This green oasis on Whittier’s north side is everything you expect in a traditional country club: a curving pine- and oleander-lined road whisks you up to its gate, and there’s a sea of trees at the entrance and a feeling of leafy quiet once you arrive. When you do hear sounds, they’re the happy shouts and squeals of children romping around the club pool while their moms and dads laze about chatting and laughing.
The clubhouse exterior is creamy white stucco with wide chocolate-colored wood beams and trim. Its look is one of simple sophistication, with Craftsman-style good proportions. But the focus here is on the outdoors, where all wedding ceremonies are held (yes, the weather is that good). They take place on a tiled terrace whose backdrop, the golf course’s 1st and 18th holes, is easily the visual highlight of Friendly Hills. The fairways rise, side by side, up a commanding slope that disappears into the distance. Between them, a long cascade of water, with willows, firs and sycamores strung along its course, spills its way over large boulders to a small lake next to the terrace. The lake, populated with plump swans and ducks, can be reached via an elegant stone-faced bridge that makes a perfect photo-op site.
You can’t help but constantly gaze at this dramatic combination of water, greenery and dramatic ascent, which is why few brides choose to wed under an arch here. The backdrop is all the decoration you need.
Friendly Hills has two excellent places to hold a post-ceremony party: a downstairs banquet room, and an upper reception area that can be used alone or in combination with an adjacent sleek bar. The downstairs space has a wall of tall windows facing the club’s signature first and last holes, and a full-service bar at the far end of room. Flattering indirect lighting along with natural light from outside keeps the place wonderfully well lit. Glass doors lead to the terrace, which is dotted with canopies for sheltering guests.
The upper reception area, off the clubhouse’s elegant lobby, has white truss ceilings and big windows looking onto the course. Just a few steps down from it is an elegant bar, finished in warm brown tones of leather and wood. Invitingly soft leather lounge seats sit beside a bank of ten-foot-high windows, offering perhaps the best view in the house. The bar—subdued, simple and classy—is a very agreeable place where guests can lift heartfelt toasts to the newlyweds.
Whoever designed Friendly Hills understood the dynamics of heat and light. Southern California’s almost year-round equable climate and golden sun make this club a bright, exhilarating wedding venue. Yet, when the excitement of the day is done and cooling shadows creep over the terrace, your psyche is gently tugged into a restful, stress-free zone. You quietly chat with your guests, watching the sunset’s light burnish the fairways, taking in a memorable moment and scene. Heavenly!
http://www.friendlyhillscc.com/
