The Old Rancho

The Old Rancho wedding estate was the most perfect, dreamiest venue we could’ve asked for! The venue space is intimate and so beautiful, it was a dream come true. So many of our wedding guests gave compliments of the space and that it was such a fun time. Thank you to the Old Rancho and Personal Touch Dining team for making our wedding day so special!

Cannot recommend this venue enough. Not only is the venue so stunningly beautiful, but the staff (Jessica, Derek, and Josie) went above and beyond to make sure all of our questions were answered and everything went smoothly day of the wedding. Despite the venue being owned by a company with multiple venue sites, the experience did not feel corporate or cookie cutter at all. Staff was extremely responsive and more than happy to work with us to make sure our vision came to life. I will also add the despite only being provided with a “day of coordinator,” there is so much support and guidance along the way that a wedding planner wouldn’t have even been needed. We couldn’t have been any happier with our experience and HIGHLY recommend the Old Rancho to anyone looking for an outdoor venue.

This venue was everything we ever wanted from start to finish. When we first started searching for wedding venues we quickly became overwhelmed with all the decisions and financial responsibilities getting married in California held. This venue was not only reasonably priced but exceeded any expectation we had in regard to atmosphere, customer service, and professionalism. Visiting multiple venues we often felt like we were just part of another day for them. The moment we stepped foot at the Old Rancho it felt as if everything was tailored and personalized just for us and our special day. Derek the manager is AMAZING. He answered all of our questions, concerns, and anticipated my every need not only during the planning, but in the wedding, and after the wedding. After the wedding, every single person emphasized how smooth it went, how DELICIOUS the food was, how gorgeous the venue was, and how much fun they had. It truly was the best wedding I have ever been to and the best day of our lives. This venue really was everything. Thankful for the memories that will ALWAYS be cherished!!!

We had a wedding at the Old Rancho at the beginning of this summer. It is a beautiful adobe estate, with multiple levels of yard/garden used for weddings. PTD did a wonderful job coordinating and catering our wedding at the location. I didn't hire a planner and depended on their month and day-of-coordination. I did a lot of the planning and then handed over the details to them. They are an efficient and capable team! We are thankful for Kendra who went through the original contracting process and tasting, Caitlin who took over the month of coordinating, and Sam who was our day-of-coordinator. Our wedding turned out beautiful and we had a lot of compliments from guests that are due to the PTD team. The food and service was excellent. Sam kept the vendors to the timeline and kept the micro-events moving. She brought my husband and I drinks right after the ceremony, and our food first during dinner so we actually had a chance to eat. For the venue and service PTD provides, the cost of the venue rental and catering is really reasonable. HIGHLY recommended!

I am so glad we chose The Old Rancho for our wedding day. It was a truly magical venue for our small and intimate ceremony and reception! Derek, our wedding coordinator was amazing start to finish and made the whole process feel seamless. Stephanie, our day of coordinator was also awesome to work with and help iron out all of the small details of the day. We received so many compliments from our guests regarding how beautiful the venue was and how amazing the food tasted! I would highly recommend The Old Rancho and Personal Touch Dining. 

Aside from marrying my husband, picking this location was the best decision we ever made. It was out of a dream and everything we could have asked for. Derek was amazing and held our hand through the process taking so much weight off our shoulders. He was easy to talk to and felt like a friend helping me rather than a stranger. I have so much respect for him and our day of coordinator Josie. She made me feel like a princess and was always one step ahead of me with anything I needed. Infinitely impressed by them and the beauty of the venue with the lights and the set up, it was breathtaking. Highly recommend the venue!

The Old Rancho was the perfect place to get married. It is naturally so beautiful so it required little decor. Also, each part of the evening has a separate area so it helped the flow and kept guests engaged. We are still getting compliments about our venue to this day! Personal Touch Dining did an amazing job to help our dream come true. Our venue manager, Derek, was so easy to work with. He offered great advice and support throughout the process to help make our wedding exactly what we envisioned. He also helped us stay within our budget but still make the wedding look beautiful. Our day of coordinator, Sophia, was so nice & kept us on track to ensure we fit everything in. We are forever grateful for the entire team and have nothing but great things to say!!

The Old Rancho was the perfect venue and caterer for us. They helped make our wedding seamless!! We really loved the feel of it the minute we arrived and walked up through the front entrance. We loved the old tiles and other little touches that made it feel special, unique, and just felt it had so much character. We appreciated that it was all outside in a beautiful setting, the ease of being able to do everything all on-site, including the catering, and that the price-point was incredibly reasonable compared to other venues and companies, especially for what was included. Derek and Ashley helped us coordinate from the very beginning and all the way through the planning process. They fielded a million questions and changes from us throughout the planning process and absolutely nailed it. They were accommodating and thoughtful regarding special meals (especially for our son who has numerous food allergies), incredibly knowledgeable about everything and anything they weren’t sure on, they found out and got back to us super quickly. They made an event that could have been way more stressful, much less stressful due to their professionalism and skill. We had a vision in our minds of how we wanted the day to look and feel and it came out exactly that way, to a T! We got compliments all night and continue to weeks later, about the ambiance, the decor, venue in general, and the food and drinks. The food was so delicious! Both of the bartenders were so personable and we got numerous compliments/comments from people that they were making the drinks so tasty and that they were super friendly. I will also say every single server/all the waitstaff was so kind, helpful, welcoming, and just ‘on it’ in terms of customer service, solving little issues here and there, and very responsive. Stephanie did an absolutely wonderful job as our day-of coordinator and kept things running smoothly and efficiently. She dealt with numerous different personalities and needs from people with a smile and was happy to help, start to finish! We really could not recommend The Old Rancho and Personal Touch Dining enough!

This venue and their staff made my daughter's wedding day absolutely perfect and so much more than I ever hoped for. Our guests couldn't get over the charm of the estate or the quality of the food. They gave us more for the price in comparison with other venues and we felt that we definitely got our money's worth. I was able to focus on my daughter while the staff took care of everything else. They were so easy to communicate with and always answered my questions right away. I don't have even one complaint. I'm not kidding. It was an absolutely perfect day.

The Old Rancho was fantastic to work with! Derek, our wedding coordinator (and we were so luck to have him as our Day of Coordinator as well), was amazing and went out of his way to continuously help and guide us to and through our special day! We couldn't have done it without you, thank you so much!! All of the staff was professional and our wedding was incredible. The venue is gorgeous and provided a private area for our wedding. It felt like an escape for us and we and our guests greatly enjoyed it and they made sure to let us know that we picked the perfect venue. We added in florals and we would recommend doing so as well, however, the venue itself is FULL of colorful flowers, trees, etc.. Personal Touch Dining did an amazing job with the food and it was delicious as well - the salmon is to die for! Again, we received lots of positive reviews from our guests regarding the dinner. Thank you so much to Derek and the team!!! If we had to do it all over again, we would definitely book here again!!! :)

Old Rancho was superb! I very much enjoyed working with this vendor. The site is stunningly gorgeous and doesn't need a lot of dressing up though we did have florals. There is a beautiful charm about this space that is unlike any other venue I've visited. We loved our wedding and the space. The staff from Personal Touch Dining was very helpful and attentive and the day of went quite smoothly. I would highly recommend. It is truly stunning. The package deal is worth it and helps take out some of the excess decision making. We were very happy!

We got married at The Old Rancho on September 16, 2023 and it was absolutely perfection! Derek Milby and Ashley Tandy helped us throughout the wedding process and were so accommodating. The venue is absolutely stunning, the landscape and foliage truly make it. We fell in love with it because we knew it didn't require a ton of florals or extra decor to make beautiful. We did the taco bar buffet and all of our guests loved it. Thank you Old Rancho and Personal Touch Dining for the best day of our lives!!!

Wow- my husband and I were so blown away by our wedding. Personal Touch Dining and Old Rancho are an amazing match-- we both had a lot of nerves on the day-of, but nothing went wrong (or if it did, nobody bothered us with the issues!) We received tons of compliments on how the wedding flowed, the service, and the overall experience. Seeing it all come together was so satisfying and truly exceeded our expectations. The overall planning process was SO easy thanks entirely to Derek, Ashley and the Personal Touch team. I loved that there were built-in planning meetings to make crucial decisions and that Derek was responsive to any random questions or changes via phone & email. I think the value of Personal Touch's offerings is so amazing considering how expensive weddings have become in California post-pandemic. I felt that we were able to have a really luxurious-feeling and special day that was also financially doable, even with 100+ attendees. The vendor recommendations were on-point (I booked K.O. Florals, The Groove, and Chasing Light) and really helpful in the beginning planning stages to avoid researching thousands of vendors in the area (I'm an indecisive person & it would've taken me forever!). It was an unexpected benefit that the vendors were super familiar with the venue and had also collaborated together previously. I never felt the sense of overwhelm that I definitely would have felt if I had chosen a venue without coordination assistance. Overall, we can't thank Old Rancho enough for the level of care and patience they had with all of our requests and questions. I always had confidence that it would come together because Personal Touch is so professional and provides such a great service. Definitely +1 that it's worthwhile to pay for an extra hour (the cost is reasonable to add it on; ceremony starts at 4pm instead) and would recommend adding an extra bartender (for a total of 3 bartenders) if you have 115+ guests.

The Old Rancho made all of our wedding dreams comes true. Our wedding coordinator was Derek who was absolutely amazing. Derek was responsive, helpful, very knowledgeable and patient. He made the entire wedding planning process enjoyable and easy and was there every step of the way. Him and our day of coordinator Stephanie, were both exceptional, along with the entire day of staff. They all were so polite and did such an amazing job. The chef, the food, and all of the cocktails exceeded all of our expectations. All of our guests couldn’t stop talking about how good our taco bar was, along of the homemade churros. Not to mention the care and attention to detail that went into our wedding and the venue itself is out of this word. The old rancho is naturally one of the most beautiful venues I have ever seen. I’m so thankful to Derek, Stephanie, and the rest of personal touch dining and old rancho staff that made our wedding so memorable and special.

Our wedding at The Old Rancho was so beautiful and absolutely perfect. The venue itself feels very green and has a very romantic garden feel with early California ranch architecture. We picked this venue because of the scenery and also because the tables, chairs, and food were all inclusive which made planning a lot easier. We received so many compliments on the food by our guests. The Personal Touch Dining team was amazing to work with before and during the wedding. Everything felt very taken care of and we are so happy with how everything turned out! Definelty recommend this location to future couples!

We were so pleased with our experience with Personal Touch Dining and The Old Rancho. Our coordinator Derek was an absolute dream to work with! He took so much initiative the week of our wedding, anticipated our every need, and was quick on his feet with solutions for the inevitable little things that come up the day of. Not to mention he brought the best energy! We truly could not have asked for a more picturesque, quaint, and aesthetic venue. The space felt so cozy and intimate while still having dedicated spaces for each of the day's events. We had around 90 guests and it didn't feel too crowded or too empty! The real show stopper for most of our guests was the food. We still have friends and family telling us almost 9 months later how delicious the food was -- and can't stop raving about the enchilada bake in particular! All in all, it was a smooth experience for us and the price and quality were unmatched compared to other venues/vendors in the area. Cannot recommend The Old Rancho more, and honestly just wish we could get married there all over again to relive the magic! INSIDER TIP: Definitely pay to tack on some extra time - it's well worth it! The day goes by so quickly, and we said paying for an extra hour was one of the best planning decisions we made!

The Old Rancho is a hidden gem! My partner and I absolutely fell in love with the venue on our tour because the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. There are so many beautiful plants and flowers - we barely needed to add any decor because of the natural beauty of The Old Rancho! So many of our guests told us it was the most beautiful venue they had ever been to, and they wished they had known about it for their own weddings! The team at The Old Rancho, specifically Derek, made wedding planning a breeze! We were on a short timeline, and they really worked with us, and I felt very supported throughout the entire process. Additionally, our day-of coordinator, Sam, was such a joy to be around and she made sure that everything went as planned. I would 100% recommend The Old Rancho and the Personal Touch Dining team!

All of our guests absolutely loved the venue there were so many compliments on the appearance of everything! Derek our day of coordinator and everyone at Person Touch Dining were amazing! They helped us plan all the small details (things that you wouldn't even think of) we did not have to worry about a thing! Our wedding went out without any problems and I absolutely give credit to Derek and everyone at Personal Touch!

We had the most amazing wedding at the old rancho. All of our guests absolutely loved our venue and all of the staff went above and beyond to help us. From planning months out to the last minute details to the day of the event we felt so supported by the staff. We wouldn’t change a thing, the old rancho and personal touch dining made our wedding absolutely perfect!

My experience with the Old Rancho was amazing. My wedding day was perfect. The staff was great. I enjoyed working with Kendra, Caitlin and Sam. They were all very attentive and always answered my questions. Caitlin and Sam did an amazing job at making sure the wedding day went smooth. I'm so glad we decided to book The Old Rancho

Personal Touch Dining was a dream to work with. I really enjoyed the process of the food tasting and picking out details for the wedding. That was a special touch to get excited for the big day. This was the first time any of our guests had attended an event at this venue and could not stop raving about how amazing the food and venue was. I 10/10 would recommend booking this venue. This is a little slice of Hacienda Paradise hidden away in Carlsbad!

The Old Rancho was a breathtaking wedding venue. The space itself is full of natural beauty which makes decorating for the event much simpler. When we initially booked our wedding through Personal Touch Dining, we worked with Kendra. Then our event coordinator was switched a couple of times throughout the planning process. Each planner was thorough and responsive. Our day of event coordinators, Sam and Caitlin were amazing! They made sure everything went smoothly and always had a drink in hand ready for my husband and I. Our guests are still raving about how beautiful the event was. Since the venue is outside, there is a strict noise ordinance in the town of Carlsbad, so you can’t play music after 9:30. We planned an after party, so the party could continue- I definitely recommend it! We are a family of food lovers, many of our family members are chefs or own restaurants of their own, so food was a priority for us. We selected to have a seated dinner, which seemed to be unusual for the venue, I think they usually do the buffet option. The food was excellent and served hot! We went with the top sirloin and the garlic/thyme crusted chicken. The passed appetizers and desserts were lovely too. Overall, we were overwhelmed with how well everything went and wish we could do it all over again!

We could not have been happier with our wedding at The Old Rancho this past October!! We were originally supposed to get married at Leo Carrillo, but switched over to The Old Rancho and moved our date. Kendra and everyone at Personal Touch Dining were so helpful and made what could have been a very stressful decision as easy as possible. The venue actually ended up being better than we could have imagined, the food was great, our day of coordinator Iman was amazing, and they truly brought our vision to life. Our guests were raving about everything!! Highly recommend :-)

After having to cancel our wedding 2 times we are finally having it this November 2021--Kendra our coordinator has been nothing but accommodating and flexible during these crazy times! She always responds immediately and finds a solution to every issue that arrises with a smile on her face. Old Rancho is so quaint and special--perfect for an intimate wedding

My husband and I are planning a wedding reboot, and we had a fantastic experience at our tasting with Kendra! I priced over 100 venues in San Diego, and The Old Rancho with Personal Touch Dining is absolutely the best value. Kendra is professional and kind, and goes out of her way to make sure our planning experience is enjoyable. We loved experiencing the food at their offices and going over details with her. I'm not super great with big picture aesthetics and she offered excellent table setting recommendations that didn't break the bank. I feel completely confident that our wedding reboot will be an excellent experience with Kendra at the helm! She is also very responsive and professional in email and phone communication as well as in person. I'm so grateful I can send her questions whenever they occur to me! I couldn't ask for a better wedding planner. Thank you, Kendra!

Like some others on here, we were originally supposed to have our wedding at Leo Carillo, but due to COVID, we made the switch to the Old Rancho. The venue change worked out perfectly and we received a lot of compliments from our guests. The Old Rancho is a beautiful, intimate venue and Kendra and Andrea were very responsive every step of the way. Andrea ensured we had all the necessary instructions at the rehearsal and she was incredibly attentive as I showed her all of our decor and explained what my vision was. Andrea (and the rest of the staff) did an amazing job the day of -- they made sure my vision came to life and Andrea even did my bustle in a lot faster time than my Maid of Honor probably could have. It was definitely a night to remember and we are so grateful for how smoothly everything went and how beautiful everything was.

Kendra and Andrea were very sweet and a pleasure to work with! We originally planned to have our wedding at Leo Carrillo and they made it a flawless and easy transition to the Old Rancho. We loved the intimate layout of the venue and the taco bar was just so on brand for us - delicious food too. My only regret is that 5 hours just wasn’t long enough and the music had to be turned off at 930 right when the fun began. Still best day ever though, would definitely recommend this venue and team!

Kendra and her team were all a pleasure to work with! We originally planned to have our wedding at Leo Carrillo, however due to Covid restrictions we decided on Old Rancho. That decision ended up to be the perfect move for us. Old Rancho was perfect! Everything about our wedding was amazing! Everything about the venue was beautiful and the food and service was great. Highly recommend!

The Old Rancho Wedding Estate was the perfect place for our wedding. With a homey Spanish vibe, it feels like you’re throwing an event in your rich best friend’s backyard —there’s nothing better than that. The gardens and scenery are beautiful and require very little to really make your wedding look stunning. Personal Touch Dining, the company that manages the estate, was an absolute joy to work with. We initially started working with Personal Touch pre-COVID and wedding planning quickly became 10000x harder than it was before; however, Personal Touch was completely understanding and rolled with our ever changing plans without any complaint. In fact, Personal Touch actively did everything they could to ensure we had a perfect day no matter what. Given that The Old Rancho is an all inclusive venue, not only is planning much easier, the price is an absolute bargain! Kendra and Andrea (our coordinators) were without a doubt the VIPs of our wedding. They kept us on task and always kept the environment fun, organized, and as stress-free as possible. Not only did Andrea make sure we ate and spent some time alone together on our wedding day, she made sure we were absolutely stuffed with every appetizer, entree and side dish we picked out. I was honestly bursting out of my dress by the time dinner was over, the food was amazing. I still dream about the Rustic Chicken and Tri-Tip we had, I cannot stress enough how great the food was. The drinks were healthy pours, the lawn games were a ton of fun, and the dance floor was spectacular. We’ll forever be thankful we had the opportunity to have our wedding at The Old Rancho Wedding Estate and that we worked with Personal Touch Dining.

A gorgeous venue that requires little added decor. Multiple sections to accommodate a variety of needs, views, photo ops, etc. also, privacy. We could not be more pleased that we opted to use this Personal Touch Dining to book our venue, cater our wedding, and coordinate all rentals. Not only did they pre-empt a necessary venue change (to The Old Rancho) (due to COVID-19) with incredible insight, but they managed to make it the smoothest of transitions and turn it into something that worked out even better for us and our family. Kendra answered all of our questions and managed to coordinate everything to perfection, despite the chaos and uncertainty that the pandemic created. Kendra, Kate, and the entire staff were exemplary and professional (and safe), anticipating and attending to our every need. We all were able to just be present and enjoy the day without a care. The food was delicious. The set up and clean up efficient. The venue exactly what we needed. We are grateful that we were able to stick to our April 2021 date, and we had an absolutely amazing day, thanks to Personal Touch Dining and The Old Rancho.

The Old Rancho was not our initial venue of choice but wow, we are SO happy that we ended up there! The grounds are BEAUTIFUL and even more beautiful when dressed up by the Personal Touch Dining team. It was such an intimate space, we had minimal decor and definitely didn’t need it because of all of the blooming flowers and plants. It was the perfect mix of rustic and traditional Rancho and Secret Garden. Loved this venue! Trust the process and that everything will be taken care of as it should be!

Kendra and the Personal Touch team have been so great to work with! My fiance and I had such a great experience at our menu tasting with Kendra. She is so organized and thorough. The food is delicious and the presentation is on point! I cannot wait for my wedding at The Old Rancho this summer. I'm so happy to have found such a great team and venue.

The Old Rancho, Kendra, and everyone at Personal Touch are absolutely wonderful! From day one they have been so helpful in answering any questions I had and making this process so smooth and easy! We just had our tasting yesterday and everyone was so helpful and kind. I'm so excited to have our wedding here in August!

The Old Rancho is pure magic! There is something about this property that elevates everything to a very special place. I would say it is the love and care the family has given it over the generations. We had our wedding here in September and we can not imagine any other place in the world would have been as magical. We used the elevated back area with stunning hillside view for our sunset ceremony, 1 level down to the shuffleboard for our cocktails / hors d'oeuvres (which later became the dance floor) and down to the lower lawn for our romantically lit seated dinner. We took advantage of the beautiful front areas for the formal photos - that old barn is absolutely spectacular. Our photographer was elated with all of the options for environment and background! The venue managers and staff are delightful people, their level of care and attention to detail are extraordinary. From inception to ceremony to picking up forgotten items the next day - we truly felt like we were part of the Old Rancho family.

Best venue ever! Every other turn is a different photo opp which we loved. We had our Rehearsal Dinner here and were initially drawn to the rustic feel that the Rancho has, and the exclusivity that it gives off with the really neat entryway and drive up to the estate. We also really loved the layout... super accommodating to having different "areas" for different things. We wanted an area for cocktails (ended up getting 2), an area for a taco bar/dessert station, and then a more formalized seating area for people to eat and for toasts etc...there was even a place for people to play games like shuffleboard, but we didn't use it since it wasn't the general feeling we were going for with this event - but could be fun. The market lights over the lawn area during our dinner made for such a picturesque and romantic feel. This area could be dressed up for elegance or downplayed for a more rustic feel, we did a combination of both. And I LOVED the barn area and field area for photos!! We could have easily had our wedding here as well but had already committed to another venue. Five stars from my husband and I.

The Old Rancho was the perfect setting for our wedding. We both wanted an intimate setting that would allow us to feel as if we were hosting our wedding in our own home. The Old rancho provided us with a variety of stunningly beautiful and intimate spaces where we added our personal touches in order to create an experience that we and our guests will always remember! The Old Rancho is a place we will hold forever in our hearts!