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Amber uplighting across the trussed ballroom at Cavallo Point in Sausalito, set with round dinner tables and DJ Wayne Noel's booth and speakers at the far wall

DJ and MC at Cavallo Point

Cavallo Point in Sausalito is an old Army post at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a retreat, wedding or gala here can move from a hilltop chapel to a lawn to a hall that used to be the fort's gymnasium. I run the music, the microphone and the timeline across all of it, so you don't have to.

Sausalito, Marin County

An Army post
under the bridge

Fort Baker is a former Army post on the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge, in Sausalito. Cavallo Point, the Lodge at the Golden Gate, is the lodge that reuses its buildings. Those buildings went up in the early 1900s in Colonial Revival style around a ten-acre parade ground. The lodge opened around 2008, inside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. San Francisco is just across the bridge.

What that does to an event: the chapel stands high on the hillside and the ballroom sits at the foot of it, in a separate building. A ceremony in one and a reception in the other don't share a sound system, so each one gets its own. The lodge's rooms don't come with sound equipment, so both systems are mine, down to the last microphone.

And it's the Golden Gate. One of my photos here shows the lawn with fog rolling over the hills and only the top of the bridge tower showing through. So outdoor sound gets planned for weather. It's also a lodge in a national park with guests staying on the property, which means the venue sets the limits on sound and I work inside them.

The spaces

From the chapel
to the old gymnasium

01

Callippe Ballroom

The fort's former gymnasium: a vaulted ceiling that rises to 33 feet, with exposed beams. The building runs in a line: the Callippe Terrace with its firepit, then the foyer, then the ballroom, with the small Silverspot room off the far side. Cocktail hour takes the terrace and the foyer, dinner and dancing take the ballroom, and I plan the sound for each before your guests reach it. In a room that tall I keep dinner music at a level people can talk over, then build it as the plates clear.

02

Mission Blue Chapel

The old fort chapel, high on the hillside, with terraces and a stone patio looking toward the bridge, the city and the bay. It's a separate building from the ballroom, so a ceremony here gets a sound setup of its own. It's also the usual indoor move when weather rules out a ceremony on the lawn beside it.

03

Mission Blue Lawn and Kober Lawn

Open lawns, some among trees and some with the bridge in view. A ceremony on Mission Blue Lawn can be under open sky. A reception on either lawn goes under a tent, so that's where I plan the dance-floor sound and the power for it. Out here the speaker is aimed at your guests, and I confirm with the venue where the equipment can go well before the day.

04

Tidewater and Surfbird Rooms

Bright rooms, each with a foyer, used for ceremonies, receptions or meetings. They suit a company dinner or a celebration where the music sits under conversation until it's time to dance.

05

Verbena A and B

Two adjoining rooms with working fireplaces and heated covered porches facing the water and the bridge. With guests split between the room and the porch, an additional sound zone (an add-on in the estimate) keeps the music even in both.

How I set up here

Two setups,
one walk between them

A hillside site, weather off the bay, and guests staying the night. Here's how I work the place.

01

Ceremony sound, on its own

When the ceremony or the speeches happen in one space and the party in another, I don't haul one system back and forth. That first space gets a second setup. My photos show it: a small mixer in a road case, a wireless mic and a speaker on a stand at the side of the hall, facing a flowered arch.

02

Built for fog and wind

This is the edge of the Golden Gate, and the weather changes its mind. Fog can take the bridge out of the view, and it does nothing to the sound. Wind is what takes a mic down, so I carry backup gear, a spare microphone included. If the plan moves under a tent or indoors, the music and announcements move with it.

03

Load-in and power, early

The site is a hillside and the chapel sits on a rise, so I ask the venue ahead of time which path vendors use, when I can load in and where the outlets are. I arrive early so it's done before your first guest walks up. No power near the ceremony spot? The estimate adds a generator.

04

A timeline to your end time

Guests stay on the property, so the lodge has the last word on how late music runs, and I confirm that limit for each space you're using: the ballroom, the firepit terrace, the lawn. Then I plan the evening to the end time you choose. Entrances and toasts land early, dinner stays at talking volume, and the dancing gets its full run before a last song you picked.

From my own events

Cavallo Point,
from behind the booth

Amber uplighting across the trussed ballroom at Cavallo Point in Sausalito, set with round dinner tables and DJ Wayne Noel's booth and speakers at the far wallAmber uplighting and the DJ setup in the trussed hall DJ Wayne Noel's controller and laptop set up facing the dance floor in the cream reception room at Cavallo PointMy decks facing the dance floor in the cream room DJ Wayne Noel standing at his ceremony mixer beside the aisle in the timber-beamed hall at Cavallo PointAt the ceremony sound station DJ Wayne Noel's ceremony mixer set up in front of rows of chairs and the floral arch in the timber hall at Cavallo PointCeremony sound set up facing the arch DJ speaker on a stand beside the booth and candlelit fireplace in the amber-lit room at Cavallo PointSpeaker and booth in the candlelit room Warm evening light in the arched timber hall at Cavallo Point with hanging lanterns and cocktail tables on the wood floorThe arched timber hall, warm-lit for a reception Reception room at Cavallo Point set for dinner with Wayne's DJ booth against the far wallDinner reception room with the DJ booth in place Teal uplighting in the arched timber hall at Cavallo Point with lanterns and cocktail tablesTeal uplighting in the timber hall Floral wooden arch framing the ceremony aisle and chairs in the timber-beamed hall at Cavallo Point, SausalitoThe timber-beamed ceremony hall, set for a wedding Ceremony setup with mixer and speaker in the wood-beamed hall at Cavallo PointCeremony audio ready in the historic wood-beamed hall Outdoor courtyard with string lights and a DJ speaker on a stand between the historic white buildings at Cavallo PointSound for the outdoor courtyard Fog over the hills and a Golden Gate Bridge tower behind the lawn at Cavallo Point in SausalitoThe lawn and the Golden Gate Bridge tower in the fog Parquet dance floor and cake table beside dinner tables in the amber-lit hall at Cavallo Point, with a DJ speaker stand at the leftDance floor, cake table and DJ speakers set up Guests dancing on the parquet floor in front of DJ Wayne Noel's booth at Cavallo Point, seen from aboveA full dance floor in front of my booth A packed dance floor seen from behind the DJ booth at Cavallo Point in SausalitoLate in the night, floor full DJ booth with two speakers on stands beside the parquet dance floor in the cream room at Cavallo PointBooth, speakers and dance floor set in the cream room DJ Wayne Noel's laptop and controller with the candlelit amber reception room behind at Cavallo PointThe view from the booth during dinner
No planner? Still covered

You don't have to
hold the evening

Before your event I send a planning questionnaire, and we talk through the music and the timeline: must-plays, do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love, who's speaking and when. By the time I arrive, I already know your event inside and out.

On the day I'm the MC as well as the DJ. Every entrance, toast and announcement comes from me, at the right moment, so nobody in your family or on your team is watching a clock or hunting for a microphone. And I confirm Cavallo Point's rules for your date myself, ahead of time.

Lighting

Amber on the walls,
teal on the timber

The lighting in these photos is mine. Amber uplighting along the walls of the white-trussed hall, warm against the tall draped windows at dinner. The timber hall with the hanging lanterns, once in warm light and once washed in teal. String lights across the courtyard between the red-roofed buildings.

These are tall rooms, and color on the walls changes how they feel once the daylight goes. Uplighting, dance-floor lighting and a monogram or pattern projection are add-ons you choose in the instant estimate. Anything near the beams, I clear with the venue first.

Not only weddings

Retreats, dinners
and company nights

Cavallo Point hosts corporate events, meetings, retreats and conferences as well as weddings, along with rehearsal dinners, vow renewals and private celebrations. I play more than weddings: a company gala or holiday party, a milestone birthday, a fundraiser, a welcome party the night before.

If you want a sound more than a program, a Selector Session is a set of my own programming, up to four hours, for a cocktail hour, a dinner or an after-party. The Journey is a live sound bath that flows into a facilitated ecstatic dance, as its own event or inside a bigger one.

Good to Know

Questions about a DJ
at Cavallo Point

Do you DJ at Cavallo Point?
Yes. I've played Cavallo Point as the host's own DJ, and the photos on this page are from my own events there. The lodge suggests vendors of its own, musicians included, and hosts bring in outside DJs too. I'm an independent DJ and MC based in Petaluma, so you book me directly, and I work out the logistics with the venue.
What time does music have to end at Cavallo Point?
Your night ends when you choose. Cavallo Point is a lodge inside a national park, with guests asleep in the restored post buildings and the newer rooms up the hillside, so the lodge has the last word on how late music runs. I confirm that limit for your space, indoors and out, before we build the timeline. Then I plan to the end time you pick, so nothing important is still waiting when the last song plays.
Can you do sound for a ceremony at the chapel or on the lawn and a reception in another space?
Yes. The chapel and Mission Blue Lawn sit up the hillside, apart from the reception rooms along Murray Circle, so the ceremony gets its own speaker and wireless microphone, set and tested before guests arrive. The reception system is already in place in the other room, so nothing has to be carried across the property between the two.
What happens if it's foggy or windy for an outdoor ceremony?
Fog is fine. Wind is the one that matters, because it's hard on microphones, so there's a spare within reach. When rain rules out a lawn ceremony, the usual move is into the Mission Blue Chapel, and I get the lodge's rain plan for your date ahead of time. If the ceremony moves inside, the sound moves with it.
Do you play company events and retreats here, or only weddings?
Both. Cavallo Point hosts corporate events, conferences and retreats, and I play company dinners, holiday parties, galas, fundraisers and milestone celebrations. For a dinner or a welcome reception, a Selector Session of my own programming often fits better than a full program with announcements.
More places

Other places I've played
in Marin

Clubs, festival stages and every venue from Napa Valley to the coast are on one page: Places I've played.

Your event

Tell me about your event at Cavallo Point

Your date, the space you're looking at and the feeling you want in the room. The instant estimate takes a couple of minutes, or book a short call and I'll take it from there.