The Secret Gardens is a redwood garden in Bodega Bay, and it isn't one room: the ceremony's in one spot, dinner in another, the bar in a third. I plan the sound for each, run the microphone, and keep the day moving so you don't have to.
The Secret Gardens sits at the corner of Eastshore Road and Bay Flat Road in Bodega Bay, on the way out to Bodega Head. Its official name is Bodega Bay Secret Gardens, and for a long time before that it was the Compass Rose Garden.
Decades ago this was a canyon of scrub brush and brambles. It was planted with willows, given lily ponds and tiny footbridges, and it became a place this town gathered for weddings, memorials, fundraisers and community celebrations. Today it's an event garden: tall redwoods, flowering plants, winding paths and a lawn, with named spots for the ceremony, dinner, the bar and the fire.
For the music, that means outdoors, on the coast, in more than one place. Trees and open air soak up sound instead of bouncing it back, so speakers have to be aimed at people. The Pacific is close, so I plan for wind and cool air at the microphone. And there's an end time for all entertainment, amplified or not, set by the venue under the local sound ordinance. I build the night back from it.
An outdoor deck for the ceremony. It gets its own small setup: one speaker pointed at the seats, a wireless mic for the officiant and the two of you, and the processional cued from right there, so nothing has to be carried across the garden mid-event.
Another spot for the vows, or for a smaller gathering, beneath a willow. Same setup, different shape: I place the speaker where it reaches the back row without sitting in your photos.
The main dining space, with seating indoors and out by the venue's own description. Toasts and dinner music live here, kept at a level people can talk over, then built as the plates clear. Where the dancing happens is something I confirm with the venue for your date.
The redwood-shaded parts of the grounds. My photo on this page, from 2017, is my full rig under the redwoods at this venue: booth, a speaker on a stand, a subwoofer. If drinks are here and dinner is elsewhere, this gets its own sound zone, an add-on in the estimate.
A casual place to gather outdoors. If you want people out there late in the evening, I ask ahead whether music should reach it or whether it stays quiet for talking. Both are good answers. I just need to know which.
A garden with separate spots for the ceremony, drinks and dinner can't be covered from one booth. So I don't try.
The venue asks outside vendors to visit ahead of time. I walk from the parking to the Ceremony Deck or the willow, the Dining Pavilion and the redwood bar, find the power, and decide where the booth and speakers go before the day, not during it.
The Ceremony Deck or Under the Willow, whichever you choose, gets a setup of its own. Trees and open air swallow sound, so the speaker points straight at your guests and the officiant gets a wireless mic. If there's no outlet close by, the estimate asks about power and adds a generator.
Bodega Bay is the coast. I carry backup equipment to every event, and outdoors near the Pacific that means a second microphone already set up, so a gust during the ceremony or a toast is a quick switch and not a pause everyone remembers.
The venue's end time covers all entertainment here, amplified or not, and it isn't the same every day of the week. I confirm it for your date, then build the timeline back from it: toasts and the big moments early, dinner with room to breathe, the dance floor open on time, the last song the one you chose.
This is a venue where you bring a lot yourself. You arrange your own food and drink, and the catering prep area is a rustic outdoor one, not a commercial kitchen. That's plenty for a host to carry. The music, the microphone and the timing don't need to be on the list.
Before the day there's a planning questionnaire, then planning and music calls: your must-plays, your do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love. By the time I arrive, early, I already know your event inside and out. I'm the MC for every entrance, toast and announcement, so you can simply be there.
The venue says the setting needs little added decor, and I agree. After dark it's practical. People need to see the dance floor and each other.
I offer uplighting on the redwood trunks, dance-floor lighting, and a monogram projected where dinner happens. You pick them in the instant estimate. What's allowed on the grounds is one more question I put to the venue.
Weddings are only part of what happens here. The venue hosts vow renewals, celebrations of life, intimate ceremonies and milestone celebrations, and I'm glad to play any of those. A celebration of life needs a microphone that works the first time and music chosen with care. A milestone birthday needs a dance floor.
A Selector Session, a set of my own programming, fits a smaller gathering or a long dinner here. And if you want something quieter under the redwoods, The Journey is a live sound bath that flows into a facilitated ecstatic dance. I also play company dinners and holiday parties, birthdays and fundraisers. Ask the venue what it will book for your kind of event. I'll handle the sound for whatever it says yes to.
Every room, from Napa Valley to the coast, is on the rooms list.
Your date, which spots you're using and the feeling you want among the trees. The instant estimate gives you a price in a couple of minutes, or book a short call and we'll talk it through.