Serra Plaza is a perfect, intimate, special place for someone who wants to host an outdoor wedding that feels like a small European town. Lauren from Jay's Catering was a pleasure to work with from beginning to end. She worked closely with us on menu selection, food tasting, the walkthrough of our venue, and overall moral support. Our wedding was like out of a fairytale. To this day, we still have friends and family tell us that the food at our wedding was the best wedding food they ever had - a huge compliment to Jay's Catering (and shout out to the Vietnamese Short Rib!) Wedding planning is difficult and it can feel like every decision might be the wrong thing. I am so happy that we trusted our gut and went with Serra Plaza as our spot. read more

Serra Plaza - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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Ideal for outdoor ceremonies and receptions, Serra Plaza has a Spanish summer nights things going on. It feels very romantic and makes me think of the passionate ballroom dances that could have taken place here. You're also just a couple minutes away from the Mission SJC for more photo ops. read more

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Serra Plaza was absolutely the most perfect and beautiful venue. The space was so transformative it honestly felt a bit magical watching it all come together. Being apart of the Jays Catering family meant that so much was included and taken care of. They did our appetizers, food, cake, desserts, bar, linens, and took care of all the staffing needed to set up the venue and make it all happen. Our wedding day was perfect and it was so largely attributed to Serra Plaza and the Jays Catering Team. The food was DELICIOUS! Which is not something you usually hear about weddings. We were able to do a food and cake tasting with them as well. Arielle was our point of contact and she was so helpful with every question and reminder along the way. Also, can we talk about the bridal suite? It was huge and amazing for getting ready in! I can not speak highly enough about Serra Plaza. Thank you for making our day so memorable! read more

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I wanted to thank the entire staff at Jay's Catering. We used them for my son's wedding at Serra Plaza and I couldn't have been happier. Serra Plaza was a beautiful venue for the wedding. Lauren at Jay's was very helpful helping me coordinate everything, they even worked with me on a couple of special requests. I received several comments on how good the food was from our guests. They just did a great job!! read more

Beautiful venue! As a wedding photographer and videographer we had a big pleasure to shoot at this amazing wedding venue. The staff were great, the layout and lighting was perfect! I would highly recommend to the couple who is looking for a unique look. read more

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I recently had my ceremony and reception at Serra Plaza on September 3rd, 2017. Working with Mary and her team was truly one of my favorite experiences of planning a wedding. Mary was a complete professional from start to finish. She was so accommodating, responsive, organized, detailed, and overall made me feel at ease with having my event at her venue. Our guests were in complete awe of how beautiful the location was and how we transformed it into our vision and dream for this spectacular day. From the beginning, the design and look of our event took shape at first sight of Serra Plaza. Seeing the numerous arches and the beautiful Tuscan color palette, we were completely speechless, and understood quickly what we were going to create. We had a long engagement and booked the venue a year and half in advance. While most people do a vintage or rustic look who book this venue, we built our vision as classic with modern touches, a romantic, elegant, 'black-tie optional' event. It felt like we were all in Italy in a secluded Villa. Our family and friends are still raving about our wedding and how absolutely beautiful and perfect the event looked. I cannot thank Mary enough for her support and expertise. She exceeding every expectation I had when working with vendors. She was my absolute FAVORITE to work with, made this a wonderful creative process, and I wish I could have an event every month there just so I can keep in contact with her! If you are looking for a wedding that is classic, modern, rustic, romantic, vintage, casual, whimsical or just DIY this venue is PERFECT for any vision you have! read more

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We had our wedding here, Sept 6, 2015. Our wedding planner Monique from A signature Wedding, brought us here as a venue option, and I knew this was the place. At first glance, it may not seem like a "dream wedding" site, but once we surveyed pictures and talked more with the people in charge, we were excited about this venue. When things fell into place and came together, we were SO happy we booked this venue. It's about 5 minutes from the San Juan Capistrano Mission, in a beautiful area. Be aware, they have a sound ordinance at 10pm, so music cannot be played in the outdoor setting. We circumvented that by ushering our party to the indoor area at 930-10 pm, and partied in there until midnight. Also, if the wedding guest count is greater than 200 people, there is an incremental fee for security which is mandatory. You also have to get insurance for the venue. Shots of alcohol aren't allowed due to their liquor license. But, we didn't notice this as an issue. Shots were still served, but everyone was adult and very appropriate. Parking can accommodate big parties. Our contact at the plaza (forgot her name, but she was very sweet) was very helpful and informative. We had a great experience, and would recommend this place to others as well. read more

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I had the pleasure of being invited to a wedding reception held at Serra Plaza last month. The ambiance was very romantic and different from the usual catering hall on the east coast. It was outdoors in an enclosed courtyard and felt like I was on a set of a movie! At night, the drapery and lights mixed with the beautiful flowers and water fountain made for a perfect backdrop for a night to remember. I didn't plan the wedding so I can't attest to the planners, packages, etc, but I can tell you this venue is gorgeous! I wish I took more photos, but I guess I'll have to rely on the pictures engrained in my memories. Go check it out if you're looking for a venue! read more

Serra Plaza - Classy and elegant ambiance - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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We had our wedding here in May 2016 and it was such a wonderful experience over all. Katie the manger venue was great! She was absolutely wonderful, helpful, answered all our questions. Best way to reach Katie is by email. She was very prompt in answering all our questions and getting back to us immediately. Cater- We used Seafood World as our cater. We worked with Ann. She was very accommodating with our food menu. We replaced some dishes with chicken and beef. We also got food for our vegetarian friends. She delivery all our request. We had a 7 course meal. The fresh lobster was a hit!!!!! What I really like here is that you can use their cake plates, furniture and picture decors. The downside is the city has a noise ordinate so after 10pm no more activities in the courtyard. We used Ultrastar events and worked with Brad. He was our wedding Cordinator as well. Two days before our wedding, the weather forecast shows chances of rain. Katie and Brad worked together to draw up other plans in case it rained. They worked so well together to plan our special day where I didn't have to worry or stress about anything. Thank goodness the weather turned out beautiful. I couldn't have asked for more. Everything turned out absolutely wonderful. The courtyard was decorated beautifully with drapes. It had a nice rusty, missionary look. The ceremony was by the water fountain. They set up the pews and chairs that seated all our 150 guest. I booked the dance floor and heat lamps with Baker rentals however due to the weekend rain forecast I had to cancel. But when I found out it wasn't going to rain I couldn't booked it again because they couldn't fulfill it. But Atlas Rentals came to the rescue. I search party rentals and they came up. I called Friday and they delivered Saturday for my wedding. They installed the dance floor in within 1 hour exactly what I needed. Thank you Atlas Party Rentals! I used thepros.com for photography. David our photographer was awesome. I can't wait to see the pictures. Hope my review can be helpful to future couples who plan to get married here. Tip- if you get a photo booth, reminder your MC to announce the booth every hour so your guest can use it. We had a few guest that didn't know about it. Special Thanks to Katie/Brad/Ann for working so well together in making our special day fun and stress free!!!! read more

Serra Plaza was beautiful and my fiance and I fell in love instantly. We worked with Katie to book a venue tour in April and she was extremely responsive in the beginning. Our wedding isn't until October 2020 and Katie mentioned that they weren't booking those dates yet (which I found odd because the 8 other venues we visited already were). I followed up via email and called a handful of times to make sure we wouldn't miss reserving our date (10/10/20). As time passed, I quickly learned that it was hard to get a timely response via email and even harder to reach by phone. She said she'd know more info by mid-June. We are currently in mid-July and I still haven't heard anything back. I am extremely disappointed with the customer service especially in this line of service. Had we listened to her, we would still be waiting on an update and missing out on other opportunities. Luckily, we didn't wait and we booked elsewhere with a venue that was more timely and coordinated. The 2 stars are just because the venue is beautiful. After reading some of the reviews, I noticed others were having trouble with communication & the venue manager. Seems like the service is a hit or miss but I wouldn't take that chance for one of the biggest days in your life. read more

I joined Yelp specifically just to tell everyone about our experience with Serra Plaza. When I first inquired about the venue, the head coordinator was responsive via email. I must add that her emails sometimes lacked all the information you were asking for which required multiple emails back and forth. Her emails were also short and curt unlike the other correspondence i've had with other coordinators. We made our appointment to view the venue and upon arrival we were surprised to find that Serra Plaza is actually a business plaza converted into a Spanish style courtyard for your fairy tale wedding. The venue was gorgeous and we absolutely fell in love with it. That was where our fairy tale ended with Serra Plaza. I thought I had an appointment with the head facility coordinator on the day of our viewing. However, when we arrived, a member of her team escorted us around the property. He promptly showed us the grounds and explained what the venue included, what items were added costs (chandeliers, drapes, etc.). The team had lined up a full day of tours and before we were even finished with our questions he left the room to give another tour. We were left there in the office while the representative was busy with other couples. Luckily, there was a caterer from jay's catering who kept us occupied in the meantime. When we finally got the opportunity to speak with him, he deferred all our questions to the facilities coordinator. Our first impression was that we felt very rushed and unwelcome. Regardless of this mishap, my fiance and I were still lusting to have Serra Plaza be our wedding venue. I promptly emailed the coordinator right after our tour to express interest in booking once the calendar opened up for the next month. A few days later...no response. I called Serra Plaza and left a message for them...no response. My fiance called also..no response. We reached out to their partner caterers and the caterer responded that the phone at Serra Plaza is on site and their team does not check voicemail until the weekend. Also, we were warned by the caterers that the venue struggles with being responsive. My fiance took his parents to view the venue as well on a separate occassion and saw the same representative giving tours. He did not once welcome or even acknowledge my fiance. Fast forward a week, no phone call or email responses. We thought about giving her some time as perhaps she was out of the office (Normally professionals will leave an out of office message, but in this case we were just naive). I sent a final detailed message to the coordinator noting that we would like to finalize our date as we had other venues on hold. We were still hopeful to work with Serra Plaza, but a month later, I still have not received a response from anyone. Don't let the beauty and potential of this venue sweep you away. There were so many RED FLAGS that we saw but didn't realize because we liked the venue. I'm sure Mary does good work once you can get a hold of her and have her commit time to you. We spent a month waiting on Serra Plaza and were deeply disappointed with our experience. We spent a good amount of time contacting all their caterers and obtained quotes ready to sign once we finalized the date with the venue. We decided that the hassle of dealing with them was not worth our time or money. We could only imagine coordinating final details of our wedding with her and have no response!!! I would have had a nervous breakdown before my own wedding. I would never recommend this venue to any friends or family. There are plenty of beautiful venues in southern california with much better customer service than this. read more

I spent hours researching venues in Orange County, when I found Serra Plaza. When I attempted to schedule a site visit, it was nearly impossible. I called. I emailed. I called. I emailed again. I even commented on their Instagram. I was so desperate to make this my wedding location, because I was so in love with the pictures. After I finally received an email from the Director...I replied with a date. It's been over two weeks and I still haven't heard anything. Sad to say, I gave up after several tries. It seems the offices for this venue are far too busy or too understaffed...I will look elsewhere. This type of service is unacceptable. read more

Serra Plaza is a beautiful venue. It is not for those who want a glamorous wedding but those who want something rustic and quaint. They have a list of 10 caterers that you have to choose from. If you don't go with Jay's catering for food service you will be left with ONE choice for bar service, Cocktail Concierge. What we found through research was that Cocktail Concierge's prices are 2x more expensive compared to what other comparable bartenders charge. But with the contract, couples have no choice if they want alcohol to be served at their wedding. It's either Cocktail Concierge or no alcohol. We wish that the venue would have provided some alternatives to give more choices, instead of allowing CC to monopolize on bar service. Mary Lallande, the Serra Plaza coordinator, is extremely tough to get ahold of. The reviews about her are correct. She takes awhile to answer emails as well. She recently hired an assistant named Katie Messig. Our dealings with Katie were negative. We communicated to her that we told our guests to arrive at 5pm for the wedding ceremony but doors opened at 4:30pm. It is standard procedure for Serra Plaza staff to get ready and open the door 30 minutes before the wedding ceremony start time. But for some reason, Katie was adamant about wanting to charge us $200 for the extra 30 minutes. This was about 4 weeks before the wedding. We emailed Katie a copy of our wedding invitation that states our wedding ceremony start time is 5pm. Coincidentally, Katie said she could not open the file, which our day time coordinator had no problem opening. She requested that we send her a hard copy of our invitation. The Serra Plaza contract does not state that you need to show a physical copy of the wedding invitation. Either way, we physically mailed her the wedding invite and she said she would follow up with management. With wedding planning, you want to work with professionals who make your planning enjoyable and stress free. We felt with Katie, the experience was not enjoyable, and definitely not stress free, instead it made us more stressed out as we got closer to our wedding date. I have to say, the ONLY person we enjoyed working with was Andrew. He showed us the venue when we were prospecting and also was the last one there on our wedding night. He even advised us on some garbage that may have been left behind, so we wouldn't lose our security deposit. Best guy to work with!! In retrospect, if you are going to have a wedding here, make sure you negotiate everything in writing prior to signing the contract. That's something we learned. They control the entire venue, processes and caterer/bartender selection and things are not flexible. So once you sign the contract, you are bound by their rules. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!! read more

Serra Plaza - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

This review is based solely on the experience of my appointment today to tour the property. Serra Plaza was venue #3 so far in my location scouting process and by far #1 as far as experience goes. Such good vibes. The other two venues were fine. Very nice. Very polite. But I really got the feeling from Mary and one of the caterers I met today, Janice, that they are just good people that genuinely want you to have a lovely wedding and a great experience...and incidentally, they happen to make money from it. The other venues feel like they want your money and hopefully everything works out for ya. Don't know if I'll go with this venue because of the location but I really like to pass it on when I meet genuinely helpful, nice people. Good peeps. The venue itself is huge and the possibilities are endless. She's got lots of props and furniture to pick and choose from. Chandeliers, sofas, tables, lanterns, pews, chairs, a vintage looking suitcase for cards, etc. If you're super creative, you could really go buck wild with this space. The photos of what people have done are just gorgeous. I'm not that creative so we'll see what happens with whatever I end up choosing. All of it stresses me out. Eloping is still my favorite option. read more

I would have given this place 5 stars but it's in the middle of medical offices. One door that's inside the plaza says something about adult sexual transmitted diseases, which wouldn't be cute during a wedding. PROS: Huge outdoor space Small after party room Cute fountain Large Parking Lot Super cute but really small bridal room Mary Lallande (the coordinator) is super sweet and not pressuring whatsoever CONS: Open space that has wind tunnels Must cater everything...chairs, tables, lights etc No Kitchen Music has to stop by 10pm Next to train tracks Hard to give directions In the middle of a medical/bank plaza PRICE $$ I really like this place because I didn't want your typical restaurant or hotel wedding. It gives you a backyard elegance feel if that could even be done but I'm really low key and if it was up to me; we would get married in my backyard and went partying somewhere afterward. This place is really cute and you have a very rustic canvas to make your wedding your own. However, it was a little far for my guests and it just didn't feel like the one. read more

I was going to give this place a zero star but sympathetic or not this place deserves what this one star or lucky to get it. I am currently at a wedding and they seem to be a little bit of shuffling around with staff for a wedding which happens but man the food here for weddings is really bad. And I am talking bad. The Chinese food menu was horrific. The cold platter had no flavor on some parts and others way too salty. The lobster had absolutely no flavor and lobster is suppose to be the wow dish and it was a wow very disappointing. The walnut shrimp tasted like water. The duck was ok but the bread was stale. The fish with sweet sour.... ready to throw up. The soup was ok at best. But man when I got married looking at places past November I'm really I decided to weed out this place as my choice of venue for a wedding. Even though I spent more money it was definitely worth the extra to host my wedding @ Venue by 3 Petals. If you are coming here for a wedding eat before you come because the food is surely disappointing. If you are looking to book a wedding here the venue is nice but I would double check with the kitchen to see if they can get different cook. Pretty horrendous. Yes it sounds harsh but people need to know so that they aren't disappointed with the food. Come to find out that the food is catered by another venue so I changed the rating from 1 star to 4 star. But ask for August 3rd caterer and stay away from that place lol. read more

We had booked with Serra Plaza (vendor that also works with "the modern" and "the loft on pine") in 2019 for a wedding during memorial weekend 2020 however had to reschedule due to covid. It was then my dream venue. We could not move it past 2020 because we had discovered this was going to be taken over by Marriott. So we moved it to September. She gave us a new contract to sign and we signed it quickly thinking they were so nice and accommodating. When pandemic got worse, we had to ask it to be changed to 2022. They said we could have it at the loft on pine (Long Beach) or the modern (Long Beach). They said our price would be $1000 more and if we wanted to book on Memorial Day weekend as we had it originally, then it would have been $2000 more. I asked if They could honor the same price however they said no. I was so surprised ... with the pandemic we had lost so much money for save the dates, invitations etc already and they put us at a situation where we had to cancel. It was either move it and pay extra or cancel and lose my $3000 deposit. I asked for only partial deposit back (I was willing to accept anything) if possible and it was a hard no. The new contract they made said you lose your deposit no matter what. I'm a healthcare worker and knew there was no way having a wedding with 100 plus guest was going to be safe however she said the county allowed it therefore they were not breaking any rules allowing it. Also they stated that we should be lucky that they even allowed for us to move it in the first place because no where in the contract states we were allowed to move it. I was so surprised how fast someone that was so nice when we were willing to put $7000 to their venue to someone who spoke like a lawyer when asked for the same price at the new venue or partial deposit back (this was Katie the venue coordinator by the way). I took the hit and lost $3000 along with the other losses already from preparations for the wedding. All my other vendors were extremely accommodating and helpful. I got many deposits back and cancellations without loss. Although it was my dream venue, I truly regret booking with this company. That being said... Marriott is taking it over so I hope others who want it at this venue will have a better experience. Again, this company owns "the Modern" in Long Beach and "the loft on pine" in Long Beach. I would think twice about signing their contract. I hope they don't take this review down. I have the emails to prove it. read more

I just got married here and honestly everyone can't stop talking about my wedding! Th venue us absolutely breathtaking. Definitely a hidden gem in OC. The best part is that you have full access to all of Mary's (the owner) furniture to place around the outdoor courtyard as well as the Cocktail hour room. At night with the chandeliers hanging make an amazing touch. Everyone said my wedding looked like a movie set. Pros: Huge outdoor space - easily fits 200 people Access to tons of furniture Tables and Chairs are included Easy Parking for guests THe FOUNTAIN in the background makes for amazing pictures Bridal Room and Groom's Room Mary is great to work with- super easy going Honestly, no con's for me :) Let all your DREAMS come true at Serra Plaza!! read more

Serra Plaza is a beautiful venue to get married at. There are several chandeliers available on site to rent and sheer draping. Utilizing these items created a romantic Italian villa style feeling. This venue also has an indoor space available that can hold about 150 people. It rained a little on our wedding day and it was a great feeling to know that we had the indoor space available to use, as renting tents could have been very costly last minute. Serra plaza also has lots vintage style furniture that is included with site rental and Mary (the site coordinator) allows you to use as many pieces/items as you. My husband and I felt we got our money's worth. read more

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My husband and I were married at Serra Plaza in May 2014. We can't recommend the venue enough. The space was perfect for our wedding of 120 guests -- plenty of room for all of the tables without squishing guests together, plus the dance floor, photo booth, cigar lounge and children's play area. The Grand Salon and back patio were great for the cocktail hour while the courtyard was flipped for the reception. Mary was so easy to work with, and we saved a ton of money on rentals by using the fantastic furniture and decorations Mary offers free of charge. Everything looked magical with the market lighting and all of the candles, and our guests kept saying how beautiful everything was. We worked with some awesome vendors (LVL Events, Jay's Catering, Pixie's Petals, Elevated Pulse Pro, Splendid Studio Booth, Oskar Strawberry videographers, Josh Elliott photography), and with their help, we had the wedding of our dreams at Serra Plaza. read more

My husband & I got married at Serra Plaza 2 months ago and I can honestly say it was a dream come true! The day we toured Serra Plaza there was a wedding later that day so we were able to see the venue in all its glory before the ceremony--chandeliers, drapes, church benches, chivari chairs,etc! After that day, we didn't want to check out any other venue, we were hooked! Katie, the fairly new site manager is so sweet and very professional. She was very quick to respond to emails and any questions we had! My family and I even showed up one day just to see the place and she was sweet enough to do a tour! This place is like a little hidden gem in the middle of Orange County. It may not seem like much during the week because it sa business plaza--there's even a Bank of America! But the way they turn it around for weddings is beautiful. The drapes (which is an extra cost) really change up the place. We honestly feel like we received a great deal here! The venue allowed us to use their chivari chairs, church pews, vintage furniture and wedding decor signs, string lights all included with the venue fee. You have to pay extra for the chandeliers and drapes but the pricing is reasonable and well worth it. I have heard that they started charging for the use of the church pews now because they have new ones and have to pay for storage and moving/delivering them. The only thing is that the bridal and groomsman suites are pretty tiny so not too ideal for big wedding parties. We got ready at the Hills hotel which is not too far from the venue! Other than that, we had an amazing time and our vendors were so amazing!! Shout out to A touch of Lavender, Full spectrum photography, Emma Lynn cinema, Sundried Tomato catering, MybridalDJ, and Sweet & Saucy shop! Thank you Serra plaza for a day we will never forget!! read more

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Venue was beautiful and because of that, and maybe only that, I'm glad we chose it. My husband and I both agree they could do SO much more with this place to make it awesome and easier to work with them. Cons: - It takes a few days for a response and you probably won't get all your questions answered - They have a lot of rules and limitations and aren't flexible on a lot of things - A few important items came up on our final walk through that we felt were big things and should've been mentioned before we booked (not forthcoming up front). One of those items--breaking down tables during our event--was something we couldn't let go of if we wanted our day to go as we had planned, they worked with us on it and it was resolved - On the day of our wedding one staff member of Serra Plaza, who was working our event, was very rude to me when I asked where the restroom was. I was very taken back and offended as a customer and the bride; it was uncalled for. This was not the manager, Mary, but I assume her assistant, and someone we had not worked with previously. I walked out of the office and saw my planner and all I could say, still in shock, was, 'they're so rude here!' - Preferred (as in you have to use them) list of food vendors and if the vendor you choose doesn't have bar option you only have one choice to choose from: Cocktail Concierge and they're the worst at getting back to you. Your hands are pretty tied on who you can use for food and bar - Wedding can't start til 6pm on Friday - Noise ordinance at 10pm and you must move inside - Expensive with lack of customer service: - Friday Wedding: $6,500 for venue only and for only 5 hours (I think it was $600 per additional hour) - Pews: $250 - Chandeliers: Range from $50-$150 each to hang - $200 for a security guard if you have more than 200 guests (we did not) - Insurance needed for yourselves (bride and groom)--not sure why because all vendors had insurance--the venue should have their own insurance to cover bride and groom - Charged us, out of our deposit, for the time the doors to the venue opened and they let people in, instead of our actual start time - Check only (charge a hefty fee for credit card) Pros: If you can get past the above annoyances, the venue has some great assets: - Beautiful furniture you can use - Pews (extra cost) - Chandeliers (extra cost, per chandelier) I loved our venue for how beautiful it was, but we wish the level of the service was equal. There was definitely a period of time that we regretted booking it when dealing with the staff, but all in all the photos were beautiful. read more

Be aware the venue is quite strict and requires things like wedding insurance, a security guard for 200+, every flower/piece of trash picked up (my florist was fishing each leaf out of the fountain), a copy of your wedding invitation for time proof, restrictive time when you and your guest and vendors can arrive, and no getting ready in the bridal room. The one of the biggest con was the venue manager, Wende is an abravise head strong person, but I don't think she means to be. Wende clearly has an idea of what she thinks the venue should look like. The first time we met was during my final walk thru, they were setting up for a wedding and Wende said how the bride left this wall blank but she couldn't bear to leave it that way so she put a church pew there to fill in the space without asking the bride and acted like the bride should be appreciative of her stepping in the design the space for her. She insisted that we put one bar in the patio even though i thought it would be hidden. When I asked if we can put it on the patio for cocktail hour an then move it for the reception she condescendingly laughed at me and said "Honey imagine a fully stocked bar, ok? How would you move that?" It happened again when I said the bar would end an hr before midnight Wende looked at me shocked and said "I don't want your guest to start drinking out of the bathroom faucet" and proceeded to pretend to lap water out of her hands while laughing. At my rehearsal dinner I saw some church pews sticking out of a corner and asked if they could be moved she said they use that area for storage and it would be too dark to notice anyways, but when my coordinator pointed out I was going to put the photobooth in that area nearby Wende waved her arms out and said "no I told you im not putting the photobooth there, its too dark I won't do it, why do you want it there anyways?" Excuse me but if I paid for the venue and its not a liability issue why can't I have it there, because you don't like it?! Her reaction took me aback and I calmly explained to her that it was in the floorplans she made us do and its not in the back corner, also we put up Christmas lights on the trees to light up the area so it won't be dark anyways (she also suggested moving the bar to the patio again!). My MOH noticed a wrong chandelier was hung up so I emailed them to get a refund, I got it after a couple of remind emails. TIP: write out the last payment check and post date it and give it to Wende at the walk through or else you have to pay online and there's a service fee($30). The other con is that unless you are getting your alcohol from your caterer you HAD to go with Cocktail Concierge. They are the SOLE bartending service approved for the site, has a monopoly on the service and therefore isn't motivated to be accommodating or even responsive. its very clear the owner/manager of the two are extremely friendly with each other. Wende often raves about Chad the owner but I honestly don't see why. He requires the service to be a hosted prepaid bar or a cash bar. No option of a consumption bar, his reasoning? It's hard to keep track of... so how do other vendors do it? He is ridiculously hard to get ahold of, on three occasions I've had to CC him an email of me asking him something and finally get a one sentence reply to one of multiple questions. Up until the day before the wedding he still didn't get us a correct invoice. I can see why hes not motivated to make me a priority, I need him, not the other way around. I had concerns about some reviews stating how the bar would close early, he and Serra told me a 3rd party would decided if the bar closed early if the group was too drunk and no one person would close the bar. Well they closed the bar early because someone was too drunk, didn't discuss it with me, my coordinator or the security on site. I also hired 3 bartender for 5 hours and only saw 2 working for the full 5 hours. I specifically told Chad I wanted 2 running bars regardless if its busy or not, I don't mind paying for an extra bartender but I still ended up with 1 bar running full time and 1 closed early. Wende suggested I ask Chad to make His/Hers drinks for our guest, that was a nightmare; I had to email Chad multiple times, even offered to stop by his bar, I didn't know it was going to happen until I saw my guest drinking the drinks, and they flip flop the His/Hers drink. Wende asked I tell Chad what drinks the bridal party wanted prior to the ceremony so we should relax before, we asked/clarified multiples times, and didn't get anything. On the day of the weddingmy guest even noted how grumpy one way. PLEASE please please consider this when you book Serra Plaza, they were the only vendors that gave me a headache. overall: With a wedding coordinator whos familiar for with the rules and will stick up for you, its worth the strict rules and headaches. read more

We wanted to love this location, it was actually the top two out of the three we had shortlisted - the photos are so gorgeous but if you're after an authentic experience, beware, this is actually a relatively new commercial property (ie the Bank of America backs onto it) and it's got absolutely no curbside appeal (not that it would have mattered as much.) I must say that getting ahold of the coordinator Katie was relatively easy at the beginning however the day before the viewing I called, I emailed, I called, I emailed, I called and called again trying to push back our timing to no avail. I even sent an email confirming our meeting the next day, no reply till the end of the business day. On the day of our visit itself, I felt like we were rushed through our viewing - like she couldn't quite wait to get rid of us, don't get me wrong, she was nice and all but talking at top speed and blowing through everything quickly before leaving us to explore the venue had us ready to leave in under thirty minutes. No surprise there though, as we soon realized that the next appointment was already hot on our heels - it all made sense and I could see why they were so eager to see the back of us. We won't be booking this venue, at this price, you could pay a little bit more and have a nicer experience elsewhere. I can only imagine how much worse it could get leading up to the wedding and it's not the kind of stress any bride should have to deal with. Next read more

Serra Plaza was an absolutely beautiful venue. Mary, the owner, really helped us achieve our vision and was very very accommodating to our needs. I recommend Serra Plaza to everyone. Serra Plaza was the last place that we visited while searching for he perfect wedding venue. The second after we finished the tour we were sold (the stone fountain is awesome). Serra Plaza has a wide variety of furniture of other decorations to choose from and also outdoor hanging chandeliers. The staff was extremely helpful throughout the process and on the day of. Very attentive and conscious of our needs. Everything went perfectly! Depending on how you arrange things there are many different ways to bring your dream wedding into reality at Serra Plaza. At first I thought that this venue to really shine we would have to have a bit of old Spanish flair, but when everything was said and done it looked like a castle courtyard. Truly amazing to behold. Go to Serra Plaza and they will help you bring your dream into reality. read more

My fiance and I just started planning for our wedding and found Serra Plaza on a wonderful web site called womangettingmarried .com (which is a great web site that breaks down venues in the OC). We emailed the general events web site and received a generic email with attached brochure from Mary, the on site facility coordinator. Of course we wanted to walk the site and meet with Mary. Over the next week, my fiance and I wrote Mary three follow up emails, left 2 voicemails, and called their general number over 10 times with no answer. We actually passed by the grounds to have a quick look, which is why I gave the Plaza two stars. The grounds are beautiful, and would have been a great location for our reception. But we just have no confidence in Serra Plaza's office that coordinates these event. We eventually heard back from Mary, and for us the final straw was her inability to let us know why it took so long to get back to us or to acknowledge any of the questions in our emails. All we received was another generic email with the same brochure she sent us before. And if this is how that office goes about working with potential clients, I would rather go to a venue that actually express some genuine happiness for our engagement. We think we have found the perfect venue some where else with great pricing. Hopefully I'll be able to comment on that once our experience is over. Hope this helps. read more

After going seeing many wedding photos at Serra Plaza, I made this my top priority to see the Venue. I emailed the venue through their website, within 48hrs the facility director emailed me back to arrange a date/time to see the venue. However, I couldn't make it the week of, so I emailed back to arrange time for another date. The director never emailed me back, so 4 days later I emailed back because I was still interested in the venue. Sadly, still no response till this day. What a pity! I decided to move forward and look at other venues. read more

We're having our wedding here in June and I can update again after but I just have to write about the whole process so far and how wonderful Mary has been. Serra plaza is seriously beautiful.. I love the whole city and serra plaza totally fits into the rustic charm the city has. There were a few other venues in SJC we checked out, but when we came to Serra Plaza my fiance and I both knew this was the place. Mary is the person in charge of this place and let me just tell you she is seriously SUPER AWESOME! She genuinely cares about the couples and I feel like she gets as excited as we get about our wedding. I have quickly learned in planning my wedding that there are a lot of people out there in the wedding biz that charge an arm and a leg once you mention wedding.. all of sudden prices quadruple and you have to beware of extra unmentioned charges. Not at Serra Plaza though, it was SUPER AFFORDABLE and Mary added in all these extras where she really didn't need to but she is just so nice like that. She actually ended up SAVING us a bunch of money!! Oh plus AMPLE PARKING! Im pretty much in love w all of my vendors but Mary is kinda at the top of my list, so go check it out. You will not get the type of service and care you get here.. esp at the other venues around the area.. I won't name names .. initials FG!!! they were horrible, cared nothing about the customer, were rude, oh and there were gnats everywhere.ew. LOVE SERRA PLAZA and MARY!! read more

Absolute beautiful venue. I never regretted my choice, and I'd do it again! It's a beautiful vintage Spanish-style courtyard with market lights hanging from above. You can choose from beautiful chandeliers and vintage-looking furniture (no extra cost to use the furniture!) and 100 year-old church pews. How can it get better than that!? I have nothing but good things to say about this venue. Mary Lallande was a pleasure to work with. She's very friendly and has a knack for weddings, obviously. She is sometimes very hard to get in touch with, and I'd say that was the only con we had to deal with. But when the day approached, she did her job and did it well. She is clearly super talented and knows what she's doing! One bit of advice: just find out what parts require extra fees (e.g., draping, chandeliers, etc.) and what parts do not (e.g., furniture at the venue). Also, the late night staff at Serra Plaza seemed confused at the end of the night towards cleanup time: On one hand, they said that we absolutely had to clear out everything. On the other hand, we couldn't use the dumpsters. We were left confused, and they looked a bit frazzled and confused too. But with that aside, I highly recommend this place. It was the most beautiful wedding and everything went smoothly and beautifully. Thanks Mary and Serra Plaza! :D read more

My daughter's December 28 wedding reception here was absolutely perfect. Beautiful, flawless. And Katie was a dream to work with. All exceeded our expectations. read more

We just recently had our wedding here. The planning process was great with them even though sometimes it took more than one email to get a hold of someone. Everything seemed great and well planned. I was VERY detailed oriented as everyone who helped could tell you. Then the wedding came and it fell apart. The rehearsal came and Mary was late. She said she would be there to help but she couldn't have been less interested in helping at the rehearsal. So we figured it all out ourselves and the day of the wedding she tried to run everything and changed it all. Why didn't she just help at the rehearsal? The day of the wedding Mary was over and hour and a half late. She told me multiple times she would be there at 11. I told her that a few people would be there at that time to set a few things up. She didn't show up until after 12:30 and was very rude to my family who was there to help. She was rude to my father...the one paying. She argued with one of my aunts about what time the wedding started to the point she made my aunt go get her invite out of her car to prove the time. She was rude to my cousin about getting a bucket of ice for me. She yelled at another one of my aunts. When we first saw the venue we loved it. Mary told us how once couple did a cigar lounge and my husband knew he hard I have it. She also told us s'mores had been done there before and since those are my fav we knew we had to have that as well. I made a s'mores crate and we spent time and money on it and everything you would need and the day of she freaked out at my aunt and wouldn't let us do it. I have a good friend who is an amazing florist and she did my flowers. They were beautiful. Mary was rude to my florist, my friend and an invited guest as well. She told her I said the changeover had to be done in 45 min which I never said and the timeline I sent here said it was ok if it took longer than an hour. She told my florist she had to be done and couldn't set anything else up. I paid for a lot and told my friend to just finish and I would tell them that I don't care how long it takes my florist will finish. She finished before our caterers did. I then had to send two emails to find out if she found something my mom left behind. I received an email saying she didn't find anything which I am not sure I believe. I am very unhappy with how things turned out. Luckily the venue is so beautiful and my family is so amazing I didn't have to worry about too much of it the day of. Just be aware that the venue was worth it for the photos I got but Mary was a nightmare the day of. read more

The 5 STARS is for Katie and our experience. This venue has so much to offer. Church pews, chandeliers, props, curtains, tables, couches, vintage pieces and even an indoor site incase it rains. HELLO! $$ saver for a tent! The cost per hour beyond their fee is about 650. Music has to be off by 10, you are only allowed to be there 2 hours prior to walking down the isle. Bathrooms are great, very clean. Vendors allowed here are very nice, they have a good selection ranging from normal to high end. Katie was so kind and responsive. Very sweet girl :) This venue is one of the most reasonable in orange county and is very popular due to that fact. But they got the job done and our day was magical. ONE STAR for our ant covered guests!!!!!! and a change in policy mid wedding planning!!! Towards the end of the night, my poor grandma was covered in a swarm of ants and many guests said they were all over them and the table come 9pm. Yuck! exterminator?? When I first came to serra plaza, I knew it was the one because of a single photo on their wall. A couple dancing in a storm of butterflies. They allowed butterfly tissue cannons! My love for all things girly (bows butterflies and flowers) just couldn't be helped and I had to get married here. It honestly was the magical moment I wanted at my wedding. I was so excited about it and had begun our cannon research. Sadly, they changed their policy regarding cannons 7 months after I signed the contract to get married here- now make you go through a company they do business with costing a total of about 2000 just to have someone push a button- and a clean up fee. Before the change, it was just the clean up fee of 350 and a cannon approval. Thats it. What a bummer and a mini dream crushed :( read more

My wedding will take place here in June. I am sooo EXCITED...!!! After my 1st venue was selected then cancelled I was in complete disarray until I found this venue. I was hesitant at first, but found that it was even better than what I expected. Mary who is the coordinator made every step easy & simple. This place is a true hidden treasure. It's elegant; it's open & perfect when you want to keep the celebration all in one place. I look forward to my wedding ceremony & celebration and coming back for future events. read more

Our large nonprofit organization held a lovely dinner for our trustees here. Katie was excellent to work with, and made the booking and planning process as easy as possible. The pricing for extras like chandeliers and drapery around the perimeter of the courtyard was very reasonable, and well worth the cost. They have a limited number of required caterers; we used Creme de la Creme, and I have rarely been as impressed with a caterer as I was with them (and I've been producing events like this for a decade). I would absolutely come back here for another event and hire Creme to cater. read more

Just got married here in May 2016 and it was AMAZING!!!!! I am so very happy we decided to go with Serra Plaza after looking at several venues in the area. Katie, the venue manager was so helpful and on top of it from the very beginning. She is quick to respond to emails, any and all questions are welcome and she has great inspiration photos for what they can do there. My suggestion would be to go look at it when they are setting up for a wedding if you can because the way they transform the courtyard is unbelievable. The only vendor they require you to use is one of their caterer's, which was very important for me because I had lots of ideas for outside vendors and they allowed me to use them all! Katie also had great recommendations for the caterer, bar service, and the DJ we ended up booking. We received so many compliments from family and friends on how beautiful the venue was. I would recommend booking Serra Plaza to all my friends. They also have so many options that add such charm to the venue like old refurbished church pews, chiffon draping, and chandeliers. One of the major bonuses I would add is that they have a lot of vintage style furniture for you to use thats included in the venue rental. This is a HUGE added bonus!!! You can pay thousands of dollars at other venues to rent furniture like that and have it brought in. The parking is great for your guests and they can leave their cars their overnight if they need to. They had security guards on site as well during the whole event. One of the main reasons I would recommend it is just from the interaction and experience I had with Katie. She is a big reason I ended up booking the venue after meeting with several other venues, I could tell right away she was on top of things and never made me feel like I was bothering her with my million questions, and made me even more excited to get married there! So long story short.....Just DO IT!!!! read more

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I visited today and was so excited to see this venue and we were ready to book a date! But we were so disappointed , I didn't like the fact that the lady gave us such attitude. We gave her a chance and tried to talk more but all she had to tell us was it "was in the brochure". She was very unwelcoming and didn't seem like she had a care in the world. I wouldn't recommend this place because I would rather book a uglier venue I can make look nice then worying about someone like that. read more

My husband & I had our wedding here in June 2013. We had checked out about 20 venues before we came to Serra Plaza and were honestly sick of looking at venues. When we stepped foot inside the venue, we fell in love. We had approximately 200 guests and the size of the space was perfect; I believe capacity is around 400 or 450. Mary and her team put a lot of effort into making this place so beautiful and we knew instantly that this was the place for us. Over the years, Mary has collected a ton of vintage furniture pieces and other decorative items that she allows you to place all over the venue. This seriously saved us a ton of money since we didn't need to hire an outside rental company to fill up all the spaces. I had some reservations about the noise/horns from the trains as the railroad track is adjacent to the property, but they've since turned this area into a "no horn zone". Imagine my excitement when Mary told me this! :) Anyway, Mary was seriously great about everything. She and her staff, along with my coordinator, caterer, and wedding party helped put everything together day-of. I had a few DIY things I wanted to incorporate into the wedding and her staff helped us take care of everything. I'm naturally an anxious person and tend to maintain control, but on my wedding day, it was impossible to do so. My husband & I were seriously impressed with how everyone pulled together to create the most beautiful, perfect, and unforgettable day of our lives. If anything went wrong, I had no clue. read more

This venue was beautiful for hosting our wedding. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The venue was large enough to accommodate a large group without crowding and beautiful throughout the entire venue. The staff was very helpful before and the day of. The staff did a great job helping us personalize our wedding. The bridal suite was beautiful to get ready in and the ocean breeze kept it cool. The pictures turned out great. I definitely recommend this venue. read more

Serra Plaza is a hidden jewel in Orange County. This location is so stunning and romantic! I am SO happy we chose to have our wedding there. Our wedding night was truly a dream and it turned out more beautiful than I had ever imagined and/or hoped. A MAJOR reason that our wedding was so beautiful was because of the lovely Mary (the Facility Director of Serra Plaza). Mary is so generous, kind, and talented! And she has SUCH great taste!! She let us use so many props for our wedding which would have cost us a fortune if we had to buy/rent. In short, we absolutely LOVE MARY and now we just have to find an excuse to have another event at Serra Plaza so we can spend more time there. Thank you Mary for making sure our wedding was perfect. read more

My husband and I were married here in October 2014. I fell in love with the venue when we had our site visit and saw the pews, chandeliers, lounge furniture and market lights. Throughout our engagement, Mary was very difficult to get a hold of and have questions answered. From a customer service perspective, I would have appreciated being responded to in a timely manner, especially considering we are paying customers. However, all that aside we loved the ambiance of the venue and received many compliments on our wedding. Be advised, you need a lot of patience through your engagement if you choose this wedding venue and need to accept that customer service will most likely not be five star. If you can deal with that, you'll still love your venue. read more