I honestly cannot even put into words how incredible this venue is, and how valuable the lead venue coordinator (Michael) is. From my initial email to get more information, to the day before, Michael was the most detailed, organized, charismatic, and professional person to work with. Let me just say this: if you are looking to have the perfect wedding and have things done well, book this place ASAP. Michael is so detail oriented and knows everything about how to have a perfect wedding. His recommendations for what to do and not to do are spot on (makes sense given that he has done over 2,000 weddings ... yep, you read that correctly!) I am a total type A, perfectionist, micro-manager, very hard to please person and even I was blown away by how perfect my wedding was! So please, I beg you, book this venue. In a perfect world, if I was super rich, I would PAY YOU to have your wedding here!

So, what makes it so special you may ask? Let's get into it.

1. Michael will take care of practically everything for you. So if you are an organized bride that wants a partner in crime that is equally as organized and invested in your wedding, Michael is your guy!

2. The venue itself is gorgeous! The ceremony space is beautiful and the reception space is tastefully decorated, with a cute foyer and a very spacious bar! The flow of the evening from outdoor ceremony, to cocktail hour, to indoor reception is flawless. And guess who ushers your guests to cocktail hour, points them to the seating chart, encourages them to sign the guestbook, leads them inside, etc ... yep, you guessed it. Michael!

3. THE. FOOD. Most of the reviews you read about Talega will most likely mention the food, and for a good reason. This is NOT your typical wedding food. Repeat. NOT your typical gross, soggy chicken with pasta, wedding food. My guests are still talking about the food, and I will for the rest of my life. TOP TIER. Even the presentation of the food on the plate is beautiful, and very aesthetically pleasing!

4. Vendors recommendations! One of the best things in my opinion was the recommendations I got from Michael about who to choose for things like DJ, Florist, Getaway Car, etc. Like I said earlier, Michael doesn't let you have a bad wedding so you best bet that his endorsement of these vendors goes a long way. And I can sit here today (2 weeks after my wedding) and say that every single person he recommended was incredible! So when I booked Talega I not only checked venue off of the list, but I checked off my florist, DJ, getaway car, and even the cake baker! Because guess what? Included with your price booking of Talega is a bakery in Dana Point. I was able to get a 2-tier wedding cake and around 200 mini desserts. The dessert table looked so good and was set up so tastefully (Michael set it up so of course it looked good)

5. Price and packages! For what you get from Talega the pricing is extremely reasonable and there are NO. HIDDEN. FEES. The price per person that you pay includes tax, service fee, and tip. This makes it so incredibly easy to know what you are getting yourself into financially. Just shoot Michael an email asking for more information and you will get the PDF that tells you everything that is included, which is a lot so you shouldn't have to spend much more when it comes to the venue.

I am running out of words in my review so I will leave it at this: stop the search, BOOK TALEGA! PLEASE! You will look back and thank yourself, I promise.

Just had our wedding here on 9/28/24 and wow where can I start??! From the beginning when we toured the venue, we had no idea what to expect considering this was one of the more relatively lower budget venues we were touring at. So imagine our surprise when we got there and saw this venue, which was even more gorgeous than the more expensive ones we looked at previously.

Pictures don’t really do this place justice. The venue has a Spanish-colonial design which makes for a perfect backdrop for photos. The arches both outside and inside the building really makes it feel grand. The string lights in the courtyard are so pretty, both in the daylight and when they’re lit up at nighttime. The hills of rolling green grass in the background really give off that golf club aesthetic and all the palm trees around the venue really pop off and give California vibes. The view of the grassy lawn and palm trees I saw when I walked down the aisle was truly breathtaking and I’ll never forget this moment.

But mostly, we were in such good hands with Michael as the director. He comes from tons of experience (over 2000 weddings) and really treats your special day with so much empathy and care. Him and Mayra helped us out in so many ways:

-Set up our welcome table, seating chart display, and decorations with very little direction. I didn’t have time during rehearsal to let them know how and where to set it up, and when the wedding day came, everything was already set up so beautifully.
-We didn’t know we had to ask for a mic from our DJ, so we didn’t have one, and Michael took care of that problem very quickly.
-Michael walked me around the back entrance of the venue before I walked down the aisle, my pointy heels kept getting stuck in the ripped hole in my wedding dress and Michael helped me pull it out twice.
-Mayra helped me change into my 2nd wedding dress when I wasn’t able to find my bridesmaids near me.
-Michael swept up the fake money off the floor during reception, and also hand delivered us our signature drinks when we asked for them.
-I requested a signature drink that they’ve never made before and Michael personally tried out a bunch of recipes and helped pick out the best one.

Overall, Michael and Mayra put so much care and thought towards this special moment of our lives. With this venue, you get it all-the perfect coordinators and the most beautiful setting.

Some other things to note-food was amazing, both cocktail hour and reception. The food was also plated and presented very well too.

The only area of improvement would be that there is no bridal/groom suite. It wasn’t an issue for us since there is a fitting room on site. But in the future, it there is an opportunity, building a bridal/groom suite would improve the experience for others greatly.

Talega is truly a special place, not just because it's beautiful, but because of the work of its amazing staff, especially Michael. Michael was so helpful even before we chose Talega as our venue: he gave my parents a tour before I even met him, he answered all of our questions with detail and was so transparent when we asked about pricing and told him we were looking at other venues. During the planning process, he was always quick to give honest answers for everything, such as how long to have the dance floor open and when to give speeches! All these things I would never know about as someone planning her own wedding, Michael knew from his years of experience (he's done over 2000 weddings himself already!).

Someone else mentioned the affordability and that cannot be understated! For the price, it's amazing how much attention to detail you get: amazing food, wonderful cake, and for just a little bit more Michael as your coordinator handling EVERYTHING! One of our wedding party guests said that she'd never been to such an organized rehearsal lunch! Michael made sure our wedding day went so smoothly, with help from his wonderful assistant too. I also really appreciated the list of recommended vendors, which is where we got most of our vendors.

Looking back, one of the key selling moments was when Michael told us during the tour about how the day would go, and mentioned times when my now husband and I could get a moment to breathe. It made me realize how knowledgeable and thoughtful he is. He understood me as an introvert and really made sure I got everything I wanted but still had time to myself and my husband during the day. That's something that money can't even buy. I am SO, SO grateful to Talega and Michael for helping make our dream wedding come true!