Stone Building
The indoor hall, in a building of its own: exposed beams, a fireplace, a built-in bar and a lot of natural light. I've set up a ceremony in here and played to a full dance floor. It opens onto the lawn, so one evening can use both.
DJ and MC at The Lodge at Sonoma
At the Lodge, a company dinner, wedding or gala can start under an oak about 400 years old, move to a lawn and finish in a hall of stone, timber beams and firelight, and each of those wants its own sound. I set up for every stop, run the microphone and keep the evening on time.
Sonoma, Sonoma Valley
Five blocks from
Five blocks from
Sonoma Plaza
The Lodge at Sonoma is a resort hotel on Broadway at Leveroni and Napa Roads, about five blocks from the historic Sonoma Plaza. It sits on about ten acres, with 182 rooms, cottages included, spread across low buildings. You may still hear it called by its old Renaissance name.
Nobody has to drive. The ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing can all happen on one property, and your guests walk to their rooms afterwards. It also means the day moves. An oak, a lawn, a hall, sometimes a tent, and the music has to be in each one before the guests are.
This is in town, and people are sleeping on the same property. The City of Sonoma has its own noise ordinance, and the Lodge sets the music hours for its spaces. I settle those with the Lodge before we plan anything.
The spaces
A stone hall, a lawn
A stone hall, a lawn
and a very old oak
Stone Building Lawn
The grass beside the hall and the main outdoor reception space. It can stay open to the sky or go under a tent. Open air swallows sound, so the speakers sit closer to the guests.
The Pavilion tent
A tent the Lodge puts over the lawn in the winter months, with windows, a chandelier and two sets of French doors into the Stone Building. I've set up in a tent here facing a wood dance floor. Fabric doesn't hold bass in, so I keep the low end tight. And I confirm the tent's power with the Lodge before the day.
Heritage Oak
The Lodge's name for the ceremony spot under a valley oak about 400 years old, beside a small plot of vines and hung with lanterns that glow at night. It gets its own small system and a wireless mic, set and tested before the first guest walks over.
Sonoma Ballroom and Upper Pool Deck
The resort's main indoor ballroom, with a pool deck beside it that's used for cocktail hour. Two spaces, two sound zones: music by the pool at a level people can talk over, and the full system waiting inside.
How I set up here
Three stops,
Three stops,
one evening of sound
The Lodge spreads an event across the property. A common order is vows or cocktails at the Heritage Oak, dinner on the Lawn, then dancing inside the Stone Building. One big system won't cover that. Each stop gets its own.
The oak gets its own system
A ceremony under the oak gets its own setup, separate from the reception system. It goes where the vows happen: a speaker aimed at your guests, a wireless mic for the officiant, the processional cued. No outlet nearby? The estimate asks about power and adds a generator when one is needed.
Stone, timber, a hard floor
The floor is polished concrete, under beams and stone. A room like that throws sound back. In my photos the speakers flank the fireplace, aimed down the dance floor. Dinner music stays low enough to talk over, then builds as the plates clear.
Wind on the lawn
The lawn sits beside the Stone Building, open to the sky or under the Pavilion in the winter months. Open, the wind goes for the microphone first, so a second one is live before the first toast. Tented, my booth faces the dance floor and the far dinner tables still hear every word.
Timed to your end time
Guest rooms share the property with the dance floor, so the end of the night matters here. I settle the music hours with the Lodge early, for the hall, the lawn and the tent each, then plan the timeline to your end time, so the dance floor gets its full stretch and the last song is the one you chose. When dinner is on the lawn, the dancing can move inside the Stone Building afterwards, and the main system is already in there.
From my own events here
The Lodge,
The Lodge,
as I've lit and played it
The Stone Building, uplit and ready for the dance floor
On the microphone in the Stone Building
My decks facing a gobo-lit dance floor in the Lodge tent
At the decks with the tent dance floor full
The booth's view of the tent dance floor
The tent set for dinner, string lights overhead
The Stone Building from the dance floor, bar to entry
Ceremony seating and candlelit aisle in the Stone Building
A full floor in the Stone Building, lanterns overhead
No planner? Still covered
You don't have to
You don't have to
hold the evening
An event at the Lodge has gaps in it: the walk from the oak to the lawn, the pause between dinner and the first toast, the microphone somebody has to hand to your father or your CEO. Those gaps are my job. Before your event there's a planning questionnaire and calls about the music and the order of things: your must-plays, your do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love. 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. I announce every entrance, toast and big moment, so you can simply be there. And I settle the venue's side of the music with the Lodge directly, well ahead of time: the music hours, where I load in and where the power is.
Lighting
The light in these photos
The light in these photos
is mine
In the Stone Building I washed the draped windows in purple and blue and projected an amber swirl pattern across the polished concrete, so the floor read as a dance floor before anyone stepped onto it. In other photos the walls are sea green.
The tent photos show amber uplighting along the walls and string lights across the fabric ceiling, and from another event, a gold monogram on the wood dance floor. Uplighting, dance-floor lighting and a custom monogram or pattern projection are add-ons you choose in the instant estimate.
Not only weddings
Retreats, galas and
Retreats, galas and
the night before
Weddings are a big part of what happens here. They're not all of it. The Lodge hosts company events and retreats, meetings and conferences, galas and social events, rehearsal dinners and smaller private celebrations. I play those too. A company holiday party, a milestone birthday, a fundraiser or a mitzvah gets the same preparation and the same MC.
Because guests stay on the property, a weekend here can have more than one evening. A Selector Session suits the welcome party, a cocktail hour by the pool or the after-party: up to four hours of my own programming, for hosts who want a sound. The Journey, a live sound bath that flows into a facilitated ecstatic dance, can stand as its own event at a retreat or sit inside a bigger one. And for a small gathering there's the Blue Oak Room and its patio.
Good to Know
Asked about a DJ
Asked about a DJ
at the Lodge
Is there a music curfew at The Lodge at Sonoma?
This is a hotel in town, with guests asleep on the same property, so the end of the night is something I plan for. The City of Sonoma has its own noise ordinance, and the Lodge sets the music hours for its spaces. I settle those with the Lodge for your date and the spaces you're using, the Stone Building, the lawn or the tent, then plan the evening to the end time you choose so the dancing isn't cut short. When dinner is on the lawn, the dance floor can move inside the Stone Building afterwards, behind stone walls.
Can you play a ceremony at the oak and a reception in the Stone Building?
Yes. They're two separate setups. The ceremony system is in place and tested at the oak before guests arrive, with a wireless mic for the officiant and your vows. While everyone moves to cocktails, the main system is already running in the hall or on the lawn. Nobody waits on me.
We don't have a planner. Can you run the timeline?
That's a large part of what I do. We work out the order of the day together beforehand, I check the details with the Lodge, and on the day I cue and announce each moment as the MC. You'll know what's next because I'll tell the room, not because you're holding a schedule.
Do you DJ company events and parties at the Lodge, or only weddings?
All of them. Company dinners and retreats, holiday parties, galas, fundraisers, birthdays and rehearsal dinners all fit this property. For a hosted evening where you want a sound more than a program, a Selector Session is a set of my own programming of up to four hours.
Can you bring lighting for the Stone Building or the tent?
Yes, and the photos here show it. Uplighting on the walls and draped windows, a monogram or pattern projected on the dance floor, and dance-floor lighting are all options. You add them in the instant estimate, and I settle with the Lodge where fixtures can stand and what can touch its walls and ceiling.
More places
Other places I've played
Other places I've played
in Sonoma County
- Dawn RanchGuerneville
- Hotel PetalumaPetaluma
- Jacuzzi Family VineyardsSonoma
- Kunde Family WineryKenwood
- Olympia's ValleyPetaluma
- The MadronaHealdsburg
- The Secret GardensBodega Bay
- ViansaSonoma
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 the Lodge
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.