Table of Contents
Location
The Fig House is an indoor and outdoor event venue located in the historic area of Highland Park. This neighborhood is just a few miles up the 110 from Downtown L.A. and has a long history filled with art, architecture, and ethnic diversity. Of course, all of it left its mark on the venue’s style and atmosphere.
This Highland Park wedding venue is a quite large 15,000 square foot property with one-story buildings and an urban garden (or a courtyard). It’s open to weddings and receptions, both small and large, or any other kind of events like exhibitions, corporate and private parties.
The capacity of the venue is 200 seated or 350 standing places. The indoor event space is only one but the courtyard can also accommodate a good number of guests. Standing cocktail parties or seated dinners, small intimate parties, or big events — the Fig House has a sophisticated and unique layout for all kinds.
Interior Style of The Fig House
The Fig House in Highland Park, Los Angeles is the first venue project by Steve Fortunato, the caterer, and CEO of The Hospitality Collective & roomforty. In collaboration with the designer Emily Henderson, he created the space in the Art Deco style with a soft Californian touch. After opening, the Fig House has ramped up a quick level of success within its first year.
According to the designer Emily Henderson, the concept of the venue’s was to make a space warm and welcoming, yet sophisticated and refined so that anybody could feel comfortable like it’s «his» place. The Art Deco style meets here the 1980s with neon, crazy vintage furniture, and commissioned art. Two big connected rooms of the venue are contrasting: the lounge room is open and airy, the big reception is rich and dark. Abstract piсtures on the walls and the impressive stained glass have bold bright colors and remind of old Hollywood glamour. A courtyard is an outdoor place for ceremonies, dinners, and cocktail parties.
The interior design of the Fig House is very transformable and can unlock the potential of any decoration concept. With a minimum effort, you can transform the space into a room in national or modern style — absolutely any way of design.
Celebs choose the Fig House for weddings, meetings, and small private parties. Here Jay Z organized a meeting about the launch of TIDAL with some of the biggest names in music — among them Beyoncé, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Madonna, Rihanna, Nikki Minaj. The actress Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith made their private reception here. C Wedding Magazine named the Fig House one of their favorite venues.
Venue’s Amenities
The venue provides such services as:
- Security Guards;
- Directed parking;
- Tables & Chairs for up to 200 Guests;
- Audio-visual setup with a microphone for musiс and speaking.
The Fig House is a kid and pet-friendly place. You can book it with the catering of roomforty and in this case, the management may suggest discounted rates. During the period of restrictions, the venue also provides personal protective equipment. The 11 p.m. is the time of curfew.
Food & Service
Roomforty, the culinary catering company of the venue’s owner Steve Fortunato provides its services at the Fig House for weddings and other events. They are very professional at food presenting and serving the guests. You can imagine how hard it can be to serve a lot of guests and keep the quality at the top. In my opinion, you will not be disappointed with this company.
The guests’ reviews about roomforty’s catering are mostly positive: they mention the wonderful taste of food, a big variety of courses, and the impeccable service. Some of the venue’s visitors say that the roomforty tasting was in general one of the greatest parts of the whole wedding.
First, roomforty usually offers about 5-7 custom drinks — it could be less or more depending on your guests’ quantity.
After you will be served with an array of food. Maybe you will need an explanation from the guide which kind of food it is :).
Believe me your guests will go back to take seconds and thirds.
The list of dishes which the roomforty offers can be long:
- appetizers,
- specialty cocktails,
- wine,
- salads,
- pasta,
- main courses,
- sides,
- desserts at the end.
As far as I know, their style of cooking — food fusion — combines many contrasting culinary tricks including food from different regions and traditions. The chefs experiment with flavors and textures. This form of cooking allows freedom in exploring tastes. I think one of the secrets why their cuisine is great — they use hormone-free, naturally-raised ingredients, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and local produce. The second secret — the chefs know their job. You will see that the whole menu is made thoughtfully. And the last point I guess — they understand how to present every dish visually. I suppose they use some special techniques 🙂 That’s why it looks so attractive and whets the appetite.
If you’re looking to impress your guests with food, the service of roomforty may be a good decision.
During the period of restrictions, they’ve made a time-constrained offer for Micro Weddings on open air. If I’m not mistaken, the service includes among other things also beer, wine, signature cocktails, and the wedding cake.
Locations for the photo shooting
The Fig House in Los Angeles has several different spaces:
- the Bridal Suite;
- the Groomsmen Room;
- a large reception/banquet hall is called the Big Fig;
- a smaller brighter cocktail lounge that opens up to the courtyard;
- this courtyard is called The Fort.
Next, I would like to describe every location shortly following a wedding timeline template. I will focus mostly on features of the shooting in each location. You can use these points as inspiration by making your own timeline. Here they are:
- The Bridal and Groom Get Ready Shots;
- First Look;
- Couple/Family Portraits;
- Ceremony;
- Reception.
The Bridal and Groom Get Ready Shots
The room where the bride gets ready with the help of two or three bridesmaids is very feminine and girly, has a large mirror, two comfortable sofas, and a round hanger stand for clothes. The space is quite confined and I can not imagine more people there. Though the bride will find enough place to place all her stuff.
There are no windows there because the idea of the designer was to give a sense of privacy. The street behind the walls is very busy. The room has two small skylights that bring in natural light. Yes, it made for a super private and cozy room, but still, it’s a bit hard to shoot. I think I did quite a good job that you can see in the photos below:
Another opportunity to make catchy Bride Get Ready Photos it’s a room with striped walls and a big table. You can place some of your bride’s stuff there as well. A big mirror on the wall reflects a vivid dynamic image of the bridal preparations.
The room of the groom I don’t use for the photo shooting because of the same reason — not enough natural light. The Groom Get Ready Shots I take in the colorful lounge. The shots there are more impressive and brighter.
First Look
The lounge cocktail room is one of the best places for the First Look Shots at this venue. It’s a large room with colorful decor, the space is bold and bright. The stained glass window gives the room a unique vintage look. The green sectional is an inviting place to create a portrait shot or family photos. Huge glass doors lead to the courtyard and give plenty of light to fulfill any photo fantasy :).
The courtyard is another good place for the First Look. Here we could have some difficulties with lighting — it’s very bright almost the whole day which means we should find a good moment for the outside photo shooting.
One option more I would like to suggest — the First Look in the background of the stained glass window indoors. I didn’t try it but suppose it will also look spectacular.
Couple/Family portraits
In the courtyard, it’s enough space for family shots but we should especially consider the outside lighting. The building is small and doesn’t create many shadows. This brings us back to the question which time of the day is right for quality outdoor photos. Otherwise, we will have dark spots on faces. Just remember to consult your photographer when you will make your wedding schedule.
In the photos below I used the benefits of the so-called Golden Hour. It’s the last hour of light before sunset that produces a warm natural light. When the sun is low in the sky, it casts longer shadows, adding drama and feelings to the pictures.
For sure, nice family pictures will be also in the lounge room — vivid colorful portraits in the airy space adorned with artwork.
Ceremony
The newlyweds have two opportunities to organize their ceremony:
- outside in the tree-lined courtyard, bookended by olive and peppercorn trees,
- inside in the large reception/banquet hall called the Big Fig.
Both of the options are great for it. But each of these spaces has some features concerning the lighting. As I’ve already mentioned, for the courtyard photo shooting it’s important to catch soft natural light that will not reflect off faces too harsh. Later I will explain how I deal with the lighting issue during the reception to avoid difficulties.
The reception room with dark green walls is really huge and perfect for any dinner/dancing situation. The designer got rid of the claustrophobic ceiling — she changed it to white ceiling beams that give the room a feeling of space and lightness. Many sconces are installed throughout the space. The chair rail by the wall is a ledge where flowers or candles could be put on. Around 200 simple chairs you can put inside and you can use them also outside for the ceremony. You can place the wedding card table at the entrance of the room. The wedding altar (or arch) is usually located by the opposite wall.
As I said before the venue in itself and this room particularly is very transformable. With thoughtful decoration elements, you can fulfill your own style ideas as it was done at the wedding parties where I was.
More details about the design of the Fig house you can find on the designer’s blog.
Reception
For the party, all three big spaces — the courtyard, the lounge room, and the reception hall — are at your service. You can choose one of them for the ceremony or any kind of performance to entertain the guests (as in the photos below). Another one in this case will serve as the dinner and party space where the buffet, dinner tables, chairs, and AV equipment will be placed.
Venue Lighting for Photo Shots
The main difficulty of the shooting at the Fig House wedding venue is light quality. While I shoot photos in the reception hall, the white beams don’t reflect light properly and only a flash on my camera is not enough for quality photos. The green walls of the hall are not a good source of reflection. I usually suggest putting lighting equipment around the perimeter of the room. The same situation we have in the courtyard. If I would work only with a camera flash, the outside light will be too harsh and not enough for more than three persons. The same solution I usually suggest outside — just putting some flash units in the corners — and after we can enjoy the quality photos. This service is included in the price, for sure 🙂
Summary
The Fig House is perfect for the unique couple’s big day, it has an unforgettable vibe and offers a lot of personality — just add some decor elements to make it your own. The venue is so versatile that you can make it anything you want it to be, it’s perfectly suitable for big events with national touch and small modern parties
You will impress your guests with the food and the atmosphere which represents a true L.A. Pricewise it’s more on the premium side but if you want a wow effect it’s worth it.
The fascinating venue, helpful waitstaff, and bartenders, the tasty food is beautifully presented, high-quality service — it’s all about the Fig House.
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