Castle Green in Pasadena, California, is a historic landmark that hosts weddings and receptions for up to 300 guests. The ballroom seats 200 at tables with a separate dance floor, and the grounds add a veranda, lawns and a garden. Each event day is booked for one party only, so the whole ground floor belongs to your group.
Weddings and receptions
The site presents Castle Green mainly as a wedding venue. Only one event is held per day. The venue day lasts 10 hours: three and a half hours for set-up, five and a half hours for the event and one hour for clean-up, which your caterer and vendors handle. Friday and Saturday events can extend to midnight, and Sunday through Thursday events to 11:00 PM, with overtime arranged through the Events Office.
A typical day runs through several spaces. The couple has a private bridal sanctuary and two dressing suites. Ceremonies take place on the north lawn, with the bridge or the magnolia tree as a backdrop, or in the ballroom as the indoor option. Guests gather in the lobby under a chandelier, then move to the cocktail rooms, which stay open all evening. Dinner and dancing take place in the ballroom, where a double bar sits at the dance floor.
Rooms and capacities
The ballroom takes 200 seated guests with a separate dance floor, or 300 standing or in theatre-style seating. The outdoor garden area holds 300 or more guests, with some restrictions. The venue fee covers access to the entire ground floor and includes 200 gold chiavari chairs with ivory cushions, twenty 60-inch round tables for up to 10 guests, three 72-inch round tables for up to 12 guests, a sweetheart table, a cake table and six cocktail tables. The furniture is for indoor use only.
The ground floor also includes a salon with a grand piano and a large fireplace, a sunroom, a library suited to a photo booth, a patio opening onto the veranda and the south lawn, and furnished cocktail rooms in vintage style. Four bars are provided, three indoors and one outdoors. An event supervisor and security are included, and lawn games are available. A rooftop can be used for private photos of the couple.
Catering
Castle Green is a venue only and works exclusively with one full-service catering partner. Outside caterers are not allowed. The caterer handles labor for set-up, service and bartending, rentals such as linens, flatware and glassware, and a custom menu with non-alcoholic drinks. There is no food and beverage minimum, no cake-cutting fee and no corkage fee, and clients may bring their own alcohol.
History and setting
The building is a Nationally Registered Historic Monument and a Pasadena landmark, more than 100 years old. It dates from the Victorian era and has been restored in detail. It stands at 99 S. Raymond Avenue and opens to the public for tours only twice a year. A 360-degree virtual tour on the site lets planners preview the rooms before a visit. The venue also lists photo shoots and filming, and it publishes floor plans for the main floor, the ballroom and the fourth floor.
Getting there
The address is 99 S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105. The venue opens its Raymond Avenue gate half an hour before the event start so guests can wait on the lawns and veranda instead of the sidewalk. Call the Events Office at 626-793-0359 to arrange a tour, then ask about a courtesy hold on your date.
