Saratoga Springs 22801 Big Basin Way • Saratoga • CA 95070

Imagine celebrating the best day of your life in a veritable forest, with the ambient sounds of birds in the trees and leaves rustling in a cool afternoon breeze. Then, as night falls, a thousand stars twinkle overhead as you glide around a dance floor set into a rocky hillside. For many brides, a natural environment like this is far more stirring than any ballroom adorned with crystal chandeliers. And best of all, it can be found just minutes from San Jose.

The drive to Saratoga Springs takes you right through the upscale, horse-loving community of Saratoga, a tourist favorite. Just three blocks long, the village is known for one-of-a-kind boutiques, wide pedestrian sidewalks, and two country inns, which come in handy for any friends and relatives who may want to make a weekend of it.

Leaving town, the road winds around and crosses a spring-fed stream as it heads towards the tree-studded foothills and Saratoga Springs itself, the oldest privately owned picnic grounds in the area. Once a booming logging center, these bucolic woodlands later became a stopping point for travelers making the arduous journey by wagon to the beach. Nowadays, the fifth generation of the Giannini family has updated the site's amenities, yet kept the woodsy ambiance for hosting affordable weddings and special events. Although there are several unique locales on the 125-acre preserve, two in particular offer the kind of awe-inspiring vistas that led Sierra Club founder John Muir to call the great outdoors "God's big show."

Cathedral Grove, named for the spectacular way the majestic redwoods and towering box elders lean towards each other—their branches form an arch-like the ceiling of a Gothic church—is both private and very quiet. This lush hideaway provides lots of shade with a hint of dappled light filtering through the leafy canopy above. Soothing sounds of water are all around, coming from a brook in the gorge and two nearby creeks. In fact, you'll cross one of them as you make your entrance over a bridge to exchange vows with your groom in front of a dramatic rock cliff.

The grove, which can comfortably accommodate 180 guests, has ample room for dancing, a DJ setup, and ceremony or reception seating at long, family-style tables where your guests will enjoy the venue's signature barbecue buffet. Although many couples like the rustic setting just as it is, you can easily glam it up if you want. The on-site wedding planner can arrange to hang Japanese lanterns or flickering candles and have the trees and bridge spangled with pinpoint lights.

Speaking of bridges, one of the area's most recognizable landmarks, Longbridge, frames another choice wedding venue. This graceful stone span, built in 1904 on one of the highest elevations on the property, creates a stunning visual backdrop for either your ceremony or reception. From this site, the panoramic views are fantastic. Plus, the hillside dancing area to the right is surrounded by nature in all its glory.

Saratoga Springs is blessed with lots of wonderful photo spots, but the place where you can best capture the spirit of your day may be the romantic islet in Redwood Grove where two creeks, rather fittingly, join together as one.