Mavericks House puts a whole evening in one place: a ceremony in the garden, cocktails on the deck over the harbor, dinner and dancing in the windowed room. Company party or wedding, I run the sound, the microphone and the timing for all three, so you don't have to.
Mavericks House sits at 107 Broadway in Princeton by the Sea, on the San Mateo County coast, looking over Pillar Point Harbor. The mailing address says Half Moon Bay, and you'll still hear it called the Mavericks Event Center, its former name. Same address. It's named for Mavericks, the big-wave break just up the road.
The building began as a boathouse in the early 1980s, and the harbor is still what you're looking at. An evening here has three places to be: the indoor room with its windows to the water, the deck off it, and the ceremony garden beside the building. An upstairs bridal suite gives the getting-ready crowd a room of their own, and parking is on site.
The food comes from the venue's own in-house catering team, so there's one kitchen to coordinate with and I plan the timeline around when dinner is served. Weddings and company gatherings both run on the same three spaces.
Two things shape the sound here: open air by the water, and one room where dinner and the dance floor share the same space. Neither is a problem. Both need a plan.
A long room of windows facing the water, with a tile floor, a white column and a round white hanging fireplace in my photos. Dinner and dancing share it: round tables ring an open floor in the middle. Tile and glass are bright surfaces, so I aim the speakers at the dancers and away from the windows. My booth sits in the window corner with a speaker on a stand on each side.
Off the room and facing the harbor, for cocktails and for guests who want air between courses. In my photos at sunset it has a patio heater, lounge seating and a coffee station. Open air carries music a long way, so out here the sound stays low and close, a small speaker for the cocktail hour and nothing aimed at the neighbors.
A private seaside garden beside the building, which the venue's own charts also call the Oceanfront Lawn. It's open air, so vows here get a system of their own: a wireless microphone on the officiant and a speaker aimed at the chairs.
The first thing guests see. In my photos it holds the cake table by the open door. I keep the music here low and welcoming, so people can say hello to each other before the room fills.
An upstairs room for getting ready before a wedding. For me it's a timing question: I run the cue for when the wedding party comes downstairs, so the processional starts when everyone is actually in place.
Four things this place asks for, and what I do about each.
The tables ring the open floor, so the dance floor is never far from anyone's chair. Dinner music stays at a level people can talk over, and when the plates clear the sound builds toward the floor. I arrive early enough to test the microphone before anyone sits down.
Vows by a harbor are vows in open air. I put a wireless mic on the officiant, aim one speaker at the chairs, keep it to the level they need, and keep a second microphone already set up, because wind is what takes a mic out. I confirm the garden's sound with the venue before the day: the microphones, your processional music and where the speaker points. I confirm the power at the ceremony spot too, and the estimate adds a generator if the spot needs one.
Garden, deck, room. Somebody has to tell guests when to move and find the person giving the toast before it starts. That's me. I time the moves so cocktail hour doesn't run into dinner, and the sound is already live inside when the ceremony ends.
I plan the timeline to the end time you choose: the big moments early, dinner with room to breathe, and a full stretch of dancing. The venue sets the final hour for your date and I confirm it with them before the day. This is a harbor with homes in the neighborhood, and San Mateo County's night-time sound limits at nearby homes begin at 10 p.m. and are tighter for music, so I plan the volume and the shape of the night with that in mind. The last song is the one you chose.
The room set for a wedding dinner
Booth and speakers set against the harbor windows
Uplighting and dance-floor lights on the tile floor
Dance floor wrapped in uplighting
Uplighting along the window wall at night
The room dressed in pink uplighting
Looking down the length of the room
The entry, lit for the evening
Cake table in the entry
Tables dressed for the reception
Open floor and fireplace corner
The deck at sunset, with a patio heater
The booth and speakers beside the harbor windows
Uplit dance floor with points of light across the tile
Dinner tables and dance floor in one room
Seating area under pink uplighting
Here's what usually lands on a host at a place with a garden, a deck and a room: who tells guests to move, who finds whoever is giving the toast, who notices dinner is running long. That's my job. I'm the MC as well as the DJ, so every announcement, entrance and toast comes from one person who has the timeline in front of him.
Before your event you fill in a planning questionnaire, then we get on calls for the plan and the music: must-plays, do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love. Then I take the questions below to the venue myself. I arrive early, I carry backup equipment, and by the time the first guest walks in I already know your event inside and out.
The lighting in these photos is mine. The magenta and pink uplighting climbing the walls and the ceiling comes from fixtures set at the foot of the walls and around the white column and the round fireplace, and the blue points of light scattered across the tile floor are my dance-floor lighting. White walls and a white ceiling take color well, which is why the room turns pink from edge to edge.
Other photos show the room in plain daylight with my booth and speakers against the windows, lit only by the room's own track lights and fluorescent tubes, which belong to the venue. Compare the two and you'll see what the room does with color. Uplighting, dance-floor lighting and a custom monogram or pattern are all choices in the instant estimate.
Mavericks House hosts a lot more than ceremonies. The venue lists business meetings, team building, corporate retreats and company parties alongside weddings, and the harbor view does a lot of work for a company that wants its people out of the office.
So I play it that way. A company dinner or holiday party in the room. A milestone birthday, a fundraiser or a retirement with the floor open. A Selector Session for a welcome party or a rehearsal dinner: up to four hours of my own programming, kept where people can still talk. And an after-party when the main event is done.
Clubs, festival stages and every venue from Napa Valley to the coast are on one page: Places I've played.
Your date, which spaces you want (the room, the deck, the garden) 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.