of sites and the all inclusive package that was with their caterer. Panettas Catering was the caterer and they really knew how to put it all together, just the way I wanted it. read more