Vida Buena Farm - Vallecito, California

Pilar Majors

I would 100% choose this venue again and recommend it to anyone who wants a relaxed, fun, beautiful wedding, particularly if you have a larger guest list and a lower budget/lots of DIY plans! Rick, Laura, and Shannon provide way higher quality support and coordination, with a TON of patience, than you might think you would but definitely WILL need. We were able to bring our dogs, have friends as vendors with varying degrees of experience, use of their prep kitchen, navigate variable weather possibilities, and have friends be able to bring tents or trailers to camp on site, and use their included tables, chairs, place settings, trash cans, and they even drove us up the hill for photo ops. They are sweethearts, and the loft is absolutely PERFECT for a country or vintage vibe. It did get a bit hot up there for the get-ready bridal party, so that might work better to do off site in temps over 75, but we survived with lots of fans and ventilation. It was so wonderful to have a hot bath, be onsite for last minute "Oh, I forgot....!" setups, and have a private place to fix hair, escape the attention for a minute, fix a dress, etc. There was plenty of room for our 120 guests, including five bridesmaids getting ready in the loft, games and tents on the lawn, camper trailers, BBQ catering trailer, etc.. We pulled off a gorgeous wedding for a budget other venues said was unrealistic, and far exceeded our expectations in how pretty the barn and ceremony site turned out to be. We wanted to focus on the fun and have a multi-family reunion, and let me add you could not go wrong having a large family gathering here in addition to weddings. They really think of everything and bring such a can-do, fun attitude to what could otherwise have been a stressful multi-day event. We are blessed to have this venue in our county!!!

Laura Albanese

Laura and Rick (the owners) helped me create and execute the best weekend of my life! They counseled me through making all the decisions on timing, vendors and coordination. And Shannon (the venue coordinator) was the star of the wedding day team. I was able to fully enjoy my wedding and reception because she kept her eye on everything and had the evening running smoothly from start to finish. If you can swing it, try to book mid-late April. Everything was green, lush and GORGEOUS. With this venue, you don't have to go big with the decorations because the location and features of the property are already stunning. They have an overlook space where we did our first look, a few different locations you can choose for the ceremony, and the barn with outdoor deck for dancing. And the great thing is that you get the venue from noon on Friday to noon on Sunday with their regular Saturday wedding package, which is super nice for a less stressful setup and clean up. Highly recommend, 10/10! The photos shared in this review are courtesy of Tiffany Longeway Photography (who I HIGHLY recommend as well).

Susan Morris

We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary at Vida Buena Farm May 4, 2024. Vida Buena was everything we hoped for and more. The barn and property are beautiful! Laura and rick are amazing. Laura is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. She helped us with every detail, from the very beginning all the way through the event. The day of the event was the rainstorm of the year and Laura and Rick went out of their way to make everything comfortable for us and our guests. We highly recommend Vida Buena Farm!

Natasha Reitz

When we started looking for a venue, I immediately fell in love with Vida Buena Farm for their big, beautiful Oak Tree and lovely Red Barn. These were the main things we were looking for in a venue. Due to our work schedules and living 6 hours away getting down to see the venue in person was a little bit of an issue. Laura was extremely accommodating and set a facetime video tour to give us the general lay out of the place and to let us know what kind of options were available. We were in love! Everything seemed to be all that we wanted, and the constant refrain from Laura and Rick was whatever you want we can make happen. To say they were a pleasure to work with from beginning to end is an understatement. Our day was more magical than what either of us could have imagined. Laura's cooking is beyond amazing and the number of compliments we received on the food was innumerable. Rick was our officiant and wrote the ceremony custom to us, it was perfect, hit all the right notes and had everyone laughing and crying at all the right times. It is a family affair, and I cannot say enough about the support crew that managed all the behind-the-scenes stuff throughout the day, it made the whole day run extremely smoothly. All of our other vendors applauded how easy the venue was to work with. Six months later I am still in awe of the effort that Laura, Rick, and their whole crew put into making our wedding weekend as perfect as we could imagine. I cannot say thank you enough!

Miranda Stroud

Our wedding was in November of 2021! We had visited the venue twice before our wedding in the year before and the experience every time was extremely enjoyable with Laura and Rick! They were very accommodating the day before the wedding to set up, visit with our family and friends, and enjoy the small moments before our big day! Laura helped everyone the day of including the photographer, the family, the guests, caterers, it was really a relief that I did not have to worry about those things that morning! Rick was so friendly and really helped set things up and get everything ready to go! They made the ceremony go extremely smoothly and barely noticed they were there during the reception! We thoroughly enjoyed our whole day and the venue was everything I wanted! Thank you so much Vida Buena! Highly recommend!

Alex lopez

We could not have asked for a more perfect venue. We got married 6.26.21 (probably the hottest day of the year!) Laura and Rick were absolutely amazing from the start and made the entire process so seamless and stress free. Laura catered for us and after listening to our ideas (we were all over the place) we ended up deciding on having a taco themed dinner. Her food was delicious, from the empanada appetizers to the tacos- we got so many compliments. The venue itself is absolutely beautiful and there are so many different ways to utilize it. Laura and Rick are unbelievably flexible and honestly will make whatever you want work. We brought up the idea of having our ceremony in a different location, and the next day Rick had cleared it all out and it was ready to go- they really are amazing! They also allowed us and our guests to camp on the property which was so much fun. Laura then catered breakfast for us the next morning- also delicious! Being able to utilize the venue from Friday-Sunday was also a huge plus- we never felt rushed. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about our experience with Vida Buena Farm and Rick and Laura!

Anneke Brown

Impeccable party and customer service!

It is so rare to find a friendly, efficient and beautiful venue! They are so rare! This is the perfect venue for your wedding, reunion or party. You cannot make a better choice!

Genessee Tudino

Oh wow, where to even start! We got married here in late October 2020 and had the most picturesque wedding. Laura and Rick were great throughout the planning process, even with all of the pandemic craziness. They really went the extra mile to make sure the day of and the planning process was as stress free as possible and made our wedding ceremony & reception ones to remember! From the beautiful oak tree we married under, to the barn for the reception and the beautiful surrounding meadows and landscape, the property is truly something out of a dream. Laura and Rick were so accommodating with our vision, and we were even able to bring my horse up to be in the ceremony (and he stayed on the property!).

We were even able to host additional events, including a a rehearsal dinner the day before the wedding and a day-after the wedding brunch (catered by Laura ... 10/10 recommend!). It was an overall wonderful experience.