A day at Jacuzzi in Sonoma moves through three spaces: vows outdoors at the Vineyard Vista, drinks on the piazza, dinner and dancing in the Barrel Room. I set up sound for each one and run the microphone and the timeline for a company event, wedding or birthday, so you don't have to hold any of it.
Jacuzzi Family Vineyards sits on Arnold Drive (Highway 121) in Sonoma, in the Carneros area, across the road from Cline Cellars. The main building is about 18,000 square feet, modeled on the Jacuzzi family's ancestral home in Italy and built around a central piazza. It's a tribute to the family's Italian roots, and the wines follow: Barbera, Teroldego, Arneis, Pinot Grigio.
For an event, that layout sets the day. You start outside at the Vineyard Vista, move to the piazza, and finish in the Barrel Room. Each one asks something different of the sound.
The piazza changes with the season. The venue covers it with a clear tent from November through April, which keeps the outdoor feel and changes how music and a microphone behave in it. I plan for whichever version your date gets.
Outdoors, looking over vineyards and a wetland preserve, with an Italian marble fountain as the focal point. It's open air, so a voice needs a microphone to carry. A venue guide describes the site as naturally terraced, so I place the speaker to follow the seating.
A central courtyard used for cocktail hour or as a reception area, under a clear tent from November through April. Music here stays at a level people can talk over, usually from its own sound zone so nobody has to shout across a drink.
Dinner and dancing happen here. In my photos from 2013 it's set with round tables between tall walls of stacked barrels under timber trusses. One room does both jobs.
Beyond those three, the venue describes five event spaces in all, with meeting rooms for breakout sessions. For a company day I ask which rooms you have and whether any of them needs its own microphone or music.
The event moves, so the sound moves with it.
The ceremony gets its own system at the Vineyard Vista: a speaker aimed at your guests and a wireless mic for the vows. The main system is already built in the Barrel Room. Piazza music for cocktail hour is an additional sound zone. A company day works the same, with a meeting room in place of the Vista.
I don't assume there's an outlet near the fountain. I ask the venue where power is at the Vista before your date. If there's none within reach, the estimate adds a generator.
My photos from 2013 show the room at one of my events: a speaker on a stand at the foot of each barrel wall, round tables set for dinner, and room left to dance. Dinner music sits at a level you can talk over. As the plates clear, I build it.
I confirm the music cutoff with the venue before we plan anything, for the piazza and for the Barrel Room. Then I build the timeline back from it: the walk from the Vista to the piazza, entrances, toasts and first dance early, the dance floor at full stretch, and the last song the one you chose.
As I understand it, Jacuzzi is closer to a raw space than a full-service one: the venue supplies tables, chairs and setup, and you bring much of the rest. Ask them what coordination they provide on your date. Either way, somebody has to hold the music, the microphone and the timing. That's me.
Before your date we go through a questionnaire and planning calls: your must-plays, your do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love, who's speaking and when. On the day I arrive early with backup equipment, I'm your MC for every entrance, toast and announcement, and I keep things moving from the Vista to the last song. You get to simply be there.
In the photos here, the barrel walls are lit amber from below, and you can see what warm light does to that room. I offer uplighting, dance-floor lighting, pin spots and a custom monogram or pattern projection. In the Barrel Room, uplighting along the barrels is where I'd start.
I've read that Jacuzzi supplies some lighting of its own, so ask what that includes on your date. Anything I bring is chosen in the instant estimate.
Weddings are a big part of what happens here, with ceremony, cocktail hour and reception all on one property. But the venue also hosts company retreats and meetings, corporate events with team building, holiday parties, rehearsal dinners, anniversary celebrations and large group tastings, and it offers add-ons like pasta-making and paint classes.
The ones that want music, a microphone or both are my part: company events, holiday parties, dinners and celebrations. A company event might need a microphone for the presentations in the afternoon and a dance floor by night. A rehearsal dinner or a welcome party suits a Selector Session: a set of my own programming, up to four hours, kept under the conversation. A birthday or an anniversary gets the full Celebration, MC included.
Every room, from Napa Valley to the coast, is on the rooms list.
Your date, which spaces you're using and the feeling you want in the room. The instant estimate gives you a price in a couple of minutes, or book a short call and we'll talk it through.
