Stone Building
The indoor hall: 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 opened in 2000 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. Sonoma has a municipal noise code and the venue sets the rules for its own spaces. So the cutoff is the first thing I ask about.
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 cooler months, with windows, a chandelier and 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 ask where the power comes from.
The valley oak
The ceremony spot under a valley oak about 400 years old, hung with lanterns that glow at night. Wedding listings call it the Heritage Oak. 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. One big system won't cover it. 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 was polished concrete at the events I've played in here, 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 cooler 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 back from the cutoff
Guest rooms share the property with the dance floor, so the cutoff matters here, and it may differ between the hall, the lawn and the tent. I ask the Lodge early, then build the timeline back from it, so the dance floor gets its full stretch and the last song is the one you chose.
From my own events here
The Lodge,
The Lodge,
as I've lit and played it
The Stone Room, uplit and ready for the dance floor
The Lodge ballroom lit with uplights and a gold dance floor gobo
On the microphone in the Stone Room
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
Pattern lighting across the Stone Room floor
The tent set for dinner, string lights overhead
The Stone Room from the dance floor, bar to entry
Another view of the tent, lit warm for dinner
Ceremony seating and candlelit aisle in the Stone Room
A full floor in the Stone Room, lanterns overhead
Swirl pattern lighting on the Stone Room floor
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 what I can't know from the outside, I ask the Lodge directly, well ahead of time.
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?
I haven't found one published by the Lodge, and I won't guess. The cutoff may differ between the Stone Building, the lawn and the tent, and Sonoma has its own noise code. I confirm the times with the venue for your date and your spaces, then plan the evening around them so the dancing isn't cut short.
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 ask the Lodge what's allowed on its walls and ceiling before I plan the look.
More rooms
Other rooms I've played
Other rooms I've played
in Sonoma County
- Dawn RanchGuerneville
- Hotel PetalumaPetaluma
- Jacuzzi Family VineyardsSonoma
- Kunde Family WineryKenwood
- Olympia's ValleyPetaluma
- The Secret GardensBodega Bay
- ViansaSonoma
Every room, from Napa Valley to the coast, is on the rooms list.
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.