Castle Green: A Majestic Wedding Venue Demands Lavish Catering

What’s beautiful in movies can be breathtaking for weddings. Valentino and Gish once played lovers here, so this is ideal for real 21st century romance.

When the Castle Green annex to Pasadena’s Hotel Green was opened in 1897, more than 1,000 people attended the first celebration in the grand, palatial venue. It was an auspicious beginning of more than a century of epic parties, galas, and receptions.

Guests weren’t the only people anxious to snap up the chance to be part of a party at Castle Green. Los Angeles wedding caterers loved the setting as well. Sumptuous feasts looked that much better in extraordinary surroundings with movie celebrities of the day.

The building survived time - spared the fate of its sibling structures the 1893 Hotel Green and 1903 Wooster Block, each demolished as of 1935 - to give us the same sense of grandeur in the 21st century. For couples with an epic sense of romance, it’s among the most magical venues for a wedding today.

The mix of historic architecture and the building’s own history is part of what makes this place so special for present-day celebrations. Steeped in the Mediterranean Revival style, the building has an eclectic mix of Moorish and Turkish Revival and Victorian features on the interior that to spend too much on decoration would be, to borrow the phrase, gilding the lily. Only the radiant bride and her well-turned-out groom are necessary to enliven these grand, flowing spaces of wrought iron, velvet, domes, arches, pillars, balconies and verandas, set on sweeping ballroom floors of travertine – flanked by drapery-cloaked nooks for intimate encounters.

Wedding caterers with range are called on by couples of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds for events at the Castle Green. Its Moorish and other Middle Eastern features are appealing to couples who either trace their own roots to the region, as well as for wedding parties that simply want an exotic feel for their event. The flows of a complex Arabesque or Persian dastgah are just right for the Castle motif.

And while Los Angeles wedding catering companies are busy prepping and serving a feast worthy of Rudolph Valentino and Dorothy Gish - who filmed “Nobody Home” here in 1919 - the wedding photographer might find the venue equally thrilling. It’s been a location for films, television shows and commercials for more than a century. Location credits for Castle Green can be found at the end of “The Sting” (Paul Newman and Robert Redford), “The Last Samurai” (Tom Cruise), “Wild at Heart” (David Lynch, Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern), “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (Billy Bob Thornton, Francis McDormund), “Man With 2 Brains” (Steve Martin) and “The Prestige” (Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman).

But regardless if you are a Hollywood star or just the brightest light in your love’s life, it’s worth exploring the Castle Green facilities on Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. It’s a place of epic romance to last the ages.