Nestldown

South Bay / San Jose
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Los Gatos Mtns Wedding Location
Address withheld to ensure privacy.
Los Gatos Mtns, CA
Contact: Rental Coordinator
Phone: 408/353-5311
www.nestldown.com
Request more information from Nestldown

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Why We Like This Place

A bride at Nestldown descends a broad stairway through redwoods to a lakeside bower where she will say her vows. About halfway down, she experiences a sublime moment when, for a few seconds, it’s possible for her to look up to the tops of the soaring trees and down to their bases far below, as though she’s suspended in the air among them, a bird waiting to glide to earth.

This is not the only ethereal moment she or her groom and guests will enjoy here. Nestldown, an enchanted hideaway in a mountain forest, evokes magic over and over.

Years ago it was a fruit farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains that grew apples, peaches and kiwis. Its current owners have spent the past decade creating a wonderland of gardens, whimsical sculptures, topiary figures, and fanciful structures on 35 acres at the property’s heart. The result is a place where so many things delight and amaze: redwoods standing gray under morning clouds that suddenly blaze cinnamon in sunlight; flowers splashed along every path; barely-there trails and unexpected stairways that lead the curious to bentwood benches and chairs set smack in the middle of the forest. But all of these sensory treats are just preludes to the beauty of Nestldown’s outdoor chapel and the breathtaking architecture of its signature building, The Barn.

You reach the chapel on an earth-and-wood staircase that meanders down a forested hillside. Its destination is a flagstone-paved amphitheater, sheltered by trees and ferns, that faces a wisteria-covered pergola. The pergola, set at the edge of a small, forest-fringed lake, is built from redwood saplings with their bark left on. It’s so natural in appearance that it looks as though it sprang by itself from the ground. Just beyond it is another grace note, a wooden bridge, Japanese in its simplicity, that arches over a rivulet at the foot of a small waterfall.

Post-ceremony celebrations take place in The Barn and on its adjoining grand lawn. The Barn is one of the most beautiful wooden structures built in Northern California in recent years. Almost everybody who enters it for the first time gasps at the interior of this soaring glass-and-fir structure. The interior rises to a steep-pitched ceiling, supported by slender wooden columns. The timbers, stained a glowing reddish-amber, still have the wonderful smell of fresh-cut wood lingering about them. Gardens and trees hug two sides of The Barn. Flowers bloom year-round—petunias, red hot salvias, alyssum, candytufts, begonias, violas, irises and calla lilies—and there are fanciful critters everywhere: a brass bear peers out from one garden and in another a topiary serpent undulates through a sea of long, slender-bladed fescue. A large koi pond in front of The Barn is lined with willows and birch, and embellished by a brass stork. Just off The Barn’s terrace, a grand meadow sweeps out to a copse of redwoods where a hand-carved wooden bench reveals the image of three cavorting bears.

Nestldown is sheer exhilaration. You feel a giddy sense of expectation and joy, as you discover nature’s best so skillfully combined with the fruit of human imagination.

Capacity

Ceremony	Reception/Special Events	Meetings
Max. Seated Indoors: 150 Max. Seated Outdoors: 350	Max. Seated Indoors: 350 Max. Seated Outdoors: 350 Max. Standing Indoors: 350 Max. Standing Outdoors: 350	Max. Seated: 350
CEREMONY CAPACITY: The outdoor chapel holds 225 seated guests, the Foxglove Meadow 350 seated guests, The “Barn” holds 150 seated, and the Main Lawn 350 seated guests. EVENT/RECEPTION & MEETING CAPACITY: There is one indoor and several outdoor spaces available that hold up to 350 seated guests. Smaller events can also be accommodated.

Fees & Deposits

50% of the rental fee is required to reserve your date; the balance is due 60 days prior to the event. The rental fees range $3,500–15,000 depending on guest count, space rented and time of year.

Availability

Year-round, daily, 8am–11pm. Limited capacities apply December–March.

Catering

Choose From List

Alcohol

BYO

Site Uses

Ceremonies
Wedding Receptions
Special Events, Parties
Business Functions/Meetings
Rehearsal Dinners
On-Site Accommodations

Services/Amenities

Catering: select from list
Kitchen Facilities: prep only
Tables & Chairs: provided up to 200 guests
Linens, Silver, etc.: through caterer
Restrooms: wheelchair accessible
Dance Floor: yes
Bride's Dressing Area: yes
Meeting Equipment: CBA, extra charge full A/V on site
Parking: on-site for up to 125 cars, shuttle CBA
Accommodations: guest house holds 8 guests
Telephone: emergency only
Outdoor Night Lighting: some areas
Outdoor Cooking Facilities: CBA
Cleanup: provided
View: pond, meadow, redwoods, garden

Amplified Music

Indoors
Outdoors

Wheelchair Access

Access Limited

Site Views

Forest/Wooded Area
Garden
Lagoon/Pond
Meadow/Fields

Site Type

Private Estate
Retreat
Garden
Ranch/Farm

Restrictions

Alcohol: BYO, licensed server
Smoking: designated area only
Music: amplified OK
Wheelchair Access: limited
Insurance: certificate required
Other: no rice or birdseed; some types of balloons are restricted

Contact: Rental Coordinator
408/353-5311
www.nestldown.com
Email or request more information for your event from Nestldown

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