Ravenswood Historical Site

We recently had a couples photo shoot here! I first saw this place through photos on Unilocal,Pinterest and Google and I knew it was the perfect location for a photo shoot. It was love at first sight!
I contacted the LARPD and filled out the application for a photography permit about three weeks in advance. It was a very easy process. I filled it out and got a call the next day for the payment info and the permit was emailed to me that same day. The cost for a 2 hour permit for one photographer is $ 80 which I thought was very reasonable considering you get the whole place to yourself. We arrived a few minutes early and the LARPD employee was a little bit late getting to the location but he opened up the gates an everything was fine.
This location is an absolute gem! It has beautiful vintage-​like buildings, grassy areas, beautiful trees and a rock wall that is really interesting as well. We have only received a preview of our photos but thus far I couldn’t be happier with having them done at this site. Would be a beautiful place for a wedding as well!

Our event will be in a couple of months but I anticipate a wonderful experience. I do know that the setting is just beautiful and the house has a lot of character. The facility has everything that we need and making the arrangements has been so easy. More to come!

This review is from a wedding photographer. The outdoor area is gorgeous for photos!!! See here for photos:

I am so happy we decided to have our wedding here!
The grounds are absolutely beautiful– our photographers were in heaven. So many amazing photo opportunities. The layout of the venue is great, so much space and room for guests to mingle and wander. Our guests were so excited about the photos they were able to take of themselves in the scenery.
We had our ceremony by the gazebo, and our reception outside of the main building. Dancing and food generally take place inside the building. Initially, I was worried about having the DJ inside and tables outside, but they put the DJ right next to a window facing the tables. So, it ends up being the perfect volume for dinner music, and brings everyone together inside for dancing.
Just make sure you are willing to have a day wedding, because the grounds need to be emptied by 8pm. (We ended up reserving a banquet room at Sanctuary Ultra Lounge in downtown Livermore for guests to meet up at after the wedding if they wanted to keep the party going. I highly recommend doing something like this. It was a lot of fun)!
Overall our experience was incredible, and we highly recommend. :)

This is not for the site but for the fact that I went there today, the 2^nd Sunday of the month, during the hours it was supposed to be open, but it was closed. It was Mother’s Day, and I thought it would be a nice outing. Maybe the parks department figured that it should close because of the «holiday», but there should have been a notice on the website and on the sign in front of the gate about the closure.

This is an amazing site! I fell in love with it just looking at pics online. The people running the site are amazing and the most professional I’ve ever dealt with.
I had a baby shower here but it is mostly used for weddings!
Highly recommended

I was so happy my husband found this place for our wedding. It was exactly what I had wanted. The old wine building, or what’s left of it anyway, made the perfect backdrop to our pictures.
The staff was very friendly and accommodating as well. Although they were late to let my husband in on our wedding day so he was a little upset, but everything went well and we had fun, so all was forgiven.

Beautiful site with incredible historical value for both Livermore and San Francisco.

I had my wedding at Ravenswood in April — it’s a beautiful indoor/​outdoor space with so many varied areas, that it’s really perfect for an outdoor wedding. There’s the Victorian house, a rose garden, a vineyard, romantic tree-​lined paths, a tank house that looks like a farmhouse, and even some old ruins! So many photographic possibilities without having to walk far at all. We chose it for its character, its affordability, it’s flexibility, super-​easy parking, and the fact they’d only allow 70 guests inside for the winter months. It was a good excuse to limit the guest list and keep it small! They allow for any caterer to come in, and you can bring your own alcohol, although you need to buy a permit to serve it.
Penny and Kevin of the LARPD were fantastic over email. Penny was happy to answer all my random questions, me being a DIY crafty bride! Kevin even called me when he realized there was a mix-​up with the table setup plans.
Since the weather in April was going to be unpredictable, we came up with two seating plans. One for a sunny day and one for a rainy day. I emailed Kevin at the beginning of the week and we decided on the sunny day plan, which worked out great because it turned out to be more than 80 °F there the day of!
The people who are there setting up tables and chairs at the events are all volunteers, and are very accommodating. It turns out it was a bit TOO hot that day, and my mom suggested setting up some tables inside the house so we wouldn’t roast. They were happy to do so, and our guests really appreciated it!
There are a few caveats, of course. Since it’s a historic site, you’re not allowed to put anything on the walls. And you wouldn’t need to anyway — the house and grounds has such character to begin with! There’s no crazy lighting setups inside or outside. You can’t have a band but you can have a DJ inside, though it’s pretty small so I’m not sure how dancing would be like. April was still considered a winter month, so we all had to be off the premises by 6pm due to lack of outdoor lighting. No crazy late-​night wedding benders here!
But all in all, it really was perfect for our casual afternoon «garden party» wedding. It was so affordable, even for nonresidents. (The difference was only $ 200, not a big deal.) April was the perfect month, because the rental price increased almost 2x in May, haha. But then you’d be able to stay out until 8pm. ;) I had several guests tell me that it was the best wedding they’d ever been to. Huge thanks to Ravenswood for being such a huge part of that day!

Interesting site that’s only available for docent tours during the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays of the month. We skipped the tours and just walked around the site.

Went to a wedding here and I have to say that I was very impressed.
The staff was amazing and always spot on.
The grounds are great and offer the ability to have several themes/​venues in one.
The property is in fantastic shape and it is obviously well taken care of.
If it is hot there are plenty of trees for shade relief.
Plenty of parking.
If a friend asked me if they were thinking about this place for their wedding I’d definitely approve.

We were married here in September and loved this place. We searched for a long while to find a good spot to have a casual outdoor wedding that wasn’t a ton of money. Overall this was a great place to have a wedding. The staff was easy to get a hold of and responded very quickly. They were even able to get us a deal on having our Rehearsal Dinner inside the house on Friday night also. The only problems we had with this venue is they messed up the time for the Friday evening rehearsal so no one was there to let us in the gate. Also, you can only rent it from 12 to 8PM so it was very hectic to get everything set up and taken down within that time frame. We loved this place for our wedding and would definitly recommend it!

As a wedding photographer, and local Pleasanton resident, I LOVE this place. It has awesome history, its beautiful, the landscape is well maintained, and the guy who runs the place is fantastic!!!

Site in general
*Amazingly beautiful. We are lucky to have a place like this in in the heart of Livermore! The drive in feels like a movie scene. The grounds are kept impeccable!
Site as a wedding location
*I am in the beginning stages of wedding planning so I will update later as we plan on having our wedding here in the Spring of 2011. We like the indoor and outdoor option. We don’t like the rules of having to be completely cleaned up and out of there by 8 (guests out by 7). We will make it work though as we are thinking of doing an after party bus to downtown. There is a 70 person max inside, just fyi.
So far staff has been great to work with and very helpful with all of my questions.
Let me know if you have any questions and I can hopefully help. I will update this review after my wedding :)

Looking for wedding venue? This is the right one if you’re looking for a romantic backdrop with some real history. Built in the late 1800’s, the Livermore Area Recreation and Park have kept this place true to its Victorian Era condition.
All my wedding guest were overwhelmed with its beauty. With lush, green grass, tall billowing trees and the delicate vineyards, it’s no wonder everyone found it so astounding. I kept getting asked how I found the place.
In addition to its allure, rental is not too expensive and the staff is great to work with (especially Josh who was so patient with me). It truly is just a visually stunning place to look at. See my photos for what I’m talking about!

A beautiful Spot for weddings… especially photographing them!
I recently visited for a tour, and I was reminded of how cool this place is, it reminded me of a wedding I photographed here several years ago… September and REALLY hot, but georgeous sunlight!
The place is definitely haunted, in a good way!

I just recently toured Ravenswood with my 11 year daughter in search of a place for our wedding on June 27, 2009. I can not describe to you how magical it was. The trees are beautiful and the Victorian aspect is amazing. They have kept the house and grounds in emasculate condition. There was a butterfly that circled us 3 times and at that moment we looked at each other and said «This is it». So needless to say, We will be getting married here. I will update my review as our time gets closer.

This is an interesting place in the middle of nowhere. Definitely a historic landmark. The old farmhouse and the barn where they used to shoe horses still there. I’d love to attend the tea here they do annually. There’s a small kitchen in the great room. I found the old telephone system interesting. There were wires under the house from one building to the other that still work.
All the items are authentic. I loved seeing the old record player and the fact the the staff here are all very knowledgeable about the grounds and its history.
For this house and its contents to still exist and in the condition they are in is amazing. The grounds are impeccable and peaceful. Great place to come, kick back and read a book on a fall or spring day. Summer time forget it, you’ll roast.

I can’t believe I never thought to review Ravenswood. This place is great. I think it’s a really cool part of Livermore.
I’ve been here for both docent-​led tours as well as weddings. The FREE tours are offered the second and fourth Sunday of each month. They’ve really spruced the place up, quite a few antiques/​furniture/​décor reflecting the era when the Buckley family lived on the site as far back as the 1880s.
I’ve been here for a couple weddings too, and they were very nice. The area behind the house is very picturesque for the ceremony itself. The last one I went to had tables set up in the front lawn for the reception. The whole place is back far enough from the road, separated with a small vineyard. Overall, a great facility.
Ravenswood also hosts a couple cool annual events: the Ice Cream Social in the summer and the Yuletide Celebration in December. These events are also free!
It even looks pretty just driving by down the road. A nice change from all the housing developments popping up on this end of town.